Three years ago when I wrote this in depth look at where the Baltimore sports media universe was heading, Twitter was truly at the dawn of its existence. The ability of mobile devices was far more limited and far less distributed. And the access to the genie of instant information in the palms of our hands that we’ve quickly become accustomed to will never go backward into the narrow bottle of the limited access of newspapers, television and radio waves.

Today, I will examine the current state of the Baltimore sports media experience and as much as many local journalists like to give “report cards” on the Ravens every Sunday night and Monday morning, I’m sure some folks will get their feelings hurt today.

I’ll tell you what I think about our competitors and the intentions of their bosses and their corporate, money-making media machines. Honesty. Candidly. Openly. As usual…

And, we’d love to hear what you think here in our “2012 State Of Baltimore Sports Media Survey” here.

One lucky survey entrant will win a trip next weekend to Cleveland on our Miller Lite Orange Roadtrip powered by Jiffy Lube.

As I’ve said over the past month, we’re trying to make WNST.net better every minute of every day so that we can be your primary source of Baltimore sports news and information on your mobile device.

Examining the Baltimore sports media business is the most important thing I do on a daily basis and while I rarely write about this stuff, it’s been my life’s mission to improve your experience as a local sports fan.

I find it almost hilarious and/or pathetic that anyone would listen to the radio station that calls itself  “The Fan” when the entire concept was drawn up in a board room in New York and never factors the actual “fans” into the equation when they assembled their corporate radio station team.

But competition is good. It sets the bar. At WNST.net, we’ve never ducked the obvious or taken Baltimore sports fans for granted – we know you’re judging us and comparing us every day because you utilize more than one outlet for your sports media consumption on a daily basis in 2012.

But we’re always striving to the be the FIRST place you go to get Baltimore sports information on your IPhone, Droid or mobile device.

In an effort to encourage you to give your feedback on the local Baltimore sports media scene, it’s only fair that I file my own report card.

So, who are the competitors and players on the local scene and where do you turn when breaking news happens in Baltimore?

My general overview of this is candidly clear: Baltimore is a lazy market on the new media end. I know how hard we work at WNST.net and I know what our resources are. I know the strengths and weaknesses of all of our competitors in the marketplace and many of the assembled group of “journalists” in the market have either been on my team, interviewed to be on my team or have cross-pollinated in something I’ve touched because I’ve been doing Baltimore sports media longer than virtually anyone in the marketplace.

My journey began almost 29 years ago in January 1984 at age 15 when Baltimore had three newspapers, three TV stations and a handful of AM radio stations that did local sports of any kind.

In 2012, there has been a mass fracturing in the way and convenience in which we consume media so many of the entities have “loose ends” in their coverage or holes in the strategy. Some of their portals to garner attention, feedback and building a trusted community of information are very old world and “lazy” for my tastes.

And before I begin defecating on all of our competitors – and that will be prevalent below – no less than two of these fossilized radio stations have the arrogance to call themselves “the only station that matters.”

It’s hilarious. And the truth is that WNST.net is kicking all of their asses in the only place that really matters – the internet and on your mobile device via instant access.

Here’s a report card from two weeks ago via Twitter:

Some will get their feelings hurt, but if you click to Page 2 you’ll see what I think of our “competition” at WNST.net…

The post Part 3: Which Baltimore sports media entities suck? Here’s my report card… appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

On a good day, I piss you off because I present a fact you don’t agree with or an argument or position in a debate that you dispute.

On my best days I force you to think about your position and offer a well-balanced analysis that makes you see through the Baltimore sports prism in a way that only eyes with 28 years of expertise and a lifetime of dedication to all aspects of local sports issues can bring.

That’s called value. That’s called engagement. That’s called trust. Hopefully, you view it as “expertise.”

That’s why you came to my radio show as “Nasty Nestor” 20 years ago or somehow found WNST AM-1570 or WNST in some capacity along our journey.

If you’re here reading this, you trust WNST.net as your source for Baltimore sports.

