12/28/11 UPDATE: We have decided to change the name of our new Internet Radio Station to ‘SoKing Internet Radio,’ so we can better serve all six of our local blogs in the South King County Area.

More details soon…so stay tuned!

PREVIOUSLY: South King Media, the parent company of six local blogs, including The B-Town (Burien) Blog, announced to a full house at its annual Holiday Party Wednesday night (Dec. 14) that it will roll out something no other local blog in the northwest has – an Internet Radio Station.

“We’re extremely excited to be the first local blog in the region to offer this feature,” said Founder/Publisher Scott Schaefer. “After four years of growing into what the Society of Professional Journalists honored as ‘Best Hyperlocal Website’ in the northwest, we think this will be a great new addition.”

Initially focused on local indie music, interviews and live recordings for flagship site The B-Town Blog, eventually a different radio station will be developed for each of South King Media’s five other blogs, including Des Moines, White Center, Normandy Park, SeaTac and Tukwila.

Stations will feature local music, news from the blogs, event listings, weekly shows, journalist roundtable discussions, free Public Service Announcements for local non-profits, original content like a weekly Open Mic and much more; and eventually – live streaming from local events.

“Just take what we’re doing online, add local music and move it to radio,” Schaefer explained. “We’ll be the first Hyperlocal Radio Station in the northwest.”

Each station will be Advertiser-supported, and South King Media is seeking Charter Advertisers now – just email Sales Manager Joy Steele at joy@southkingmedia.com for special introductory rates and hop on board the next local media revolution.

“Of course, a venture like this can’t happen without a good team,” Schaefer said. “And we’re actively looking for on-air hosts, bands, show ideas, and especially Sales Reps.”

The current team behind South King Media, in addition to Schaefer, includes:

• Michael Brunk, Photographer/Code Guru
• Ralph Nichols, Senior Writer
• Jack Mayne, Associate Publisher/Writer
• Mark Neuman, Writer/Sales/Host
• Joy Steele, Sales Manager/Writer
• Greg Wright, Editor/Writer, The SeaTac Blog
• Bryan Charles, Intern Animator Extraordinaire

If you’re a musician or know any local bands with recordings, or want to join this growing team in this exciting new enterprise, please contact Schaefer directly at scott@southkingmedia.com.

Here’s more info from a press release Schaefer submitted to himself to publish:

In addition to being a former journalist, Schaefer won three National Emmy Awards for Writing on the hit edutainment series ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ for PBS/Disney. He has over 25 years’ experience in media, including six years in Hollywood, and two years as Music Director for KEWC, his college radio station at Eastern Washington University.

“One of my biggest joys during my college years was programming and hosting original radio shows,” Schaefer said. “And now I can’t wait to get back on the air and entertain and inform, only from a truly local perspective.”

B-Town Blog Radio will be the first Burien-based entertaining radio station since KQIN, once located at 800 AM, which went on the air in October, 1970. The City of Burien currently operates a low-watt informational station at 540 AM, but that can’t be heard more than a few blocks away.

“Terrestrial radio is going the way of newspapers and dinosaurs,” Schaefer added. “Since I started The B-Town Blog in 2007 I have believed that the internet is the future for all media, and I think that within just a few years most of us will even be receiving wi-fi in our cars.”

Schaefer bases his radio predictions on a September 2011 study by iSuppli.com, which states that “sales of cars with Internet radio integrated into their head unit will soar to 24 million units in 2018, up from 168,000 in 2010” – a +14,186 percent increase.

“Of course, the true measure of any successful media is the content, and we’re totally committed to delivering great original radio programming 24/7,” Schaefer said. “And we’re also looking for local bands, on-air hosts, show ideas, Sales Reps and more.”

Schaefer hopes to premiere the station sometime in January, 2012, so stay tuned…

For more information on South King Media, visit http://www.southkingmedia.com.

Click image to see larger version.

REMINDER: Our holiday Advertiser and Reader Appreciation Party is TONIGHT – Wednesday, Dec. 14th from 5:30 – 7 p.m. – at the Tin Theater (923 SW 152nd) in Olde Burien!

This event will also serve as a Food Drive for the Highline Area Food Bank, so be sure to bring 2+ boxes or cans of non-perishable food (there will be a food barrel near the door).

