Kate Scott, Who’s Really Kate Troescher, Pissing Off KNBR; Missed Being YouTube Star

UPDATE: Kate Scott / Kate Troescher lands TV gig with KNTV SF and Pac-12 Networks. Congrats to Kate, who’s video stardom was created by me.

In honor of her new position, here’s a classic video-blog she made about Barry Bonds!

Normally, I wouldn’t care about such things, but since this story’s close to my home, I do. Kate Troescher is a radio personality at KNBR 680 who goes by the name of “Kate Scott,” and does so, sadly, because of a set of concerns regarding how she far believes she can’t go in sports broadcasting if she uses her real name.

But that’s not the point of this blog post.

The point of it is that, if  bloggers and sources are to be believed in the email blasts I’m getting, Kate has become a diva there in San Francisco, and the butt of jokes about how important she thinks she is.

When that happens, it means a sword of Damocles is hanging over your head, and it’s likely to fall at any moment.

The Birth Of Kate Troescher AKA Kate Scott, The Video Star, Of Sorts

I can say if that were to happen, it would be a sad bump in an entertainment career that, for me with respect to her, started on September 9, 2006. That was when Kate On Sports was born.

Kate On Sports was, and really still is, a blog and video show that was borne of an idea I came up with in the shower in August of 2006, and then stepped out of the shower to call Kate about the idea — Kate was discovered by Comcast and AOL for their Fanhouse program, and then did a spot for the game days for the SF Giants.

Prior to that, Kate came to me as one of three bloggers suggested by long-time friend, Cal student buddy, and now NFL Network personality, Mike Silver.

At the time, I was working to build the first phases of the network of blog and video channels I have now, and needed content producers in the area of sports.

Of the three people Mike sent my way, Kate had a natural talent for being able to clearly state a complex idea without hesitation or stutter. Moreover, that, combined with her love for Cal sports, made her a formidable find to talk about Golden Bears sports, or sports issues in general. So, it was because of her ability that I was hit by a bolt-of-lightening idea on that Thursday in August of 2006 when I was in the shower.

I correctly figured that Kate could be a great YouTube personality, and gain fame talking about sports topics – in this case, steroids.

This video, one we created to announce her show, was uploaded August 25th, 2006:

Kate On Sports by broadbandsports

We then made a series of videos, and the idea was to focus on edgy topics, as I was trying to build an audience for her. So, we focused on steroids, and also women’s bodybuilding, and it was there, that her view count, and fan-base, started to build.

While I posted her videos on Blip.tv, Dailymotion, Metacafe, and other channels, it was her YouTube videos that started to take off. Kate Scott’s most popular one, which she stupidly took down without informing me or consulting me (I’ll get to that later) gained 40,000 views in just three days.

Here are other video examples:

Kate On Sports: Kate On Female Athletes Part Two by BroadbandMovies

Kate On Sports: Kate On Football Fashion by BroadbandMovies

Kate was starting to catch an up-slope of interest, and right at a time before YouTube launched the YouTube Partner program (2008). While I was working on getting sponsors for her show, I was also able to pay her as a talent partner from my blogging revenues and Sports Business Simulations game monies made.

At the time, Kate told me a story of someone in Cleveland who told her that her looks would not land her on television. The man told her she was too “ethnic” – something I was committed to proving to her was completely wrong, because it was obvious that he played a role in the wrecking of her self-esteem.

I was also committed to Kate because I believed that her being a woman and Lesbian in the male-dominated sports broadcasting World should not be a barrier to her success.

While Kate had a well-known flirtation with men after she got loaded with drink, at the time she was firmly committed to the woman who would later become her wife, Nicole. So, for a ton of reasons, I wanted to see her succeed. To be frank, I wanted to stick my thumb in the eye of the establishment via Kate.

After a time, Kate gained the interest of a major brand, AT&T, and for something called “Mashup Madness”:

Hey Kate,

With March Madness quickly approaching I thought you and the readers of “Kate on Sports” would be interested to learn about a cool new online video mashup site that lets NCAA basketball fans create video for their favorite teams. Here are the details:

AT&T has launched a Mash-Up Madness program enabling fans to create a customized video mashup using exclusive team footage, school fight songs, team graphics and personal photos. Users become producers by dragging and dropping elements to create a video.

