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2010 in Review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times
In 2010, there were 38 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 65 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 44mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was November 18th with 67 views. The most popular post that day was Look Who’s Talking: Owen Murphy.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, www.larrygifford.com, linkedin.com, and mail.yahoo.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for happy new year 2011, dave rothenberg espn, new year words, larry gifford blog, and year 2011.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Look Who’s Talking: Owen Murphy November 2010
Who’s Next? Dave Rothenberg December 2010
Are You A Host or Personality? November 2010
1 comment
Test Driving A New Sports Radio Show Prep Service November 2010
Colin Cowherd’s Life on TV November 2010
Who’s Next? Dave Rothenberg
**UPDATE 05-01-2012: Dave Rothenberg is now hosting 7p-10p on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM in New York City.
Programmers are always asking me “Who’s out there?”, “Where’s the next talent?” So, periodically, here on the blog, I’ll be shining a light on rising stars in radio.
Dave Rothenberg is “who’s next” today. Dave, a New Yorker by birth, has recently picked up some shifts on 1050 ESPN in New York. He’s tells LarryGifford.com that he’s excited for the opportunity, “It means everything. I am a born and bred New Yorker with a crazy passion for the New York sports scene.”
Dave has a familiar story. 13 years ago he started running the board and providing the halftime show on high school football broadcasts on WGCH-AM 1490 in Greenwich. He was a weekly football expert on WALE-AM 990 in Providence, RI. He skipped around with stops at Air America, Sirius, and Cablevision. in October 2007, he moved to Raleigh, NC to help launch 99.9 FM The Fan. He was recently a casualty of budget cuts.
So, how’s a guy who’s laid-off in Raleigh end up on 1050 ESPN in New York?
Dave says, “The key to having any success in this business is perseverance. I have always tried to make good connections and stay in touch with them. The problem with sports talk is there are always decisions made that make you scratch your head. I had the number one sports talk show in a market and lost my job. My last check included my ratings bonus. But, no matter how little sense things make at times, you need to keep positive and look ahead to bigger and better. I set up a meeting on a trip to New York City with Justin Craig, the PD of ESPN New York and I guess impressed him enough to land this great opportunity.”
Networking. Networking. Networking. Should I say it again? Networking.
Dave has a marathon on 1050 ESPN starting this weekend: Sunday, December 5th 7a-9a, overnight Sunday into Monday Midnight to 5am (part of the Jets 24 hour pre-game show), and then overnight Monday into Tuesday. Take a listen (online at www.espnnewyork.com)
You can contact Dave directly at Dave@DaveRothenberg.com and his website is www.daverothenberg.com
Would You Start Vick?
The Michael Vick Show is back on the air. After Vick’s unbelievable performance last night, I began to understand that he is truly a talented football player. Did he make mistakes? You bet. Is what he did to those dogs forgettable? Hardly. However, this is America, a land built on second chances; just ask Jimmy Carter, Mike Tyson, Jay Leno, and on and on and on.
It got me thinking, if Vick were a talk host and not an NFL QB, he’d probably have to be fired, because he’s too off brand, too hard to coach, too unpredictable, makes management uncomfortable, and he doesn’t appeal to the core fan. This happens everyday in radio. Vick may have just posted the highest ratings anyone can remember, but that success would be reasoned away by management as a fluke. (That’s what managers say when ratings don’t tell the story they need it to tell.)
I get asked often, where are radio’s next stars? I have to guess working in retail, telemarketing or serving burgers and fries, because they were turned away for being too unique, too different, too interesting, and possibly too talented. It may be time to dust off the old resumes and see if some of the talent you passed up for not fitting your mold, maybe ready to start for you now. Or, you can let your station’s Kevin Kolb continue to fill time. A Vick-style personality draws fans to him with his talent. A Kolb-style host inherits listeners who are fans of the station. A Vick-style personality will make you nervous as a manager. A Kolb-style host will make you comfortable. A Vick-style personality will generate angry calls to your office demanding he be fired. Fans won’t call about a Kolb-style host. In fact, they may not even remember his name. If you are reading this and are still wondering who Kevin Kolb is, I’ve made my point.
Be bold. Take a chance. Play to win. Hire a personality.
Who’s Next? Jim Murray
“Who’s Next?” will be an ongoing series of posts to help programmers take note and identify up and coming radio talent that are worth knowing. Today, congratulations goes to Jim Murray named the 2010 Oregon Association of Broadcasters Television Sports Announcer of the Year. He’s sports director at KTVZ and is honing his sports radio hosting skills. Keep an ear on this guy. He may soon be winning the radio awards in your market. Will it be for you?