This is an absolutely free par-tay, open to all Advertisers and Readers of South King Media’s network of six local blogs (including this here Blog), and will give you an opportunity to hang out with your local bloggers, enjoy free champagne, appetizers, watch the world premiere of an original comedy animation by our Intern Bryan Charles on the big screen, get a sneak peek at a site re-design as well as another HUGE announcement that will make every other local blog wish the world was really going to end in 2012 (the big presentation starts in the theater around 6pm…).

There will also be some surprises, so be sure to bring your friends and get ready for a great time with your original, award-winning B-Town Bloggers.

And of course, we just can’t resist re-posting Mark Neuman’s original holiday poem, which of course he’ll recite at the shindig:

‘Twas the 11th night before Christmas
And all through the Tin Theater
B-Town Bloggers stood pondering:
“Hey, what rhymes with ‘Theater!’”

Scattered with care throughout the place
Red things and green things
And stuff that looks
Like Santa’s face

There’ll be vittles and cookies
Wine, beer and grog
While everyone celebrates
Four great years of the Blog

Come mingle with
Readers and Writers and Photogs alike
Hey! Look over there!
While the punch we spike

Join friends and sponsors
And our dear Advertisers
Who stick with us as we
Make you all smarter and wiser

So be hurryin’ to Burien
In this season of good cheer and love
Hey, has anyone ever really seen
A bona fide ‘Turtle Dove’?

It’s December fourteenth
From 5:30 to 7
We’ll see you all there
Rip roarin’ and revvin’

Learn more (and RSVP early) on our Facebook Event Page, or send us an email!

It was four years ago today (at 9:03 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007 to be exact) that The B-Town Blog made its first post, and we’re happy to celebrate by thanking YOU, our Readers and Advertisers, without whom this venture would not be possible.

In those four years (which seems like much less!), we’ve grown into the South King County area’s leading News, Events, Arts, Entertainment and more blog, with a recent average of between 55,000 – 60,000 Unique Visitors per month!

We’d like to also invite everyone to our Holiday Party this Wednesday, Dec. 14th from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the Tin Theater in Olde Burien, where we’ll be toasting, networking and announcing some very BIG news about our plans for 2012. More info about this shindig here and here.

Flash back with us now to our very first charming post, which you can read by clicking here.

Our total number of Pageviews for October was 111,093, up +22.05% (both stats adjusted to reflect 31 days’ traffic).

Here’s a screenshot of our most recent Google Analytics stats:

Click image to see larger version.

We’re proud of our success here at The B-Town Blog, because we’ve worked very hard to continually serve the Community we live, love, work, shop and spend in by updating our website daily with professionally-produced, award-winning local Journalism.

Last May, we were honored to be named ‘Best Hyperlocal Website‘ in the entire Northwest (covering a 5-state area) by the Society of Professional Journalists.

We were also just named the 3rd ‘Best Neighborhood Blog‘ in KING5′s “Best of Western Washington” contest (read more about that here).

We are Burien’s original “Local Blog,” in business since Dec. 5, 2007, and run by actual, experienced Journalists, award-winning Writers and Professional Photographers.

And we’d like to point a few things out to our Readers, as well as businesses considering Advertising:

• We are (far as we know) the only local website in the entire country that is absolutely transparent in its website traffic statistics – something you will NOT see on any other competing “local” websites, both new and old. Click on the Sitemeter or Quantcast graphics below to see our LIVE stats (keep in mind that statistics vary with each independent measuring company, something that’s not in our control, and part of the risk of being transparent):

  

  

  

  Click to learn more about our Pledge to the TAO of Journalism.

• “Transparent” of course means that, at any time, YOU the Reader can click on one of at least three statistics links in the footer of the website (at the bottom of any page), and see what kind of traffic we’re getting right then and there from totally independent, external sources. Ever see any other website do that? Neither have we…
• We strongly believe there is no more room in the media world for self-produced, fabricated circulation numbers. We’d also like to remind any potential Advertisers out there to shop around and ask for actual, independent proof of website traffic statistics from other sites before buying, because you deserve honesty.
• Our philosophy for gaining Readers, though simple, is very effective:

PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
+
AWARD-WINNING DAILY LOCAL REPORTING
+
BLOGVERTORIAL STORIES
+
ACTIVE FACEBOOK PAGE (nearly 3,300 “Fans”)
+
TWITTER FEED (over 2,300 Followers)

=
CUSTOMERS!