Starting now through March 31, 2007, fans can visit the Mash-Up Madness Web site, attblueroom.com/sports to create their mashup, and enter for a chance to win prizes that include including school-specific merchandise, a laptop computer, and a Samsung BlackJack phone.

Each week, AT&T will showcase new videos and recognize their “producers” on the Mash-Up Madness Web site.

Let me know if you think you can do something with this or if you have any questions.
Direct link: http://www.attblueroom.com/sports

Laura Knapp
On behalf of AT&T

So, I passed the email to Kate, and she said…

Hey there,

Well, it looks really cool, but I don’t think I’ll have the time to do it.

What are your thoughts?

Hope the comic book convention was fun!

cheers,
Kate

But that was just the tip of the iceberg of good things to come for her. Kate was trying to break into the business, and was tossing her feelers out in all directions. Here’s the next communication we exchanged, this one on AOL Fanhouse August 14th 2007, where she asked me for my opinion:

Kate Troescher ktr (withheld by Zennie)

8/14/07

to me
What do you think?

Also…thanks for forwarding me the note from Dennis. I think a Warriors show for our next thang sounds great, especially since they’ve signed Matt Barnes and the season’s getting started again soon.

Oh…guess what!?! I got the Cal gig! So I’ll be on FSNBA every week this fall! I’m excited!

Hope to hear from you soon.

cheers,
Kate

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: JohnNess < JohnNess0
Date: Aug 14, 2007 2:28 PM
Subject: Kate on Sports on FanHouse?
To: ktr (withheld by Zennie)

Kate Troescher:

I’m a producer for FanHouse, the web’s most popular sports blog, and I wanted to invite you to join a stable of bloggers and vloggers we’re building to deliver a Rocketboom-style AM rundown for our site.

If you’re not familiar with FanHouse, let me explain how we work: Our site has dozens of the best bloggers around (like MJD, Orson Swindle of Every Day Should Be Saturday, and Brian Cook of MGoBlog), most of whom maintain their own individual blogs on the side. We crank out a great deal of content every day, and this daily vlog would be about presenting the best of it.

If you were interested in joining out team, we’d be happy to have you on as “Kate Troescher” or as “Kate on Sports.” You’d be joining Miss Gossip and five or six other sports female blogger/vloggers which I’m currently working to recruit. We’re looking for female v/bloggers because they’re more telegenic than most of our male contributors. We’re looking for 5 or 6 more, because knocking out these videos can be pretty time consuming at first, and we don’t want to burn anyone out.

The vision we have for this is to allow a different woman blogger to read off our top 5 or so headlines every morning, with a bit of ad-libbing included (in your case, especially when California football was a topic, like with Walsh today). The entire vlog should take about 60 seconds or so.

We pay $50 per video, and our bloggers will tell you that once you join the FanHouse team, we’re open to pitches for more content all over the site.

Please let me know if you’re interested,
John Ness

I encouraged her to go for it, but get the AOL agreement in writing. She did.

Later, she asked me if I would “throw down the dough” for a camera for her to make videos from her Powerbook:

Kate Troescher kt(witheld by Zennie)

8/21/07

to me, Zennie
No…not THAT kind of proposition, but a proposition nonetheless.

So, I’ve been in contact with the guys at FanHouse…they want me to
be one of 5 girls to be the morning “anchor” of their 60 second sports
run-down. The only problem is, I’d have to record my 60 sec. spot the
night before…since they’d want it up by 6 am and are based in NY.

With that said…and I know we’ve been talking about how much easier
OUR lives would be if I had a camera of my own…I was wondering if
you’d be willing to invest in a camera attachment for my Powerbook.

I already have iMovie AND Final Cut Pro on my computer…all I’d need
is a little camera to hook up to it and I would be able to film “Kate
on Sports” episodes whenever I had something to say AND get the word
out about the show on FanHouse.

I have no idea how much they cost, I just thought since the software
would be used to promote SBS, you might be willing to throw down the
dough for the camera.

