I Love the Burg

What I Love the Burg does

I Love the Burg is a privately held hyper-local media platform founded in May 2009 in St. Petersburg, Florida, and operating legally as RKC.me under parent company WallMedia Partners. The platform publishes daily editorial content covering local news, events, dining, arts, attractions, visitor guides, and community stories across St. Petersburg and the broader Tampa Bay/Pinellas County region. Distribution is digital-first through the ilovetheburg.com website, email newsletters ("Stay in the Know"), and active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube, supplemented by an events calendar and visitor-guide section.

The company operates a portfolio of products beyond editorial content: a WooCommerce-powered merchandise store selling branded apparel ($24.95–$33.55), and a history-tours product line led by local historian Monica Kile offering walking tours ($25/person), trolley tours ($50/person, capped at 28 spots), and private tours ($250 minimum). The team consists of approximately 9 core members plus 6 contributors, led by founder Dex Fabian, with separate leadership for partnerships, strategy, editorial, and art direction. Sister brands That's So Tampa and That's So Sarasota are operated under the same WallMedia Partners umbrella and cross-promote with I Love the Burg.

Revenue is generated primarily through digital advertising and sponsored content sold to local businesses and tourism partners (e.g., Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, Alvarez Gower), supplemented by merchandise sales and tour ticket revenue processed via Eventbrite. Customer segments are St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay residents, visitors and tourists, and local SMB advertisers; no external institutional funding has been disclosed, and revenue figures are not publicly reported.

Name

I Love the Burg

Legal name

RKC.me

Website

https://ilovetheburg.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

I Love the Burg is a privately held hyper-local media platform serving St. Petersburg and the broader Tampa Bay region with daily editorial coverage, visitor guides, an events calendar, branded merchandise, and fee-based history tours.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hyper-Local Digital Media

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Search & Business Directories (BPAMAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Supply-Side Platforms (SSP) & Publisher Monetization (BPAMALAC)

Keywords

• Hyper-local media
• Community news
• Digital advertising
• Visitor guides
• Content publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Petersburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Advertising & Sponsored Content: Digital advertising and sponsored content for local businesses, featuring ads from sponsors like Alvarez Gower, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, and various local businesses. Accepts cash advertising, sponsorship, and paid insertions.
2. Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including t-shirts, tank tops, crop tops, hats, and accessories featuring local St. Pete themes and branding.
3. History Tours: Fee-based history tours of St. Petersburg including walking tours ($25/person) and trolley tours ($50/person). Private tours available at minimum $250. Also offers paid presentations and lectures.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

I Love the Burg operates a hyper-local digital media platform that publishes daily stories, guides, and event listings covering St. Petersburg, Florida and the broader Tampa Bay region. The company monetizes this audience through digital advertising and sponsored content sold to local businesses, while also operating a branded merchandise e-commerce store and a fee-based history tour program led by a credentialed local historian.

Product overview

I Love the Burg is a hyper-local media platform serving St. Petersburg, Florida (nicknamed 'the Burg' or 'Sunshine City'). The platform operates as a unified content hub combining news stories and community journalism with curated guides, a comprehensive events calendar, historically-themed tours, and an e-commerce merchandise store. The core offering is the content aggregation website publishing daily local coverage across categories including Arts, Eat/Drink, Do It, Burg, History, Kid-Friendly, LGBTQ+, Sports, Travel, and Beyond the Burg. Additional products include the Visitor's Guide section, the Events Calendar listing community activities, History Tours led by Monica Kile, and a WooCommerce-powered Merchandise Store selling branded apparel.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• I Love the Burg Tours: History tours of St. Petersburg led by local historian Monica Kile, including walking tours, trolley tours, and specialty neighborhood tours.