We are active members of Discover Burien, as well as the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce, and you’ll see us at various events, festivals, Farmers Markets, city council meetings and much more.

Founder/Publisher Scott Schaefer, a three-time National Emmy-Award winner for his work on “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” is also a member of both the Writers and Directors Guilds of America, from his 25+ year career in television. And recently, he was elected to serve on the Board of Discover Burien.

We are also members of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association.

Oh, and did we mention that we also produce five other local news blogs, covering White Center, Normandy Park, Tukwila, SeaTac and Des Moines?

If you’d like more information about our very-affordable Advertising solutions, please don’t hesitate to email us (and don’t forget to ask about our effective new Coupons Page!).

Also, if you haven’t already, please join us on our fast-growing social network:

And as always, THANKS to every single one of the 58,703 Readers for your continued support!

PS: Want to join our award-winning team? We’re currently looking for Sales Reps to help market our very-effective, easy-to-sell Advertising solutions to local businesses! Email your resumé to editor(at)b-townblog.com for details!

Hope you bet to ‘Show’ folks – The B-Town Blog was awarded 3rd Best Neighborhood Blog in KING5′s 2011 ‘Best of the Western Washington‘ contest, with the winners announced Friday, Oct. 28th.

The contest is voted on by viewers and readers, and we competed against 53 other local blogs in western Washington.

In 2010, we came in 8th, so this is a nice move up.

See the full results here.

If your local business won an award, please email us and we’ll do a post (it’s not very easy to search KING5′s website…).

A special thanks to everyone who voted for us!

My Oh My! – Saturday night (May 21st) at Safeco Field, The B-Town Blog team hit a major home run when it was named ‘Best Hyperlocal Website’ by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in their annual awards that covers Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

“We received more than 2,500 entries from dozens of media organizations throughout the region which were then reviewed and rated by out-of-state judges,” reads the SPJ website. “Congratulations to all of our 2010 SPJ award winners and to the editorial, design and production teams that helped make their work possible!”

This is a huge honor for everyone involved with The B-Town Blog, which was started as a hobby by Founder/Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer in Dec., 2007, then turned into a full-time business in 2008.

Now, we’ve been awarded the top prize in our category for the entire Pacific Northwest by our journalist peers, and we are humbled by this honor.

Since this is an award for the entire team, some serious shout-outs are required now to everyone who works very hard to make this site the ‘best,’ including:

• Michael Brunk, Photographer/Technical Guru
• *Ralph Nichols, Senior Writer (*also a 3rd place winner in Business Reporting for his series on Burien Town Square!)
• Janet Grella, Sales Diva
• Mark Neuman, Writer/Marketing
• Bart Bryan, Sales Dude/Video Host
• Philip Benais, Intern, Big Picture High School
• Bryan Charles, Intern, Big Picture High School
• Nicholas Johnson, Reporter/Photographer
• Kristen Kerns, Sales
• Lisa Bosques, Sales
• Jack Mayne, Reporter
• Rachel M. Lusby, Writer
• Gina Bourdage, Reporter/Designer
• Francis Zera, Photographer
• Joy Steele (aka “Missed Congeniality”), Humor Columnist
• Shawn Underwood, Humor Columnist
• Theresa Frasch, Sales
• Many others!

Over 200 awards were handed out Saturday night in a ceremony hosted by Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times and Jen Mueller of Root Sports (download a PDF of all winners here).

Here’s a Michael Brunk pic of the big screen at Safeco Field when we were announced as winners:

About the SPJ
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists is dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press as the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty. To ensure that the concept of self-government outlined by the U.S. Constitution remains a reality into future centuries, the American people must be well informed in order to make decisions regarding their lives, and their local and national communities. It is the role of journalists to provide this information in an accurate, comprehensive, timely and understandable manner.

Michael Brunk, B-Town Blog Photographer

by Greg Wright

I’ve known Michael Brunk a long time, and he’s a man of many talents: Boeing technology guru, actor, director, webmaster… and photographer.