Let me know what you think! I’m pretty stoked about the possibility of
being able to film “Kate on Sports” episodes whenever I want…and
posting them when the topics are still relevant!!! Hehehe…hope
you’re well!

best,
Kate

We worked out a deal that worked for her, and didn’t involve me shelling out a lot of “dough.” As it happens, the AOL people liked her work so much, they started promoting her, as this email I got from her explains:

Kate Troescher kt(withheld by Zennie)

9/26/07

to Kate
Gooood morning!

Hope you’re having a great week. Just wanted to keep you all posted – whether you wanted to be or NOT – on my latest “industry” gig.

Thanks to my completely unprofessional “Kate On Sports” – www.kateonsports.com – vlog, some folks at AOL Sports decided I’d be a great anchor for their 60 second morning newscast. This morning I posted my first “cast”.

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/09/26/fanhouse-minute-the-pga-takes-a-stand/

Look for me on the front page of “FanHouse” every Wednesday morning from here until they fire me! And if you do make it to the site, leave comments on the post. Even if they’re negative…it still shows my boss that someone is watching!

Have a great rest of the week! And of course…GO BEARS!

cheers,
Kate

Zenophon Abraham zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com

9/26/07

to Noelle, noelle, Kate
Hi,

Completely unprofessional!? Man….Congrats. See what I started! But
the program’s real short there. Don’t forget us over here. I’d like
you to meet our new Online Marketing Chief Noelle Maylander — she’s
copied here.

And also there’s video announcer work for our new client, California
Commercial Group in the near future — like a weeks or so.

Zennie

But with that, Kate still was the focus of Kate On Sports, and to the end of landing a sponsor for her, I created a promotional page, and then went to Ms.T for feedback. She wrote:

 

Kate Troescher kt(Witheld by Zennie)

10/9/07

to me
Hey!

It looks pretty good. I need to get you a new, updated photo of me to
use on the site, and the pic that you choose as a still on the
one-sheet is AWFUL!

I have brown hair and I look chubby, so let’s pick another. I’ll look
at the shows I liked and we’ll go from there.

Also, I might re-word a few things, so when I’m on my computer – as
opposed to a work one – I’ll copy it into a Word document, edit it,
and send it back to you.

As for Thursday…let’s still plan on 12:30.

Will there be $$$ waiting for me at the shoot?

I know, I know…pushy as always.

what can i do?

After that, the emails I have, but will not post, have Kate trying to work out some personal issues with her life, and needing to pull back from Kate On Sports. But what bothered me was that she was also getting advice from old white media heads, who had, as she put it in one email, “25 years in the television business.”

The trouble is, they had zero experience in the new media, digital media, business.

I knew a problem was forming when she didn’t claim Kate On Sports on Linkedin. So I contacted her about it, and she wrote this:

I’d like to start off by saying I’m sorry that you feel insulted by the fact that I have not listed SBS as a previous employer on my Linkedin profile. The fact is, the reason I did not list it has nothing to do with you or anything you’ve done. As I have said numerous times before, I was and remain grateful for the opportunities you presented me with and know that I would not be working for AOL if it wasn’t for Kate on Sports.

You asked for honesty, so let me explain to you why I did not list SBS on Linkedin, yet continue to list it on the resume that I pass on to possible employers. The reason I did not list Kate on Sports on my Linkedin profile is because the two people I trust most in the television industry told me not to.

They both have told me that while it was great practice, a lot of the facts I present in my shows are incorrect – which I have looked at and now agree with – and I do not look “as good” as I do in person. And since I am not currently working for SBS, with only 10-20 seconds to impress possible employers…if they happen to look at an old episode that I don’t look great in…just like that, my chance at a job could be gone.

What Kate failed to understand was that it wasn’t employer / employee, but co-producers. As I told her, the show was about her. I owned the rights to it, but the effort was shared. There could be no Kate On Sports, without that Kate, and because it was designed around her abilities.

Sure, I could have went out and conducted a search for the next “Kate” and created that personality, and has a mind to do that, but I’m not phony and at the end of the day, that’s not my way. As much as I thought of doing that, I did not. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Also, as far as “facts”, she never said what “facts” were incorrect, and forgot to note that the content was without a script. What’s interesting is that I’d bet the same people got a lot of “facts” wrong, but told someone that it didn’t matter as long as they got the content out. In other words, she was fed some complete bullshit by someone who was not cool with what was then called “New Media”. The real crime is she didn’t tell me about any of this until I asked about it.

