Twitter has become the place to share and generate information for fans. It’s also a great way to share a live event such as a Royals or Chiefs game.
The Kansas City Sports Media has a good start in the Twittersphere, but there is more work to be done. It’s been a great place to also watch the #RadioWars first hand.
I wanted to take this lull in the sports year and grade the KC Sports Media on their use of Twitter. The “grades” will cover a couple of benchmarks that I believe are important in how the media should use twitter:
- Break stories or spread breaking stories.
- Share sports news
- Interact with fans, listeners and other media members (as well as debate haters)
- Be entertaining
The “gold standard” for Media twitter use is @KrisKetz who would get an A+ were he to be graded in this post. Anyone media member wanting to learn to use Twitter should simply read his tweets daily and try to replicate. It’s harder than it looks.
With that, here are your 2011 KC Sports Media mid-year grades:
Sports Radio 810 WHB
The Border Patrol – Morning Show - @810borderpatrol
GRADE: A-
Overall, the Border Patrol sets a very high standard for their use of twitter. Steven St. John is frequently active on twitter during live events and Nate Bukaty, Aaron Swarts and Jake Gutierrez are all consistent tweeters. They are also very active during their show tweeting out links to stories, funny videos as well as pimping upcoming guests by using their twitter handles. A special note that the “After Party” blog on the 810 website for the show is very well put together and put up minutes after (or sometimes during) the show. This blog posts links to stories and podcasts of content on the show. The Dayton Moore interview they did the other day was up minutes after it was completed.
- @SSJ_WHB – A – Excellent tweeter. Gets the medium and is very active and will interact frequently with fans.
- @Nate_Bukaty – B – Does a great job tweeting in general, but could be more active. Would love to see him tweet more from the truck during the Royals games.
- @jakeguti – B – Has been known to get into a twitter fight or two and is a good, active tweeter.
- @a_swarts - C – Least active member on twitter. Will occasionally have a good presence.
The Program – Middays – @TheProgramKC
GRADE: B
The Program is the little brother of the morning show when it comes to Twitter. They do all of the same things that the Border Patrol does, just a little bit less of it. From time to time, Petro will be very active on twitter, then go through stretches without posts. My favorite part of the midday show is Doug Stewart. Who tweets irregularly, but when he does, they are must read tweets.
- Soren Petro – C+ – When Soren is active, he’s very good. Mostly, however, he’s pretty quiet. Recently, his account has only been pimping segments during his show. He rarely interacts with followers. Since his account is also the show’s account, he may find himself wanting to get a personal account at some point to become more opinionated and not have it be “from the station.”
- Doug Stewart – B+ – One of my favorite follows on twitter. My only knock is that he doesn’t tweet enough. He’s as cuddly as a brillo pad and comes off as a complete dick. I love it. He is willing to discuss anything and everything, but does it in very small doses. That probably only adds to his mystique on twitter.
- Kurtis Seaboldt – D- It’s not an F only because he has tweeted something in the past but infrequently retweets other content and does not post his own.
- Craig Brenner – A- Craig really gets what twitter is about. He doesn’t tweet for the show very often, but is very active in the community of twitter. My favorite tweets of Craig’s are during the show, when he should probably be working and he’s tweeting about an upcoming concert or a movie.
- Pete Enich – N/A Pete thinks Twitter was a hooker he used to bang in the 60′s.
Between The Lines – Afternoon Drive – No Show Account
GRADE: F
The 8,000 pound gorilla in the KC Sports Landscape and they are as familiar with twitter as James Harrison is with tact. If they wanted to, they could absolutely OWN twitter and social media. But, of course, that’s not how they roll. Twitter is harder to use from the 16th tee at Falcon Ridge or while grilling at Smoke N Fire.
- Kevin Kietzman – D He has a twitter account that is only being used to update a show rundown daily. He tried to use it as a more social account a month ago and it turned into an awkward look into the brain of an Overland Park socialite.
- Todd Leabo – B Note to the guys at the 810 website, his twitter link is wrong on your website. Todd’s tweets are very similar to Doug Stewart’s – too infrequent and always borderline awesome. I get the impression that he reads twitter a lot and picks his spots to jump in and make an impact. He has the potential to be an outstanding tweeter.
- Danny Clinkscale – D 810′s website has removed any link to Danny’s twitter account and it appears he has abandoned it. He was a fairly consistent tweeter with the personality of a patch of highway in the desert.