For several years now, he’s been keeping a pretty low profile as one of the key figures behind the B-Town Blog and its family of online publications, including our own SeaTac Blog. In addition to providing all the webmastering for the blogs, he’s also the organization’s primary photojournalist. If you’ve seen photos of Three Tree Point fireworks, Link light rail, or dazzling Des Moines and Burien sunsets on the blogs… well, that’s Michael’s stuff.

Michael had his first public exhibition as part of the Poverty Bay Art Festival in Des Moines last September, and this spring he has become one of the founding members of Tyee Photography Alliance, a group of like-minded South Enders providing photographic services for the community.  He’ll also be conducting classes at the Burien Community Center starting this June!

If you’d like to see Michael’s work in person, the next chance will be Mother’s Day weekend, May 7 and 8.  From 10 AM to 5 PM, Tyee Photography Alliance will have a booth at PowellsWood on Dash Point Road. That Saturday, May 7 at 11 AM, Michael will be presenting a talk entitled “Nature Photography: Right Place, Right Time.”

I ran a few comments and questions by Michael earlier this week.

GW: I imagine that when you’re shooting for art’s sake, or for your own pure enjoyment, you prepare somewhat differently than when you’re on a photojournalism assignment.

Michael: Assignments are nearly always very schedule-driven. An event is happening at a certain place at a certain time and I have to be there to get the shot. For me that means getting there early so I can get the “lay of the land” and talk to people so I know how the event is going to flow and what I need to do to be in the best position to shoot the photos I want to tell the story.

Shooting for pleasure can be much more organic and relaxed. I’ll sometimes throw the gear in the car and head out without a specific destination in mind.

GW: I recently took my first photography class, and it seemed like the instructor’s whole point was, “I’m not really trying to teach you how to use your camera. I’m just trying to get you to slow down.” It’s almost like photography is a zen-like experience.

Self-Portrait at Salmon Creek Park

Michael: I would say, “It depends.” If you’re shooting the news, slowing down isn’t typically an option. You’re capturing an event as it unfolds and you sometimes have just a moment in time to get the image you want. Still, it can be zen-like in that you really have to focus on what you’re doing and push everything else out of your mind. You’re often juggling a lot of variables to make the photo happen and you can’t afford to be distracted.

Shooting anything else, I would agree that slowing down is a good thing. The best photographers don’t just capture random images, they create the photo. That means they take time to visualize what they want before they press the shutter release.

GW: The subtitle of your talk at PowellsWood on Mother’s Day weekend is “Right Place, Right Time.” How much of that is hurry up and wait, how much sheer patience, and how much of that is planning?

Michael: As I already mentioned, photography in one sense is making the image you want happen. That’s not a random process. I shoot a lot of landscapes and the variables involved require a lot of forethought. What’s the weather going to do? Where’s the sun in the sky and which direction is the light in the scene I want to shoot? Shooting around the water here you have to take the tides into account.

Even with planning, there are a lot of elements out of your control. Wind is often an issue here in the Northwest, so if you’re shooting outside you may need to wait for the brief lull to take the photo. Wildlife photography definitely requires patience. You can be in the right place, and have great light and weather but animals don’t always cooperate!

GW: You’re going to be teaching an introductory photography class at the Burien Community Center. What’s going to be your primary goal there?

Michael: The Burien class is going to focus on fundamentals of photography. The goal will be to help students take their first steps from being a person with a camera to being a photographer.

The first session will be in the classroom at the Community Center where we’ll be exploring composition techniques to make photos instead of taking snapshots. In the second session a week later we’ll visit Seahurst Park to put what we learned into practice.

GW: What are some of the funnest photo ops you’ve had with The B-Town Blog?

Michael: For me, there were two main draws to working with The B-Town Blog. The first was the opportunity to get involved with the community and meet new people. In that sense, just about every photo op is fun.

The second was the ability to see things and shoot photos that I wouldn’t otherwise be have access to. Examples of those have been shooting runway construction at SeaTac Airport with airplanes landing and taking off just yards away, wading through local creeks in search of spawning salmon with Dennis Clark, and photographing Town Square from atop a ferris wheel.

GW: Where are some your favorite places to shoot just for fun in the Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac vicinity?

Michael: Anyone that has seen my photos knows that I spend a lot of time at Seahurst Park in Burien, but I’m also a big fan of Salmon Creek Park. Mathison Park is also an interesting place to visit.

