Thursday, February 1, 2007

Lessons Learned....

Friends of mine often ask me why I bothered to go on message boards. My girlfriend screams at me to stop because she would read what people who write. They asked how I could handle people writing those awful things about me and having people start arguments that were off the wall. For the most part, I really had fun with it. But some where along the way - it turned negative. The promotional benefit got outweighed by faceless wannabes who are frustrated and bitter.

I have to admit that I am a bit fried right now and some of the reaction that I'm going through is because of that. My reputation is the most important thing to me. I try to see 90% of the things that appear on the net about me. Some have told me that it's unhealthy but I look at is as part of my job. All you have is your name.

The reason why I went on boards was to promote the show. To me, it was a great way to let people know what we were doing. As a new program to Omaha and someone not from here, I felt like I needed any exposure that I could get. All pub is good pub in my opinion. Yet, tonight it all bubbled over me for me. The inevitable caught up with me.

The show just had the best ratings book ever. I wish I could write on here and tell you guys how good we did but I can't legally. Arbitron doesn't allow you quote their numbers publicly on forums like this. Just know that the battle for Omaha is almost won for Big Sports 590. If you are under the age of 44, you already know which show in the afternoon has more juice. Our audience in Lincoln, Souix City, Des Moines etc grows every day....only a matter of time before we win Omaha completely - then it's onto the other markets.

So if the idea was to grow the show and it has grown - then why continue to go on boards? Well, I decided to keep doing what we were doing because it was working. But then I went too far. I did something that I said I wasn't going to do - I got into arguments with anonymous writers...they got to me. I allowed myself to get upset about certain things that were said and frustrated by ridiculous comments by people. Heck, it was 900 on 1...but I stood up to fight back....BIG MISTAKE. All it did was piss me off...arguing with wanna be talk show hosts was my fault. I forget how many people think what I do is simple.

I'm 29....only 2 years in Omaha. I learned my lesson. I will continue to update the blog for interviews and things that will be happening with the show. But as far as Husker and Jays message boards - I'm banning myself. It's for the best.

My fault. This will be on the only place that I write on from now on. So bookmark the page and listen to the show...thanks for reading this.

6 comments:

Nate said...

Matt, I appreciate your "call it like I see it" approach to your message board posts and commentaries on your show. As a Husker fan and reader of both HHC and Bluejay Cafe, I find it refreshing to read a post from a local and knowledgable person who is not a fan of either team. It's nice to get that unbiased opinion. Makes things a lot more entertaining than listening to the crap from the Pineapple Sports Network.

Thanks for all of the work you do with your show. I listen just about every day and will continue to do so. Best of luck.

torear said...

Matt, don't always agree with all your opinions, but I respect what you do and like the show.

That said, being a local media personality posting on a message board is a bit of a bullseye on the back, so pulling back's probably a good idea.

Keep up the good work.

rojungle said...

Hey matt,

I like you and it is always nice to have an outside opinion on the bluejays even though I don't always agree.

It was nice having a public figure on the boards but understandable why you have to leave as it does draw a huge target on your back. Sorry to see you go.

Unknown said...

Maybe if you didn't call them idiots and insult your fanbase, they would have treated you differently.

Pretty much the same behavior you've shown at the BS590 boards too, and we both know how many people are still posting there...

Good luck with the Arbitron #'s - from what I've seen, ESPN is still spanking you, but maybe I'm reading them wrong. Is a 1.7 (bs590's #) share better than a 2.2 (espn's #)? Maybe the Arbitron #'s are like golf, where it's good to be negative?

Unknown said...

here is some knowledge for you Reideen1313, that "gap" from a 1.7 to a 2.2 is the smallest it has ever been for sports talk radio in Omaha. hence why Matt said it was his biggest gain, not that he was in the lead.

Reading > Reideen1313
as always.

that being said, you ARE an idiot, and Matt has the god given right to call some of the inbred sheep lovers who call his show stupid, ignorant, myopic, and even cock gobbling gutter sluts..if he could.

you want better radio...bring better stuff. Every caller comes in with what makes the show good or bad.

"umm ya know I think the huskers will do this and that and umm...oh and yeah you are wrong"
wow...thanks for the call. I would rather listen to Matt drone on about how the NFL doesn't suck.

radio call in shows are just as good as the callers, the host prepares a list of topics, researches guests, Brian efforts talent to get on with Matt, and then he has to interview them.

for a doll collecting loser who lives in his mother's basement "allegedly" but still works as a great and wonderful mind in the radio industry(just not on air anyplace besides BFE) I figured you would know the challenge of running a 4 hour sports talk show for such a large audience.

-Kevin the Drunk.

Unknown said...

here is some knowledge for you Reideen1313, that "gap" from a 1.7 to a 2.2 is the smallest it has ever been for sports talk radio in Omaha. hence why Matt said it was his biggest gain, not that he was in the lead.

Great. Still losing though, right? Guess that "Big Signal, Big Names, Big Sports" just isn't working as well as they thought it would.

Reading > Reideen1313
as always.


that being said, you ARE an idiot,

Every caller comes in with what makes the show good or bad.

I would rather listen to Matt drone on about how the NFL doesn't suck.

radio call in shows are just as good as the callers, the host prepares a list of topics, researches guests, Brian efforts talent to get on with Matt, and then he has to interview them.

So you're saying that your 'takes' are good? You bring something valuable to the show with your calls? Please. You like Notre Dame and the Red Sox. Your opinion doesn't count for shit.

for a doll collecting loser who lives in his mother's basement "allegedly" but still works as a great and wonderful mind in the radio industry(just not on air anyplace besides BFE) I figured you would know the challenge of running a 4 hour sports talk show for such a large audience.

Well, let's see...I do collect toys - some of them are sports related. Is that any different from someone collecting baseball cards or other sports stuff? No. But keep trying to pretend it is. You're so cool.

As far as your notion that I'm some mysterious 'on air' personality, you're WAY off. I've never even implied that I'm even remotely linked to the industry.
Thus the reason that I said "Good luck with the Arbitron #'s - from what I've seen, ESPN is still spanking you, but maybe I'm reading them wrong. Is a 1.7 (bs590's #) share better than a 2.2 (espn's #)? Maybe the Arbitron #'s are like golf, where it's good to be negative?" - that bolded line there implies that I may not know what I'm talking about - I've only purchased advertising on the radio for businesses I've owned. I know how the ad costs have been explained to me and how to purchase time based on my target market - again based on the arbitron #'s. Right now, if I were looking to hit a target demo, I'd be looking at ESPN radio to buy ad time on. Will that change the next time the #'s are out? Who knows. They haven't so far. Y'know, maybe I'm wrong about how the #'s work....if so, Matt can certainly correct me.

Knowing what the hell you're talking about > Kevin the drunk any day.

Anyway, thanks for playing Kevin - you lose again. Just a tip, you really shouldn't post while you're drunk. I thought we taught you that lesson on the BS590 forums, but apparently not.