Three Guys In A Garage – Nights – @3guysinagarage
GRADE: B
Why doesn’t WHB pump this show more? It’s pretty good. They are great twitter citizens and very active with followers and even non-listeners.
610 Sports Kansas City KCSP
Fescoe In The Morning – Morning Drive – @bobfescoe
GRADE: A-
These guys, along with 810′s morning show, are setting the bar for twitter use. It’s borderline too much at times, but that’s exactly the type of presence you need. Bob’s show has had people twitter bomb retweets to win Royals tickets and is very active during his show as well as during all other hours of the day. Twitter is featured prominently on their show page and there is clearly a dedication to sharing in the twitter community. Additionally, they have a “tweet of the day” segment with is a great nod to the twitter community.
- Bob Fescoe – A I don’t listen to Bob’s show regularly, but he is a very strong presence on twitter. He has actually toned his account down in recent months which has made it better. (Are you listening, Fake Ned?) He tweets about his show, he tweets about his life, he tweets about things that piss him off and he will scrap it up with folks online as well. He is as close to the gold standard for twitter use as you can get. Yes. I just threw up in my mouth a little when I read that.
- Josh Klingler – A Ditto. He does a great job as Bob’s #2 and has his own takes on twitter.
The Danny Parkins Show – Late Mornings – @DannyParkins
GRADE: B+
Danny is still pretty new here and we’ve been pretty hard on his assimilation into the community here at the Rambling Moron. Overall, however, Danny is in many ways one of the most consistent twitter users. He tweets in bursts, like many of us do, and his content is fresh and relevant. He tweets less about his show, but more about other issues and sports news. He is very active in responding to listeners and using tweets in his show. His account is definitely one to watch moving forward.
PS – His show page is lacking many of the cool features of Fescoe’s page.
PPS – Danny, you need to change your avatar off of LeBron. It’s over.
What’s Right With Nick Wright – Afternoon Drive – @getnickwright
GRADE: A-
- Nick Wright – A Nick is a great twitter follow. He is likely to tweet about just about anything. He is also pretty interesting to follow throughout the day as he is chasing stories, retweeting news and just hammering on folks. If Kietz was as active on twitter as Nick was, his show would almost be tolerable.
- Mark Carman – C+ It looks like Mark’s twitter account is strictly responding to comments about the show. I honestly don’t follow him, but I’ll start. Might be a good way to get in the side door of the show.
- EDITOR’S NOTE: Fake Ned fucked up and left off two other members of the Nick Wright Cavalcade of Stars. His pay has been docked and the mistake has been corrected:
- Jared Carter – B+ Excellent sports takes and just the right amount of content. Jeep enthusiast?? Is that a thing? Only thing keeping him from an A is that the guy whose name is on the show doesn’t think highly enough of him to have his twitter feed on his show page.
- Carrington Harrison – B+ First off, is there a better radio name that Carrington Harrison? I mean, come the fuck on. Carrington was the one to call me on leaving him off the original article, which means he’s hopelessly addicted to twitter like me. Props for that. His content is good, fresh and does a great job of interacting with his tweeps. Only thing keeping him from an A is that the guy whose name is on the show doesn’t think highly enough of him to have his twitter feed on his show page.
OTHERS
I thought I’d include some of my favorite twitter media followers in this list as well, just because I think they’re awesome.
- KC Metro Sports: Whoever runs this account is very good. They read anything they are mentioned in and are very good about responding.
- Brad Porter – Metro Sports Anchor – A+ One of the reasons Jesus invented Twitter.
- Mick Shaffer – Metro Sports Anchor – A+++ The other reason Jesus invented Twitter. One of the funniest accounts in the history of the world. (No pressure.)
- Irrelevant Scott – Mick’s Brother – Not a member of the media, but worthy of a mention because he has one of the most wrong, awesome, jacked up twitter feeds of all time. Follow him.
- Greg Hall – Media Grump – A A very active member of the Twitter community, he provides a good read on not only sports news, but also the sports media. He’s a great follow and runs a great website.
- Jason Whitlock – Once and Future Talk Radio King – Still a very influential member of the KC Sports Landscape and still pimping that something is going down #Sept52011
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We’ve reached that point in nearly every Royals season in the past 15 years where it’s over. It seems like it came later this year than in years past, but it really hasn’t. It seems like we were in it a little bit longer than years past, but we weren’t. It seems like my faith wouldn’t be tested until later in the year, but it was.
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