I know this because 50,000 of you engage in our community and through our partners via Facebook. More than 11,000 of you are Twitter followers, watching every Orioles, Ravens, Terps, Caps and most other major sports events with our hosts and experts in real time from anywhere your mobile phone gets service. Almost 7,000 have given me your phone number – perhaps the greatest trust other than your credit card number in the universe. And 15,000 of you have trusted us with that other cyber point of contact – your email address – so we can deliver Baltimore’s best morning newspaper e-style via your inbox.

And all the while, hopefully you agree that we’ve respected you as our audience and community and attempted to provide quality programming and web content while living through the inevitable growing pains of morphing from a tiny AM radio station into a web media power by utilizing technology to our advantage.

It’s a privilege for me personally and a labor of love that I’ve dedicated my life – truly and completely – to Baltimore sports media and being an advocate for local fans, businesses, charity and the community.

But here’s where I need your help. Today, I’m asking you to give me a report card on how we’re doing here at WNST.

We’d sincerely appreciate an honest appraisal of the way you use Baltimore sports media in 2012 and the way you view WNST.net, our competitors and, hopefully, some helpful suggestions on ways we could improve what we’re doing.

As an incentive, we’ll take one lucky winner and a friend to exotic Cleveland, Ohio for a weekend of football in November. And we’ll never sell or share your information. So, take a few minutes if you can and perhaps you’ll be our big winner!

TAKE THE 2012 GREAT BALTIMORE SPORTS MEDIA REPORT CARD HERE

Do we suck? Are we awesome? What are we missing? How can we better service you? What do our competitors do that you like? What do you love about WNST? What do you dislike about WNST?

Back when I was covering Baltimore Skipjacks hockey games on the roof of the Baltimore Civic Center and without a deadline in 1986 for The Evening Sun my wildest dreams couldn’t have imagined or predicted where my journalism journey was going to take me to tweeting from my couch in real time to tens of thousands of people in 2012.

It’s no secret to anyone who has adopted a smart phone, tablet or web-enabled device of any kind that real-time information is the new standard for communication. As Tommy Conwell once sang: “There ain’t no

SEE PAGE 2

The post Part 2: Anytime, anywhere – WNST.net delivering Baltimore sports to your mobile device appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

The post Here’s what you think about WNST…so far! appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

It’s the fans of the Orioles, Ravens, Terps, Caps and other issues of Baltimore sports concern that put us in business and keep us growing and healthy in 2012.

As has been our custom over the past two decades, I’m always available to receive emails at nasty@wnst.net concerning any issue at WNST.net. (Or as Peter Angelos famously lied to me in 1997: “I’m a very available individual…”)

Today, I’m asking you to give me a report card on how we’re doing here at WNST. We’d sincerely appreciate an honest appraisal of the way you use Baltimore sports media in 2012 and the way you view WNST.net, our competitors and, hopefully, some helpful suggestions on ways we could improve what we’re doing.

As an incentive, we’ll take one lucky winner and a friend to exotic Cleveland, Ohio for a weekend of football and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in November on our WNST Purple Football Roadtrip, courtesy of Jiffy Lube.

And we’ll never sell or share your information. So, take a few minutes if you can and perhaps you’ll be our big winner!

TAKE THE 2012 GREAT BALTIMORE SPORTS MEDIA REPORT CARD HERE

Do we suck? Are we awesome? What are we missing? How can we better service you? What do our competitors do that you like? What do you love about WNST? What do you dislike about WNST?

Every two years we do a major survey to gauge how we’re doing. But the media world changes and evolves at a frightening speed in 2012 with mobile devices, tablets and the instant distribution of thoughts, news, observations and information.

Many, many things have changed in the Baltimore sports media scene since I began working at The News American in January 1984. As a kid who saw that hot metal type line up on newsprint and then watched and learned at The Sun from 1986-1992 to doing sports radio locally and nationally, I’ve picked up many hints and plenty of help along the way to create a company that is boldly local, proudly independent and enduringly honest.

I’ve dedicated my entire life to Baltimore sports and to the journalism, information and analysis that goes with it. This is the only thing I’ve ever done with my life and I want WNST.net to be the best and biggest media company in the marketplace.

We want to be the media organization that serves you the best. Unlike our “small” AM radio signal, you can now take WNST.net everywhere in the world you go…

We’re always looking for a deeper level of engagement with the fans we already have via Baltimore sports. And more so than any other voice on the internet bringing you Baltimore sports reaction and analysis, we are striving for perfection and your attention at WNST.net.

