FOX Sports North Remembers Baseball Legend Harmon Killebrew (+ live funeral coverage today)

Note: FSNorth will carry today’s funeral live on FOX Sports North & FoxSportsNorth.com starting at noon CT.

When the news that baseball legend, Harmon Killebrew had passed away broke on May 17, everyone at FOX Sports North sprang into action. Staff across all departments rallied with the passion and urgency of a baseball team in the 9^th inning, desperate for a win. Everyone understood how important it was to make sure Harmon, a hometown hero for many, was remembered with the utmost respect. FOX Sports North paid tribute to Killebrew for the amazing ballplayer, role model and human being that he was and will be forever remembered.

Following is how FOX Sports North covered the story of Harmon Killebrew across all platforms:

Production/Programming

The FOX Sports North production and programming departments worked together to rearrange primetime schedules to accommodate new content on May 17:

·         Half hour tribute: ‘Spotlight: Harmon Killebrew Tribute’ was scheduled before and after the Twins game.

·         The production team produced a special edition of "Twins Live" pregame and Twins Live postgame was cancelled and replaced with the  a re-air of the Killebrew Tribute

·         A programming crawl read: “Baseball Hall of Famer and Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew has passed away.  Stay tuned to FOX Sports North tonight for Spotlight: Harmon Killebrew Tribute at 8 p.m.”

Website/Social Media

FoxSportsNorth.com immediately launched a Harmon Killebrew tribute webpage with countless stories, videos, photos and memories. An exclusive personal column from current Twins player, Michael Cuddyer was also posted. Cuddyer’ s column was re-posted across media platforms, tweeted out to his 20,000+ Twitter followers and “trended” on local social media throughout the day.

FOX Sports North streamed the Minnesota Twins Harmon Killebrew press conference live with reaction from former teammates on FoxSportsNorth.com in addition to a plethora of other content, including:

·         Killebrew Tribute Page: Stories, Videos, Donate to Harmon’s Foundation, Post Comments, etc

·         Article: Twins Family Reflects

·         Article: Hall of Famer Killebrew dies at 74

·         Article: Twins Win One for Harmon

·         Video: Killebrew, one of the 50 Greatest Twins

·         Video: Joe Mauer on why he wanted to adopt Harmon Killebrew as his grandfather (among many other player videos)

·         Photo gallery: Remembering Harmon

·         Photo gallery: Harmon’s five best stats

·         Photo gallery: Tributes to Killebrew

·         Numerous Facebook and Twitter posts

Other

 The OAP/Marketing team turned around a promo within hours of the news and numerous FOX Sports North on-air talent made special guest appearances on radio shows throughout the day.

·         Anthony Lapanta, Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven joined KFAN Sports Talk Radio to talk about their memories of Killebrew. Watch Clips:

o    Lapanta on Killebrew

o    Bremer on Killebrew

·         Tyler Mason appeared as a guest on FOX Radio with Zakk and Jack, listen to clip.

The Next Chapter

FOX Sports North will continue to honor Killebrew and his spirit felt throughout Twins Territory over the next week. The regional sports network will carry Killebrew’ s funeral service live from Arizona on FOX Sports North and FoxSportsNorth.com on Friday, May 20 and the memorial service live from Target Field on Thursday, May 26. "Spotlight: Harmon Killebrew Tribute" will re-air throughout the remainder of the season.