What I wished is that Kate had not taken the advice of her old TV heads. Whatever they were telling her, it caused her to take down the main YouTube channel, without telling me, without consulting me, and just as I was trying to land a major broadcast agent for her. It also caused her to avoid talking to me at the Fox Sports Bay Area Christmas Party, even as I was trying to get her an agent, and talking to a prospect. And I had no idea why she was behaving that way, as it was happening. I just remember that feeling like I’d been hollowed out – emptied.

And that channel contained all the stats I needed to produce an argument for her. She blew it.

This is what I wrote:

Zenophon Abraham zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com

3/10/08

to ktresh
you should take the mature route and contact me and I will do it.

Kate, I’ve now considered this experiement — which held so much promise — a failure. I did so because your fear of success is so intense you take actions that block your own advancement. In my case, I paid you $300 for a video — a good one the client linked — that you then went and took down without contacting me or considering WHERE IT WAS LINKED to, and how it may impact this business. I recovered from it, but at this point I do resent that I took a chance on you.

Meanwhile, I’ve restored the settings to their original position. Again, if you want something done, you’re going to have to do that which you’ve proven you can’t do — communicate. There’s a lesson here: you can’t run away from a mess. The job is to clean it up.

Best,

Zenophon Abraham zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com

3/10/08

to Kate
Hi,

The other matters fine. The Kate On Sports — no. The reason is this. “Kate On Sports” is a generic name created by SBS. One such that we can get — or create — another Kate, and that’s what we intend to do. Moreover, the videos are part of the record of the firm and its work. I remind you that I — not you — created the name and the look and the concept of the show. It remains the property of SBS, and you know this. If you don’t, you do now.

Kate, I’m going to be frank. You really misjudged and misunderstood this entire engagement. You were never an employee of SBS, but an independent contractor. You were Co-producer of a show. Moreover, I made the mistake of essentially bending to whatever whim you wanted just to accommodate you.

That practice has ended.

You have to change. You have no idea how much I had invested in working to get you discovered and not for any monetary gain beyond the show. But you really need to stop and take a hard look at your priorities and the choices you have made to date. I continue to believe in your talent, but I strongly question your desire to succeed.

Best,

Zennie

KCBS Then KNBR For Kate, YouTube And Beyond For Me

Kate continued on with her work, then for KNBR Radio. She became a fixture, reading the news in the wee hours of the morning, and for some years. Then, she finally got on the air with KNRB radio and at a time during the day, rather than at, say, 3 AM.

Meanwhile YouTube established the YouTube Partner Program, allowing me to earn ad revenue from YouTube videos. Since Kate destroyed Kate On Sports on YouTube, she erased any chance of the channel gaining partner status, which it was well on its way toward doing. We had gained almost 500 subscribers at the time, which was pretty good considering it was early in 2008. The view numbers were over 100,000 total, at the time.

If Kate had kept the channel alive, and given interest in her from AOL and AT&T, she could have emerged to become one of YouTube’s greatest video pioneer stars. By my estimation, her annual income potential, when sponsorships are considered along with Google AdSense revenue, was in the range of $500,000 annually, and perhaps more. And if you look at the success of iJustine and Phil De Franco, and Ray William Johnson, my estimate quickly becomes very conservative.

And what would my gain have been? It would have been from the eventual sale of Kate On Sports. If Kate and I worked together to build it, it would have wound up on cable television, just as my YouTube show, The Blog Report With Zennie62 did, on CoLours TV and DISH Network from 2009 to 2011.

But all of that is a dream, now. The reality now is Kate’s still trying to break into television, but a star in local sports radio on KNBR – but her reportedly diva-ish attitude is rubbing some the wrong way, according to a blogger who follows KNBR, and perhaps too closely.

I hope Kate stops and enjoys her blessings, rather than making moves to mess them up. She needs to realize that, unlike Kate On Sports, she’s not even a co-producer at KNBR. She’s really just an employee.

They can cut her off in a flash.

Part of me thinks that’s poetic justice, the other part of me hopes it never happens.

Stay tuned.