by Kent Sterling
No one really knows how many people are watching TV or listening to the radio. The ratings methodologies are flawed as hell, and are only accurate over an extended period of time.
With Twitter, there is no doubt about the accuracy, so when I started doing a little research on a piece on the twitter follower numbers for professional sports leagues and franchises that will be published later today or tomorrow, I stumbled into a few accounts belonging to Indy sports media types, and decided a list of standings would be disruptive to their egos and a distraction from their routines.
How better to spend a few minutes? Right or wrong, the strength of a media person’s brand is measured by the number of Twitter followers. Some embrace Twitter as a method to reach lots of people, and isn’t that what working in the media is all about.
I have subdivided these lists into radio, TV, and print:
Sports Radio in Indy
- Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan, 58,151 (obviously buffeted by exposure nationally on ESPN)
- JMV – 1070 the Fan, 17,219
- Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan, 8,329
- Jake Query 1260 WNDE, 7,084
- Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play, 6,979
- Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC, 6,121
- Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan, 4,302
- Eddie White – Pacers Postage, 4,207
- Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE 3,385
TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy
- Dave Calabro – WTHR, 6,881
- Anthony Calhoun – WISH, 5,159
- Chris Hagan – Fox 59, 4,282
- Dave Furst – RTV6, 4,005
- Rich Nye – WTHR, 3,881
- Jeremiah Johnson – Fox 59, 3,701
- Eric Yutzy – WTHR, 2,042
- Jason Spells – RTV6, 1,729
- Brittany Diehl – Fox 59, 1,619
- Chris Widlic – WISH, 1,402
- Larry Hawley – FOX 59, 1,062
- Amanda Maynard – WISH, 829
- Brad Brown – RTV6, 496
Print – all with Indianapolis Star (beat in parenthesis)
- Bob Kravitz (columnist), 33,760
- Mike Wells (Pacers), 24,145
- Mike Chappell (Colts), 12,317
- Terry Hutchens (IU), 12,025
- Curt Cavin (Racing), 11,922
- Kyle Neddenriep (Preps, recruiting), 10,011
- David Woods (Butler), 5,518
- Zak Keefer, 2,401
- Michael Pointer, 2,000
- Mark Ambrogi, 1,378
My Twitter imprint is not enormous, but given the lack of daily traditional media exposure, or a specific beat, I’m happy with continuous growth to 2,258. You can follow me @kentsterling I post about all things sports and media, and there are links to everything written at kentsterling.com on that Twitter feed.
And @NikkiWZPL: 2,254 followers. Most of which think she is the actress from Twilight.
😉
You are only six behind me. You, of course, are not in sports, so you are ineligible for inclusion on this list. That’s unfortunate as you are one of the smartest tweeters in town.
I buy cute girl-shirts for all the teams…that doesn’t count? 😉