A note from Jason Saul, the director of digital services at member station WWNO in New Orleans, on the success of sports reporting at his station.

“NFL and NBA beat reporting has been a really big success for us.

Every Saints game, most home Pelicans (NBA) games, and the frequent local special sports events (Super Bowl, NBA All Star Game, WrestleMania, Sugar Bowl, New Orleans Bowl, etc.). Would like to expand to LSU and Tulane football, but don’t have the time.

Twitter has been the central vehicle for my sports reporting (in addition to website stories and some on-air stuff). The New Orleans Twitter community is very, very robust, and has eaten it up: I pull interesting facts, stats, stories, photos, etc. to flesh out game day play-by-play, which is in stark contrast to others in a very crowded space — most other reporters just presenting same dry stats on each play (though I do a fair bit of that, too).

Finding that, contrary to most pub radio employees’ preconception, WWNO readers/listeners want MORE sports coverage, but done in a way that’s reflective of the NPR voice. Have even had a few people tell me explicitly that they hate sports, but appreciate the tweets and stories because they’re told in a way that gives them insight to heretofore-impenetrable water cooler chat.”