AWARD-WINNING HYPERLOCAL NEWS MADE WITH LOVE.
The B-Town Blog is part of South King Media, an independent, locally-owned, family-run media company that creates and produces award-winning local news/events websites, email newsletters, live videos, podcasts and film/video productions for a large area south of Seattle, WA.
We publish eight “hyperlocal” news and events websites for the South King County area, where we serve up the latest local news, politics, crime, events, arts, entertainment and more with a monthly reach of around 113,000 Readers.
We pride ourselves on professional, award-winning, high-quality, efficient “hyperlocal journalism” that serves the region we live, work, play and spend our money in.
South King Media is proud to be active members of both the Society of Professional Journalists as well as LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers, which is “committed to strong local independent journalism, whether in small towns or big cities, creating stories that serve their residents and build a sense of place, and shining an informative light that allows citizens to make wise decisions.”
We follow their journalistic ethics and have won numerous awards from the SPJ as well as other organizations.
The B-Town Blog wins 1st Place in Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism Contest
On Thursday, June 6, 2024, The B-Town Blog was awarded First Place in Government & Politics Reporting by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in its Region 10 2023 Excellence in Journalism Contest.
The top honor was given to Scott Schaefer for the article “Kennedy Catholic High ‘tremendously disappointed’ it was not actively consulted by City of Burien despite numerous outreach efforts over proposed nearby Pallet Village encampment,” which was published on Dec. 1, 2023.
Region 10 of SPJ encompasses a competitive field that includes five states – Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This award was given for local news articles published between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023.
Awarded as 2023 “Business of the Year“!
UPDATE SEPT. 22, 2023: We are honored and humbled to have been awarded the 2023 “Business of the Year” by the Kent Chamber of Commerce at their 75th Anniversary Gala held on Sept. 23, 2023! Read more here.
Our local news websites are also certified by Google News
Average Monthly Network Stats (2023)
Here are our average monthly network-wide stats for the calendar year 2023 (as per Google Analytics):
112,756/month
Sessions
163,500/month
Pageviews
We Love to Serve Our Community
We LOVE to serve our community since we live here, work here, have family and good friends here…and we spend our money here.
We are also very proud to have published thousands of stories promoting and marketing local nonprofits and other organizations’ events – at no fee – with value in the tens of thousands of dollars over 15 years.
Business Supported with Great Reach
For local businesses, we offer the best reach and best prices of any local advertising source.
According to a 2018 survey done for the City of Burien, we have a 71% market reach in Burien. We also have a very engaged social media audience that loves our original, independent “hyperlocal” news.
For more info or a full Media Kit/Rate Card, please email Theresa Schaefer at vtheresa@comcast.net.
If you appreciate our award-winning local journalism, please…
Main Contributors
Scott Schaefer
Founder/Publisher/Editor. With three National Emmy Awards for Writing on “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and a veteran in TV/video, multimedia, marketing/advertising, technology and the internet, Scott started The B-Town Blog as a hobby and has since turned it into a full-time business. His previous credits include as a 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. To learn more about him, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottso/ or http://www.scottso.net.
Theresa Schaefer
Sales Manager. Scott’s wife joined him in 2012, and she handles Sales and Marketing/Promotions. Previously she 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 honed at Nordstrom – who is ready to help your business. Email her for our Media Kit.
Sarah Toce
Sarah has been in media and publishing for over 15 years and previously served as the president of the Society of Professional Journalists – Western Washington chapter. Sarah is the recipient of the McCormick Foundation New Media Women grant and was presented with the Community Builder Award by Rep. Pramila Jayapal. She resides in South King County where she regularly advocates for human rights, animal rights and education. Keep up with Sarah on Twitter and Facebook or to reach out with story ideas/suggestions.
Jack Mayne
Senior Reporter. UPDATE 12/30/21: Sadly, veteran journalist and good friend Jack Mayne has passed away – read his obit/tribute here. Mayne did about all there is to do in print journalism, including as city editor of the Seattle P.I. back in its glory days, Journal American in Bellevue and Valley Daily News in Kent in the 1990s. We have since established the Jack Mayne Journalism Scholarship in his memory – donate or get more info here.
Mellow DeTray
Mellow DeTray is a Seattle native who has spent the last 16 years raising her family in Burien. She has volunteered at many local organizations over the years, including the Burien Library, Burien Actors Theatre, and Hot Feet Fitness. For many years Mellow kept a moderately popular cooking & lifestyle blog, and she had a brief stint in political journalism during a local election. Clear and informative writing has always been a side hobby of Mellow’s and she looks forward to bringing you unbiased coverage of City Council meetings.
Read her work here.
Gerald Patriarca
Gerald Patriarca has a BA in Communication from Seattle Pacific University with a background in journalism. He has written articles for his high school and college newspaper, spent time as an intern at KING 5 and KOMO 4 and worked at The Seattle Times. Aside from writing, Gerald, his wife Alma, and their son James own JAG’s Auto Detail in Tukwila. To schedule an appointment and for more information, please visit jagsautodetail.com.
Read his work here.
Alia Sinclair
Alia is a writer residing in SeaTac. She is passionate about the arts and connecting people through the written word, and is the founder and editor-in-chief of Patchwork Mosaic magazine for creatives.
Read her work here.
Nicholas Johnson
Nicholas is an award-winning journalist who grew up in Boulevard Park, graduated from Highline High School and studied journalism at Western Washington University. In May, 2022, he won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists for Investigative Reporting (read his award-winning article here). Johnson has since moved on to another gig at the Everett Herald.
Read his work for us here.
Izzy Wallace
She is a graduate from Highline College, where she got her AA in Multimedia, and her BAS in Integrated Design. She had previously worked at Highline’s Thunderword newspaper for several years as Editor-in-Chief. You can send her ideas for news stories, or photos of your dogs, at shnizzle.my.izzle@gmail.com.
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 main qualifications are a large camera and amazing technical skills we call ‘Brunksmanship.’ He also has built and maintained the code that runs our sites.
Shane Griffiths
Self-taught Marketing Consultant who helped us re-design our entire network of websites after a disastrous server crash in Aug. 2019. He started his first consulting business in 2011 to help small businesses get found online. He then leads a small advertising agency in the transition from traditional to digital services, doubling their clients in 9 months. His latest venture, Clarity Online, uses SEO and WordPress to help struggling businesses rise to the top.
Awards
Kent Chamber’s “Business of the Year” (2023)
We were awarded the 2023 “Business of the Year” by the Kent Chamber of Commerce for 2023!
Corporate Citizen of The Year Award (2022)
We are humbled and honored to have won the 2020 “Corporate Citizen of the Year” award from the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce! Read more and see the awards event video here.
General Excellence Award (2019)
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) honored The B-Town Blog with a First Place ‘General Excellence Award for small publications over a five state area for 2019! This is our third First Place award from the SPJ over our 12+ year history.
Interviews
Schaefer’s Secret Life in Podcast Interview with Pat Cashman
Scott was recently interviewed about his professional career in TV and his start at the Seattle comedy show “Almost Live!” by legendary funnyman Pat Cashman:
Seattle Business Profile
In late August, 2018, South King Media was profiled by Seattle Business Magazine.