WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | New school announcement date in Wake Up! on Tuesday
EDITOR’S NOTE: A big thanks to Cozy Coffee Station for presenting Wake Up! on ETBlitz daily, and to all of our advertising partners, because without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this site without a paywall. A paywall, if you’ve heard the term and don’t know it, is the irritating little thing that wants you to subscribe to a site, either on a monthly or on a yearly basis, and we said from the beginning we wouldn’t do that – our business model is to allow you guys, the readers, to enjoy our content for free, which we’ve been able to do since the inception of ETBlitz.com back in October, 2023. As for Cozy Coffee Station, they have two stores in East Texas: one in Kilgore, at 110 Midtown Plaza, and the other in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North. If you need to see their massive menu BEFORE you go, well, aren’t you blessed; I happen to have it right here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station. Tell ‘em Mitch sent you.
Who we cover – is about to change
And we’re not taking anyone away; we’re adding to.
I can’t stress enough the importance of this.
The ETBlitz.com coverage area is about to get bigger.
I’m going to announce a date in tomorrow’s Wake Up! where we will add not one, not two, but three high schools to our coverage area that will take effect in the 2025-26 school year.
ETBlitz.com has, just in the calendar year of 2025, already surpassed our number of hits for all of 2024, just six months in. We’re averaging about 452,000 hits a month. Our best months were April, 2024 (Kilgore boys in the state soccer tournament), December, 2024 (best month ever, with Kilgore in the state football title game), January (the UIL State Spirit / Cheer competition in Fort Worth, involving several ETBlitz-area schools), and May (Overton on its state baseball tournament run).
We’ve said it on a few occasions this summer. When we originally launched in October, 2023, ETBlitz.com covered (in alphabetical order) Arp, Gladewater, Henderson, Kilgore, Leverett’s Chapel, Overton, Sabine, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk, White Oak, and Kilgore College, so 11 high schools, and KC.
We added Gilmer right about the time school began last year to make it an even dozen high school programs.
We’re about to go up again.
And there are several reasons for this.
- You guys. I think you enjoy our coverage more when your school is facing another school that we cover. I think that’s only natural.
- Expanding into different markets. We’ve discovered over the last few years that, even though we may not cover all of East Texas, fans, athletes and parents of a LOT of other programs are VERY AWARE of ETBlitz, and have invaded our social media on occasion – usually when their schools meet one of the ones in our coverage area – to talk a little smack, read what we’re saying about them, or just have some fun. And that’s fine. It only makes sense for us to move outward and bring a few of those markets into the fold.
- Advertising. Quite frankly, we don’t have a paywall – we don’t ever want to do that. I mentioned it in my cold opener, about how we don’t want to flash a “hey, do an $8.99-a-month subscription” screen to go any farther. I just hate it. I think it’s very un-cool, and I’d much rather just promote local businesses for a fee, bring their products to you and let you guys enjoy ETBlitz.com without that paywall stuff. In turn, I’m asking you to use their products, whatever they might be. I KNOW you go to Whataburger, because I’m there in line with you, pretty much every single day. It’s the greatest, and I mean, the greatest, bar none.
I KNOW you go get cube steak at Clower Meat Market. And ham on special occasions, and jerky. Let me tell you: the oilfield sausage is good for about 1,000 recipes. But you know how it’s best? Just on its own, just sliced and with cheese and crackers, man.
Go more. If you have a legal problem, call Brent Goudarzi and Marty Young. I mean, who is better? Really?
If you need electrical work, give Greg a call at ETX Electrical. He’ll assess the problem and give you an affordable price. I’ll lay odds there’s not an issue that’s too big.
I’ve been seeing Dr. Jadie Roberts for about 10, 12 years and he’s the absolute best. Dr. Shiloh Roberts and Dr. Jerry Ted Roberts practice at Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center here at 1100 Stone Road, and Jerry Ted’s practice goes back to 1976. He’s even established in Gilmer, now, with Dr. Shawn Johnson, if you’re reading me in Upshur Count.
If you’re on the go and need to gas up, grab a snack and hit I-20, like I’ll be doing pretty soon every other Friday for football, go to Zippy J’s Community Stores. Nobody has better choices and you can absolutely trust their gasoline products, period.
Back in 1990, Mike Clements founded a company called Energy Weldfab. He worked it, and worked it, and that “little company” found its way. White Oak’s own Energy Weldfab is not only on the map – it’s now one of North America’s leaders in manufacturer of oil & gas processing equipment. And Michael Clements, Mike’s son? He’s pretty solid on the ol’ sports microphone, too, if you’ve ever heard him call a game.
Denny’s breakfast specials are workin’ it ‘round the clock. And I know from first-hand experience, especially after some late-night baseball playoff games.
All of these are ad partners of ETBlitz. And they’re business-owners who live in our communities and care about your well-being and how East Texas is doing. Give them your business. They do their best for you.
Tomorrow, we won’t announce the schools we’ll be adding, but we will announce the date. And it won’t be far off. It’ll take us up to 15 high schools. And the three we’re adding?
I think you guys are gonna be impressed.