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Jeff Blumenthal over at the Philadelphia Business Journal has written a lengthy story about Philly sports blogs. It’s a spin-off from the BJ’s cover story this week about Philly sports media, which also touches on blogs. There’s quite a bit about us and Liberty Broadcast in there, and also of note (from the cover story, which is behind a paywall):

  • CBS’ Marc Rayfield calling WIP the biggest brand name in local sports: “Marc Rayfield, president of CBS Radio’s six-station Philadelphia operations, which includes WIP, said despite CSN’s growing power, he still thinks WIP’s combination of game coverage and sports talk make the station “the biggest local brand name in Philadelphia sports.” Maybe among people over 40. But that’s not even close to true in the 18-34 demo.
  • CSN President Brian Monihan, presumably with a straight face, claiming that The 700 Level is edgy and hasn’t been castrated by their Comcast ownership: “CSN’s television programming still revolves around game coverage. But Monihan said CSN was able to diversify its stable of advertisers and its product offerings by launching its website, csnphilly.com, which did not really take flight until six years ago when it began luring talent from the Inquirer and other local newspapers. CSN also bought two sports blogs, The 700 Level and Beerleaguer, the latter of which has since been shuttered. But Monihan said The 700 Level has provided a younger, edgier view to its coverage.” The edgiest thing they’ve done in the last four years is take a break from posting about all the zany things Charles Barkley says to curate a slideshow of Eagles cheerleaders. Groundbreaking stuff. Wonder how long it took CSN to regret that purchase?
  • Inquirer sports editor John Quinn saying Philly.com’s sports section generated 50 million page views last year. This site generated 30% of that – 15 million – with one and a half writers (Jim started in June) and without the backing of the city’s two biggest newspapers, a promotional budget or a credential. I think we need to up our ad rates.

Read the full story about blogs here. The cover story about Philly sports media overall – which, again, paywall – is here.

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Meanwhile, Joe Mason of the Burlington County Times had me as a guest on his podcast this week. We talked about everything from starting the site and monetizing it to commenters and podcasts. It’s probably the closest thing to a Reddit AMA that you’ll get. Interview starts around two-minute mark.