In Des Moines I seem to spend a lot of time on and around the fishing pier. I really like the variety of images you can find down at the Marina. And of course, Beach Park and the trail is a beautiful spot.

I don’t spend as much time in SeaTac–though I keep meaning to do something about that–but I do love airplanes and often visit the little park on South 146th Street when they’re landing to the south to shoot photos. I don’t even know if this spot has a name; it’s not much more than a small parking lot, a big grassy field and a large water tank.

At the Pier in Des Moines

We’d like to send a GINORMOUSLY HUGE shout-out to all our Readers, both new and old, who helped make October 2010 The B-Town Blog’s most-visited month ever – over 75,000 Unique Visitors!

According to Sitemeter, a widely-used, independent website tracking service, during October 2010, we had 75,397 Unique Visitors and nearly 128,000 Pageviews; according to Google Analytics, we received 83,605 Uniques and over 138,000 Pageviews– both record highs for us!

Sitemeter’s stats indicate a +43.6% increase in traffic over September, our previous record month (with 52,496 Readers); Google Analytics shows a +31.38% increase.

Here are the most recent stats from Sitemeter:

We’re proud of our success here, because we work hard to serve the Community we live, work, shop and play in.

The B-Town Blog is (far as we know) the only local news website that is absolutely transparent in its website traffic statistics – something you will NOT see on any other competing “local” websites (we use quotation marks because ones produced in downtown Seattle aren’t truly “local” now, are they?).

“Transparent” of course means that, at any time, YOU can click on one of at least three statistics links in the footer of the website (at the bottom of any page), and see what kind of traffic we’re getting right then and there from totally independent, external sources.

We’d also like to remind any potential Advertisers out there to shop around and ask for actual, independent proof of website traffic numbers from other sites before buying, because our philosophy, though simple, is very effective:

LOTS OF LOCAL EYEBALLS
+
EXCELLENT LOCAL REPORTING
+
BLOGVERTORIAL STORIES
=
CUSTOMERS!

Click on a logo below to see our stats (keep in mind that statistics vary with each independent measuring company, something that’s not in our control):

We are active members of Discover Burien as well as the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce, and you’ll see us at various events, festivals, city council meetings and much more.

If you’d like more information on our Advertising solutions, please don’t hesitate to email us (and don’t forget to ask about our effective new Coupons Page!).

Also, if you haven’t already, please join us on:

We’d like to send a HUGE shout-out to all our Readers, both new and old, who helped make September 2010 The B-Town Blog’s most-visited month ever – over 52,000 Readers!

According to Sitemeter, during September 2010, we had 52,496 Unique Visitors; according to Google Analytics, we received 61,321 – both record highs for us!

Previously, the most amount of traffic we’d ever received was in April, 2010, when we got 52,274 Unique Visitors.

Here are the most recent stats from Sitemeter, a widely-used, independent website that tracks internet traffic:

Here’s a screenshot from Google Analytics, showing B-Town Blog traffic stats for all of 2010 so far (click to see larger image):

We’re proud of our success here, because we work hard to serve our Community.

The B-Town Blog is (far as we know) the only local news website that is absolutely transparent in its website traffic statistics – something you will NOT see on any other competing “local” websites (we use quotation marks because ones produced in downtown Seattle aren’t truly “local” now, are they?).

“Transparent” of course means that, at any time, YOU can click on one of at least three statistics links in the footer of the website (at the bottom of any page), and see what kind of traffic we’re getting right then and there from totally independent, external sources.

We’d also like to remind any potential Advertisers out there to shop around and ask for proof of website traffic numbers from other sites before buying, because our philosophy, though simple, is very effective:

LOTS OF LOCAL EYEBALLS
+
GOOD ADS
+
BLOGVERTORIAL STORIES
=
CUSTOMERS!

Click on a logo below to see our stats (keep in mind that statistics vary with each independent measuring company, something that’s not in our control):

And remember, we are here to serve our community, since we all live, work, shop, eat and drink here.

We are active members of Discover Burien as well as the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce, and you’ll see us at various events, festivals, city council meetings and much more.

If you’d like more information on our Advertising solutions, please don’t hesitate to email us!

Also, if you haven’t already, please join us on: