South King Media to expand into Kent with acquisition

Last week iLoveKent.net and South King Media, owner of six local blogs – including The B-Town and Waterland Blogs – celebrated their 10-year anniversaries with a big announcement. 

Effective January 1, 2018, South King Media will take over the day-to-day operations of iLoveKent.net, a Kent-based blog started by freelance writer and publisher Dana Neuts in September 2007. Scott Schaefer will be responsible for the editorial side of the business, and Theresa Schaefer will manage the business side including sponsorships and advertising.

iLoveKent celebrated its 10-year anniversary on December 8 at Artsy Fartsy Art Lessons in downtown Kent with about three dozen guests in attendance, including readers, sponsors, advertisers and friends. Neuts made the announcement that evening.

“I started iLoveKent ten years ago to fill a growing media gap in South King County. The site has grown beyond my expectations, particularly in the last year with our rebranding, participating in community events and hosting of two successful Kent political candidate debates,” Neuts said. “It is time to take the site to the next level, and I know that the Schaefers and their team are the right people to do that. They will retain all of our strengths and build upon our successes.”

South King County media will keep Michelle Teeter and Kara Hackney of the iLoveKent team on to assist with the transition and future growth. Neuts will stay on as an advisor and occasional writer, and the Schaefers will be responsible for all editorial and operational decisions starting January 1.

“This is a very exciting opportunity,” Schaefer said. “Our goal is to utilize what we’ve learned over ten years of producing local, award-winning reporting and translate that to iLoveKent. Dana has done a terrific job building her site up, and we will work hard to replicate what we’ve done in our other markets – in this case our goal will be to make this the leading news source for Kent.”

Kent is the sixth largest city in the state, and third largest in the county, with a population of 126,952.

iLoveKent will be the seventh local news blog that South King Media publishes in the region.

Dana Neuts

I am a full-time freelance writer, editor, marketing pro and the publisher of iLoveKent.net.