In the old days, you had to go to your radio to get your WNST fix. Now, via mobile devices, we’re in your pocket everywhere you go, every hour of the day.

We’re hoping to connect with you in a more meaningful way and to better serve Baltimore sports fans as mobile grows and your tastes evolve. Over 21 years of doing radio and now almost 15 years of WNST as an entity, we’d like to strengthen our relationship with Ravens, Orioles, Terps, Caps, lacrosse and local high school programs.

Unlike morning shows with guys from New York and Boston and “experts” from the Washington suburbs and parts of upper Michigan and St. Louis, the crew at WNST.net is always local and has lived the history of Baltimore sports.

Now we’re asking you: has WNST.net done a good job of this?

Judging from every measurement we can find on the internet – Twitter, Facebook, Google Analytics, reaction to our posts and opinions, we’re doing a damned fine job.

But we can always be better.

This is where you come in…

In our market, quite frankly, it’s been about authenticity and credibility.

WNST builds our audience through quality programming, content and distribution. And then we build relevance for local marketers and businesses who keep us in business because of your support of their sponsorship of our programming and information.

When you support a WNST sponsor you directly affect our ability to improve and keep bringing you the best Baltimore’s best sports coverage divinely possible.

So, as Bruce Springsteen might say, bring on your Wrecking Ball and give us some feedback. We’re thick-skinned. Any constructive criticism or feedback is always welcome at WNST.net.

Once again, here’s a link to our report card and survey…

The post It’s time for a WNST “report card” & we need your help! appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

The post Does WNST suck? Or is WNST great? Or are we just so-so? We want a report card! appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Now seeing these Pennsylvanian troglodytes roaming the streets like drunken slob zombies is one thing, but actually having to listen to them on the local sports radio station was truly torture.  They would call in and mumble about Chase Utley in an accent that made a New Jersey accent seem desirable.  But, the one thing that stood out the most was the bizarre and nonsensical things the callers would say.  They would propose trades such as obtaining Albert Pujols in exchange for the Eagles Offensive Line and the Wachovia Center.  When you start making trades that cross into other sports or begin proposing to trade an actual piece of architecture in exchange for a human, its time to put down the cheez whiz flavored vodka.

Now that Baltimore is finally competitive again in baseball, it seems that we are now beginning to get a taste of Philly Itis.  In recent weeks, I’ve heard on the radio that Bisciotti needed to sign Adam Jones, we needed to trade Matt Weiters, and that the Orioles should obtain Dwight Howard (*ahem, Glenn, *ahem).  None of these ideas are clever or even remotely humorous.  Hey, hurr hurr, there is a good athlete that does one sport, hur hurr, maybe we get him to play another sport, hurr hurr.  When I hear this type of idiocy my mind immediately thinks of the worst year of my life and I envision the Philadelphia kid puker, every time a host, caller, or blogger mentions this buffoonery.   So, Baltimore, do not become kid pukers.  Stop free basing Old Bay and remember to keep things in perspective, or else you will wind up consuming an entire pizza pie and cheese sticks on a regular basis.

The post Philly Itis Comes to Baltimore appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

All of the details of our Baltimore Sports Media Superstar search and competition are now a click away if you want to be a contestant: http://wnst.net/wordpress/wnst/the-2012-baltimore-sports-media-superstar-search-is-underway-at-wnst-net/

This recent blog is very thorough and should answer all of your questions and most of your concerns. I sincerely hope you join the competition and begin your first blog today! This weekend has been active with participation and questions and entries to nasty@wnst.net.

Please do not send docx files as attachments. I’d appreciate all resumes in a pdf or .doc format for sharing purposes.

Also, our hashtag for the competition will be #WNSTBSMS and all Twitter activity should include this easy 8-digit shortcode for WNST Baltimore Sports Media Superstar.

If you want some extended reading, helpful hints and some of the WNST philosophy (and reality) please see my “State of Baltimore Sports Media” series from January 2010 here:

Part 1: Where Do You Get Your Info and Whom Do You Trust In Baltimore Media?

Part 2: How Does WNST Measure Up To Other Baltimore Media?

Part 3: Content and Distribution: Sharing Is Caring

Part 4: Power of Partnership: Flogging The Flag

Part 5: What Is The Future Of Sports Media In Baltimore?

And my three-part update in May 2011:

Part 1: What WNST Stands For In Local Media

Part 2: Journalism is dead…but not at WNST

Part 3: People Ask Me All The Time, “How Big Is Your Stick?”

These blogs are almost a “handbook” and should make the position and our needs at WNST.net even more clear. But, granted, it’s going to take you a few hours to read it and years to digest it but the more you know and understand about the local sports media industry the greater your chances of success.

I wish someone would’ve given me a handbook back in 1992

As a bonus, here’s Part 3 of my Loyola lecture on women, video and mobile streaming in 2012…

The post Updates and helpful hints for next Baltimore Sports Media Superstar appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

And maybe you got a gold watch if you hung around at the newspaper or TV station for 25 years or more?

Here at WNST.net this summer, we’re extending an open offer to any Baltimore sports fan who wants to be the next Baltimore Sports Media Superstar via our competition. All of the info is here…

The harsh reality of media and new media in 2012 is that it’s an all-encompassing commitment of time, experience and continuing education that makes a local personality or entity relevant as breaking news, information, analysis and the games themselves fly by in real time with your mobile device with you at all times.

And that’s just the content side.

Here’s a speech I gave to a Loyola Sports Marketing class in May 2012. This is Part 1 in a series about my current thoughts on the state of Baltimore sports media and the industry as a whole:

If you can’t sell your own personal brand – by bringing in audience, engaging them, adding value to their life experience and adding expertise or analysis that people care about – you will NOT be successful in the new media world.

If no cares to be your audience – or in this era that would be “opt in” or “follow” or “subscribe” — then no one will be available to stimulate the commerce necessary that ultimately will pay your salary via local sponsorship dollars..

In the old days it was easy – there were three TV channels, a few radio stations and a newspaper or two. Whoever the local program director or editor hired was all that the public got and all that you’d ever get from the “inside” of a sports team. The competition for those scarce jobs and the outstanding pay via expensive local television news ads fueled by automotive dealers and local advertisers was all coveted. And the public in Baltimore essentially had three choices for the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news – WBAL, WMAR and WJZ. There were two newspapers – The Sun and The News American. And sports radio didn’t exist except for Charley Eckman screaming bloody murder about some local issue on the Johnny Walker show on WFBR.

That was the entire world of Baltimore sports media in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

And the only ones who really did it the “new world” way were Coach Eckman and Tom Davis, who bought and sold their own “in-show” advertising and made far more money than most radio “talking heads” did and certainly more than the folks at The Sun or The News American.

All of the TV and newspaper people were part of a larger ensemble and staff. The radio sports talk guys needed to fight for audience and those radio stations needed hosts who garnered real traffic and real new business for local sponsors and advertisers.

This is the world I lived in on local AM radio from 1992 until 2006, when tens of thousands of you crashed my webpage and my email with traffic from all over the world after the initial “Free The Birds” walkout and showed me a new world of WNST.net on the internet.

In the new media world, if you can’t sell your own brand as a sports media expert then how can a local sponsor or business owner trust that you can help them sell pizza or cars or beer?

The reality is that I’m in college every day at WNST.net. The college of life, emerging media and business in 2012 and how it relates to the changing ways of sports fans’ consumption of information via mobile devices in real time.

It’s taken two decades but I’ve finally figured out why I went to college back in the 1980’s. All of those beers at Jay’s off campus at the University of Baltimore and all of those evening classes about Marshall McLuhan — it’s all finally paid off. All those classes with Julie Simon and discovering the roots of communication and theory of how the “medium is the message” and emerging “global village” has changed the world in the last decade since the internet has extended our FCC towers at what was formerly a “little AM radio station” at WNST-AM 1570 and brought video and words and statistics and instant feedback into the realm of the palm of our hands via mobile via WNST.net.

I’ve finally figured out the value of my University of Baltimore education and Corporation Communications degree – it just took me 20 years!

While I’m not going to be donating to UB anytime soon – or anytime that the name of Peter G. Angelos

The post Here’s what your local “sports media personality” needs to know in 2012 appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

As many of you know, I worked as a sports writer and agate clerk at The Baltimore Evening Sun from 1986 through 1992. In my second year on Calvert Street, WJZ-TV 13 held an open competition to become the weekend sports anchor. My experience at the newspaper helped me “get a read” — as you’ll read my humorous take on below. This was from the fall of 1988 and I was encouraged by my girlfriend to send a postcard in and most of the rest is in the story below.

If you’re interested in becoming a Baltimore Sports Media Superstar, please read all of the details here. WNST is hosting all candidates during July and doing on-air tryouts with a $1,000 prize and a weekend show at WNST.net & AM 1570.

In the meantime, enjoy what my boss Jack Gibbons published as my editor when he asked me to write about my experience back in November 1988.

I had just turned 20 years old.

One day, I’m going to bust out the videotape and get it to the WNSTV channel on YouTube.

But for now, enjoy some tales from the Nasty crypt…

Feel free to click on the pictures. It’ll make it easier to read in this format…

The post I once dreamed of being a Baltimore Sports Media personality… appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.

Between now and midnight on June 21st, WNST.net will be accepting applicants for the competition, which will begin on Monday, June 25th with open-mic auditions on WNST-AM 1570 during 2 p.m. til 6 p.m. shows of June 29 and July 1-5.

We will audition no more than 60 contestants during our five radio shows and only the best resumes, blogs and cover letters will be invited to the first cut.

We will have a semifinals event at Hooters in Towson on Monday, July 9th and callbacks for the finals on Thursday, July 26th. There will be a live panel of celebrity judges involved in the selection process at the Hooters events to choose the finalists and eventual grand prizewinner.

The grand prize is $1,000 and an opportunity to host a weekly one-hour weekend show this fall at WNST.net & AM 1570 while learning how to become a sports media personality in Baltimore in the era of new media and the internet.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting many “helpful hints, “insider tips” and various videos, blogs and links regarding the job description and evolving status of the local sports media industry in Baltimore and beyond.

If you are a contestant, this will be required reading and viewing because our professionals will be doling out advice, tough talk and Glenn Clark’s “reality check” on the commitment needed to be a sports media personality in 2012 in Baltimore.

WNST.net is now the market leader for instant news, analysis and communications in Baltimore via social media and Twitter. We’ll also be presenting all of the stats to accompany the story of becoming a “Baltimore Sports Media Superstar” in the new millennium and ever-evolving era of new media and mobile delivery of information.

We’ll also be conducting a “State of Baltimore Sports Media” survey with a cool grand prize during July and throughout the competition. We hope YOU help us pick a great new sports talk show host for WNST-AM 1570 and WNST.net as well!

None of us consume media the same way we did five years ago and that will never change. The days of 2, 11 and 13 and The Baltimore Sun are gone forever.

So WNST.net seeks to embrace the next generation of hosts, analysts and bloggers serving Baltimore sports fans with the best new media in the marketplace.

This is the fourth time this kind of competition & talent search has been held at WNST.net and every contest has yielded future employees and great contributors to our company.

This is the real deal.

We’re taking this competition seriously and hope to find many great candidates from journalism, sports marketing, law and communications backgrounds.

Behind it all needs to be a true Baltimore sports “expert.” And our panel of hosts and judges will be grilling and quizzing the prospects throughout the competition in different formats.

We’re looking for serious candidates who want to do sports media for a living. We will be providing meticulous and exhausting information regarding the reality and needs of a successful sports media personality in 2012 in Baltimore here at WNST.net over the next few weeks.

This isn’t for everyone. But we’ll gladly present it to everyone in Baltimore in a completely transparent attempt to improve what we do at WNST.net. As we grow – and any web and social media measurement you can find will prove that we’re the fastest growing media brand in Baltimore – we’ll need more talent and more stars for our blogosophere, radio station and website and social media community voice.

Honestly, this information might overwhelm some of you who aren’t cut out to make it in this field

The post The 2012 Baltimore Sports Media Superstar search is underway at WNST.net appeared first on We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports.