Sports radio, newspaper reporters launch new MN Wild site
Minnesota Wild fans have another option for content as a group of writers and broadcasters have teamed up to launch a new website dedicated 100% to the men's professional team in the State of Hockey.
Joe Johnson, the owner of VikingsTerritory.com and purplePTSD.com, has teamed up with former Pioneer Press sports columnist Brian Murphy, Jake Jensen, who previously wrote for The Athletic, and Seth Toupal of KLGR radio in Redwood Falls, to launch MinnyIce.com.
Johnson believes hockey fans will enjoy the new site because their love for Minnesota sports is "evident in everything that we do, and we felt that there was a need in this market for a new local/independent Wild site that covers the team in ways that people seem to prefer."
MinnyIce will feature new content daily from a team of 7 writers, with a goal of differentiating from the competition with weekly report cards, opinion pieces and analysis, in addition to coverage of day-to-day happenings.
"Like our Vikings sites, we want to reflect the diversity in opinion and how people like to consume their sports media," Johnson explained in an email, noting that the group will also produce podcasts and videos.
Murphy will serve as a "free floating columnist, with Johnson likening his role to Bob Sansevere and AJ Mansour, who write for Johnson's Vikings websites when they're not writing for the Pioneer Press or KFAN, respectively.
"With guys like Brian, we want them to be able to write when and about what strikes them each week. So, we expect Brian to be a major contributor as we expand our network with other new sites we’re building like WolvesTERRITORY, GophersTerritory, etc.," Johnson explained.
Toupal, who hosts "The Scoop" on KLGR, will serve as the editor in chief of MinnyIce. He'll co-host the MinnyIce Podcast with Jensen, who previously covered the NHL for The Athletic. The new podcast is essentially the rebranding of Toupal and Jensen's "Lines and Wines" podcast.
In March, they'll launch an all-encompassing Minnesota sports app called "UFFda" that will provide links to local and independent Minnesota sports news, serve as a platform for podcasts and allow fans to communicate with each other.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.