By Scott Schaefer
Founder/Publisher/Editor
South King Media

Happy New Year to all from your new iLoveKent team!

All of us at South King Media are very excited to be carrying on the vision of Founder Dana Neuts, but before we dive into a profile of us, we’d like to first offer the following disclaimer:

Between 1985-88, new iLoveKent Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer worked on a Seattle comedy TV show at KING-TV called “Almost Live!”

This show was known for poking fun, mostly at various people and communities in the region, including Kent (view some video samples here). Sketches like “Cops in Kent” (see below), “Studs of South King County,” “Green River Dance” and others (including numerous jabs at big hair) were common on the show.

This disclaimer is to officially notify all our Readers – and all residents of Kent – that Schaefer was never involved in the writing or production of these comedy bits. By the time the show morphed from an hour-long ripoff of David Letterman/Johnny Carson to a 30-minute sketch/taped bit comedy show, Schaefer had moved on to working in Los Angeles, mostly doing writing/directing for a new TV network called Fox.

And some of the people to blame for these unfunny gags were John Keister, Ed Wyatt, Bill Nye, Joe & Nancy Guppy and famous Kent native (and Oscar nominated screenwriter) Bob Nelson…but not me.

Therefore, any bias you may think this former “Almost Live!” writer has against Kent is dead wrong! I didn’t do it!

That’s me on the left with my fellow “Almost Live!” Writers Joe Guppy (center) and Bill Nye (right), circa 1987. NOTE: Those two guys are some of the ones who wrote the lame Kent bits, NOT me

Here’s an example of a very unfunny Kent-related sketch I had no affiliation with, since I was working some 1100+ miles south of the area at the time:

Okay, with that out of the way (and considering that I can no longer follicly violate Kent’s Big Hair Ordinance), I want to emphasize that yes, we all do LOVE Kent, and we promise to treat this city with the respect it deserves, via delivering local news, events, arts, entertainment, photos, videos and more (albeit with an occasional sense of humor…).

We’ve been doing “local blogs” for 10 years now, with the multiple award-winning B-Town (Burien) Blog, as well as five others for the Highline area just northwest of Kent (read more about South King Media here).

South King Media will keep Michelle Teeter and Kara Hackney of the current team on to assist with the transition and future growth, and Dana Neuts will stay on as an advisor and occasional writer.

And now, meet the new team members behind iLoveKent:

  • Scott Schaefer, Founder/Publisher/Editor: With three National Emmy Awards for Writing on “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and over 25 years’ experience in TV/video, multimedia, marketing/advertising, technology and the internet, Scott started The B-Town Blog as a hobby in 2007 and has since turned it into a full-time business. His other credits include as a Field Director on “Penn & Teller:Bullsh*t!” (Showtime), “The Arsenio Hall Show” (Paramount), “Sightings” (Paramount), “Totally Hidden Video” (Fox), “America’s Funniest People” (ABC), Fox On-Air Promotions and KING-TV’s “Almost Live!” where he got his start in 1985. Most recently he Directed and Produced an award-winning 30-minute short film about a historic local UFO sighting called “The Maury Island Incident.” Connect with Scott on LinkedIn here.
  • Theresa Schaefer, Sales Manager. Scott’s wife most recently served as a member of the Victorinox Swiss Army Sales Management team. Theresa is a veteran sales and marketing professional – with deep customer service experience at Nordstrom – who is ready to help locals love your business. Email her for our Media Kit.
  • Michael Brunk, Photographer/Technical Guru. With a love of photography that spans more than 20 years, Michael has fond memories of film but wouldn’t give up his digital SLR for anything. His checkered past includes stints as a monthly columnist for a nationally published magazine on telecommunications and technology and several years reviewing movies. He’s also been known to dabble in community theater. His main qualifications are a large camera and free time. He also builds and maintains the code that runs our sites, and has served as a vital behind-the-scenes figure (so much so that he’s inspired his own verb for high quality work: Brunksmanship).
  • Jack Mayne, Associate Publisher/Senior Reporter. Jack Mayne has done about all there is to do in print journalism, and rumors are that ink still runs through his veins. He was City Editor of the Seattle P.I. back in its glory days, edited the Journal American in Bellevue and Valley Daily News in Kent in the 1990s (yes, he’s returning to town). Before that he was a freelance international journalist and reported from South Africa, China, visited over 80 countries and even covered a colonial war in the 20th century between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the desolate Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. He got his start at the Vancouver Province, thence to The Associated Press, becoming chief of the New England bureau, but a desire of AP to send him to Buffalo, N.Y., drove him back to Seattle. With writing for print becoming quaint and dated, he is now setting his sights on Web journalism and has written several stories for the South King Media and plans many more.
  • Mark Neuman, Writer/Marketing: former real-world Journalist, TV Host, Producer and Marketer, Mark is an old friend of Scott’s going back to when they worked on their high school newspaper together (West Seattle High’s “Chinook”). Mark has interviewed two US Presidents, cops, cooks and cartoonists, authors and artists, senators, singers, scholars and senior citizens, along with the first Mayor of Burien and a local man running for State Superior Court.

So…what can you expect from the new iLoveKent? How about:

  • Helping local non-profits. South King Media’s mission is not only to inform its communities, it’s to help them. The B-Town Blog has helped promote and market dozens of fundraisers gratis over the last 10 years, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. We look forward to doing the same for Kent.
  • More videos and multimedia. Expect our first live Facebook video this Tuesday night (Jan. 2), when new City Councilmembers and Mayor are sworn in (to view, be sure to “Like” iLoveKent’s Facebook page here).
  • A Jobs page. We’ve just launched a page devoted to Job listings in Kent – check it out here.
  • Webcams. We love being able to check webcams online before driving, or to see if it’s snowing yet…or just for fun. Check out our Webcams here (and if you know of any others, please email me).
  • Daily Digest Email Newsletter. Every day at 6 p.m., we email out that day’s headlines in a FREE newsletter – sign up here!
  • Better Advertising solutions. We don’t just post banner ads and hope for the best – we also create effective, SEO-friendly “Blogvertorial” feature stores about our Advertisers, and for a limited time we’ll be throwing in FREE, highly targeted Facebook Boosts as well! Fo more information, contact Theresa Schaefer at vtheresa@comcast.net.

While we’re all looking forward to a very productive 2018, we’re also reaching out for your help – what would YOU like to see iLoveKent.net cover? Please email your ideas directly to me at scott@southkingmedia.com.

Also, if you are interested in joining our team, and have writing, photography, video, sales or other skills worthy of this venture, please contact me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Scott Schaefer

Founder/Publisher/Editor. Three-time National Emmy Award winning Writer (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”), Director, Producer, Journalist and more...