Products and services

• I Love the Burg Website (Stories, Guides, Events & Visitors) Hyper-local media website publishing daily stories, topical guides, a community events calendar, and a curated Visitor's Guide for St. Petersburg, Florida and the broader Tampa Bay region. Covers categories including Arts, Eat/Drink, Do It, Burg, History, Kid-Friendly, LGBTQ+, Sports, and Travel. The primary free consumer offering, monetized through advertising and sponsored content.
• I Love the Burg History Tours

Named customers8 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Visit St. Pete-ClearwatercoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor for Beyond the Burg content series. Their branding appears on visitor-focused content and travel guides, providing marketing support for Tampa Bay tourism promotion.
• Neptune Flood Insurance / Trevor Burgess and Gary HessminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsors Tampa Bay Born Murals video series with Neptune Flood Insurance CEO Trevor Burgess and his husband Gary Hess. Series highlights local mural artists in partnership with Metro Inclusive Health.
• Metro Inclusive HealthminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner in Tampa Bay Born Murals video series aimed at highlighting diverse artists and the colorful personality and history of the Tampa Bay area.
• EventbritecoreTechnology or IntegrationTicketing platform for history tours. All tour bookings (Grand Tour of Downtown, Beyond Downtown, The Wonderful Waterfront, Historic Trolley Tours) are processed through Eventbrite.
• Kahwa CoffeeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerTour partner providing complimentary water and discounted drinks for tour participants. Tours depart from Kahwa Coffee at 204 Second Ave South.
• Green Bench BreweryminorGTM or Marketing PartnerTour partner for Beyond Downtown walking tours, offering guests half off any beer in their tap room before or after the tour.
• WallMedia PartnerscoreOthersParent company that maintains the I Love the Burg website and provides creative resources needed to keep the site up and running on a day-to-day basis. Also manages That's So Tampa and That's So Sarasota sister sites.
• That's So TampacoreOthersSister publication under WallMedia Partners, covering Tampa Bay local content similar to I Love the Burg. Both sites are presented together and share cross-promotion.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Eater: National food/local media network with deep city-level coverage of restaurants, openings, and dining culture. Overlaps with I Love the Burg's restaurant review and happy hour guide content, though Eater is a broader portfolio play vs. ILTB's single-market depth.
• Time Out: Global city guides covering things to do, eat, and see in major metros. Comparable to I Love the Burg's Visitor's Guide and 'Things to do' content categories, though Time Out operates across dozens of cities with national brand budgets.
• Thrillist: National lifestyle/media brand covering travel, food, and local experiences across many cities. Comparable to I Love the Burg's visitor-facing 'things to do' and dining content, though Thrillist is a portfolio brand under a larger media company.

Emerging players

• Bisnow: Vertical-focused local media covering commercial real estate and business news across multiple metros with newsletters and events. Comparable as a niche local B2B ad-supported media business, though oriented toward CRE rather than consumer/tourism.

Direct peers

• Axios Local: Axios's local newsletter product is a direct functional peer: city-focused digital media covering local news, events, and business openings, monetized via advertising and sponsorships, mirroring I Love the Burg's newsletter + sponsored content model.
• The Infatuation: City-focused digital media brand covering restaurants, bars, and local experiences with editorial reviews and branded content — comparable to I Love the Burg's eat/drink guides, visitor recommendations, and sponsored local business features.
• Patch: Patch operates a national network of hyper-local news sites covering individual towns and neighborhoods — the closest scaled analog to I Love the Burg's community-focused local media model, though Patch operates across thousands of markets rather than deeply in one.
• 6sqft: Hyper-local New York City media brand covering neighborhood news, real estate, dining, and events — structurally analogous to I Love the Burg in that it owns a single city's editorial voice and monetizes via advertising/sponsored content.

Regional players

• Visit St. Pete-Clearwater: Official destination marketing organization for Pinellas County. Functions as both a partner and partial peer since it produces visitor-facing content, event listings, and local business promotion in the same St. Pete geography.
• Creative Loafing Tampa: Alternative weekly covering Tampa Bay arts, culture, dining, and events — directly overlapping with I Love the Burg's editorial categories in the same Tampa Bay geography, but with a print/digital weekly model rather than daily newsletter/social.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ilovetheburg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzBNbLuuoKOVkY8QbKX2TUQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/ilovetheburg
• Instagraminstagram.com/ilovetheburg
• TikTokvm.tiktok.com/TTPdMnt7Tt
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/i-love-the-burg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about I Love the Burg