with many Orioles fans, who apparently think 14 years of neglect and being completely devoid of an iota of accountability for the carnage of a franchise gutted all but for the profit line going into the coffers of Peter G. Angelos, is somehow “being a real fan.”
But anyone in Baltimore taking the side of a corporate beast like CBS Radio in the midst of a battle with WNST for local ideology, integrity, passion or expertise will get what they deserve – an inferior product in many ways but most certainly via social media, instant information and the expert analysis that we specialize in.
And my criticisms of the bought off media trail of mind-blowing garbage that is passed off as “journalism” – especially given the partnerships between The Baltimore Sun, CBS, Tribune Company and Hearst with the local sports teams — is beyond incestuous. The new buzz word is “partnership.” When you hear that word just know that you’re getting filtered, preferred and “state run” information.
And on a civic note, the constant journalism “box out” that the teams and politicians have managed to display in a free society in 2011 should be an outrage to citizens. But I’m really not sure what’s going to happen once the media giants like The Sun and WBAL and WJZ all fail or downsize even further because they’re not really connected to the community.
(Latest evidence: WBAL-TV paraded its latest out-of-town executive from Milwaukee around Camden Yards back in March and then proceeded to shoot an “All In the Angelos Family” informercial where he said with a straight face that the Orioles could be in the World Series this fall, while wearing an orange tie with a Midwestern accent. It was laughable, but typical. They’re all making money together. Why would WBAL EVER say a negative word about the Orioles? So, then, how can you expect that they’re a legitimate media entity and not a for-profit partner?)
But this is how Hearst does business. This is how the Tribune Company does business. This is how CBS does business.
The biggest difference in the marketplace now is that small local business owners are turning to “return on investment” for answers to their local advertising needs and these entities have no interest in having accountability for actual sales of products.
8
So, most small local businesses have turned to easily tracked advertising and the market has changed now is that consumers are buying coupons – Groupon, Living Social, etc.
It is our mission to serve you honest, intelligent sports information and analysis.
But this is a business and we need money to pay our employees and we need new businesses to partner with us to stimulate their economies as well. WNST is designed to be a great source of honest, accurate information regarding Baltimore sports but as a sheer business model – we’re a marketing organization, just like the Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles.
Traditionally, media entities (radio, newspaper, television) and sports teams have made far more money from marketing products and “selling advertising” than from ticket sales or newspapers sold. When you think about it, television and radio have essentially been a “free” product to the general population since the beginning of time. (Or, of course, until HBO and Caltec Cablevision entered our lives in the 1980’s and television became a “pay for play” medium.)
But I think you understand my point. I paid $1 million for WNST in 1998 and we’ve never charged anyone in Baltimore a single penny for our products on radio, web, text and the like. It’s been absolutely FREE to the consumer.
And contrary to some of the basement blogger, internet reports about WNST’s future, we have NO PLANS to EVER charge you for our services.
So, we’ve had to rely 100% on business partnerships, sponsors and radio advertising sold in a marketplace where Arbitron has “owned the system” so we can never get fully credited with the true size of our WNST Community.
8We feel like we’ve developed a pretty special relationship with our customers and feel we know what they value in Baltimore, which is our hometown, too. And it comes from the heart, where we wear our civic passions and our authenticity on our sleeves.
We love Baltimore and we love Baltimore sports more than anybody! That much, you should know by now.
Name a breaking news story that’s happened in the last three years in Baltimore and I guarantee you that you heard most of it from WNST via our text, radio, web or social media.
If you love what we do, we hope you’ll visit our “Deals and Coupons” page and purchase great values from our partners moving forward. This is how we’ll continue to thrive, survive and continue to bring you Baltimore’s best sports news, information and analysis around the clock.
It’s all I’ve ever done.
It’s all I ever hope to do.
But we’re going to be rolling out some new products over the next six months and I’m going to be reaching out to the only ones who can help my company grow – and that’s you.
8The WNS Community.
We’re committed to Baltimore. We think we show that every day.
And I’m always here for any positive or negative feedback: nasty@wnst.net.
As Peter Angelos once said: “I’m a very available individual…”
PART 3 HERE: How does WNST measure up to the competition in 2011 on the internet and in social media?
