AWARD-WINNING HYPERLOCAL NEWS & CONTENT

The Waterland Blog is part of South King Media, an independent, locally-owned publisher that creates and produces award-winning Local News/Events Blogs, Podcasts, Email Newsletters, Live Video Feeds and Film/Video!

We publish eight local blogs (The Auburn Examiner is our newest) for the South King County area in Washington State, where we serve up the latest local news, politics, events, arts, entertainment and more with a monthly reach of over 140,000 Readers located just south of Seattle.

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 a member of 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 are also members of the Society of Professional Journalists, which has honored us with numerous awards since our origination in 2008.

Here are our average monthly network-wide stats for calendar year 2023 (as per Google Analytics):

  • Sessions: 81,152/month
  • Pageviews: 236,624/month

For a full Media Kit/Rate Card, please email Theresa Schaefer at [email protected].

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.

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 Schaeferat [email protected].

The main Contributors to this website include:

Scott Schaefer

Founder/Publisher/Editor. With three National Emmy Awards for Writing on “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and decades of 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 previous credits include as a Director on “Penn & Teller:Bullsh*t!” (Showtime), “The Arsenio Hall Show” (Paramount), “Sightings” (Paramount), “America’s Funniest People” (ABC), Fox On-Air Promotions and KING-TV’s “Almost Live!” where he got his start in 1985. To learn more about Scott, 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

Reporter. Sarah has been in media and publishing for over 16 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.

Read her work here.

Alia Sinclair

Reporter. 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 Mosaicmagazine for creatives.

Read her work here.

Mellow DeTray

Reporter. Mellow DeTray is a Seattle native who has spent the last 17 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.

Shane Griffiths

Web Design. Self-taught Marketing Consultant who helped us re-design our entire network of websites after a disastrous server crash in Aug. 2019. His company Clarity Online uses SEO and WordPress to help struggling businesses rise to the top.

Jack Mayne

Reporter.

UPDATE 12/30/21: Sadly, veteran journalist and good friend Jack Mayne has passed away – read his obit/tribute here.

Mayne has done about all there is to do in print journalism. He has been 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. 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.

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 amazing skills we call ‘Brunksmanship.’ He also has built and maintained the code that runs our sites. Blog and plans many more.

SEATTLE BUSINESS PROFILE
In late August, 2018, South King Media was profiled by Seattle Business Magazine.

Read the full story here.