It is hard to believe.

It is hard to believe this is our second year here at Steel Curtain Network (SCN) since starting this venture just over one year ago.

It’s also hard to believe the Pittsburgh Steelers return to work, training camp, today to officially start the 2024 season.

Dating back to our old stomping grounds, I traditionally outline the state of things to start the new season, and that will continue with this State of SCN Address.

I still remember July 15th of 2023. The day we started SCN, I was excited to see just how our audience would take to our new home. Little did I know, a vast majority of the audience wouldn’t follow us to our new home. The reason behind such things is irrelevant at this point, but I was determined to use the current metrics as baseline data. From Day 1, the approach was different, but it was focused on one thing and one thing only — growth.

No matter how small, the focus was, and is, to grow this network on the written and podcast side into the very best Pittsburgh Steelers outlet on the internet. Have we achieved this objective? Absolutely not, especially in the saturated market that are Steelers websites/podcasts.

However, what I decided to do is to grow through quality, not quantity. Do we cover every minute detail surrounding the team? No, which is strange. Just the other day it was put in our Slack channel how Cam Heyward was 98th on the NFL Top 100 list. I immediately went into “blogger mode” and was about to write when I thought to myself, “We don’t need to compete with those websites anymore.”

Instead, I decided to write my new favorite type of article, a commentary article about the team reporting to training camp. That article did far better than the Heyward news would have done, and it didn’t push some of the quality content off the main page.

Quality over quantity.

It’s a new way of life, and it was certainly an adjustment, but it’s what we are hanging out proverbial hat on at SCN. Have we grown to the audience we had at our old outlet? No, but we have grown from Day 1, and that remains the objective.

If I can focus on the podcast side of things for a second, I can’t say how happy I’ve been with some changes we have, and will, be making in the lineup. Some people who haven’t been around since we truly started to put a lot of time and energy into our podcasts will ask how we got to develop such a robust network of podcasts.

I have always loved sports talk radio, and used to listen to the following lineup on a daily basis:

• Mike & Mike
• Dan Patrick
• Colin Cowherd (before he went crazy)

After a few years I got into listening to Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo on the drive home from work, and I was amazed by these individuals’ ability to capture a listener with nothing but themselves and a microphone. The one thing I hated about all of the previously listed shows were how little they talked about my favorite team, the Steelers.

We all heard plenty of talk about the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots, but the Steelers were rarely every mentioned. So, why don’t I take the skills I have, combine them with some really talented individuals, and start putting together our own pseudo Steelers radio station?

Voila! The Steel Curtain Network podcast network was born.

I can’t take full credit for any of this, it was a brain child of Bryan Davis, Dave Schofield and myself back in 2021 before that season. Since then, we’ve expanded to three shows a day Monday thru Friday, and even content coming on the weekends. If you are a die hard Steelers fan and can’t get enough black-and-gold, this is your podcast network.

If you’re reading this article and have never given our podcasts a chance, I encourage you to give us a try. Just click play on the player on the website, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Once you get into the rotation of shows, you’ll realize it’s easy to become a part of the family. If you listen to the podcasts, you know the family I’m referring to. If you don’t want to listen via the website, you can find our network anywhere you get your podcasts.

Year 2 for SCN is going to be special, and I think a large reason for that is because I think the 2024 Steelers season is going to be special. With that said, buckle up and get ready to experience everything this season will have in store. Win, lose, or tie, we aren’t going anywhere. We are here every step of the way with you, our fellow fans.

I want to finish this by saying “Thank You” to everyone who has given us a shot and made us part of their Steelers “rotation” of websites and podcasts. We couldn’t do it without you!

Lastly, HERE WE GO STEELERS!!