It’s one thing to be an entertainer, but when you take your talent to the next level and establish extremely successful businesses out of each venture, you separate yourself from the rest of the pack.
Ken Schaffer of Ken Schaffer Entertainment is the definition of an entertainment entrepreneur. He lives and breathes entertainment in every aspect of every business he owns. Music and being a DJ were in Ken’s blood as far back as his eighth-grade school dances.
He loved the fact that he could play music, have fun and get paid $100 for just a few hours, which was great money then. After his first experience attending a grade school dance, Ken decided to become a DJ and built his first sound system with the financial help of his grandfather. His first system was built with a home receiver and Radio Shack components that Ken modified for commercial use. It didn’t take long for Ken to graduate to purchasing a real mixer, upgrade his sound system and build his own homemade light show with colored spotlights.
The real break out occurred when he went from DJing parties for friends to marketing himself to schools throughout Delaware County, where he grew up. He sent out a photocopied, hand-written letter and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Saint Denis of Havertown was the first school to hire Ken. That dance led to many other events by sophomore year. His big break came when his high school hired him in his junior year to do their Msgr. Bonner Mixers and the rest was history. As his peers grew up, it led to DJing graduation parties and eventually the weddings for classmates.
Ken later created Schaffer Sound Productions as he trained and employed many of his friends. While attending Villanova University, he was studying for a communications degree with the intention of going into radio, but his business was going too well and it forced him to make a choice and put his radio career on hold until many years later. At 23 he invested in his first real estate property in Brigantine, where he frequented as a child. He eventually moved there and walked away from his original business which still operates to this day with his brothers as partners. He wanted to live in Brigantine.
After a brief sabbatical from the business around 2003, Ken volunteered to help DJ at several local charity events. Again, he was off to the races and was now able to integrate the new digital technologies that were surfacing. He had to re-learn his craft as a pioneer again in the new digital world, just as laptops became common in the field. This became a passion all over again and his business took off beyond his imagination, which led to Ken Schaffer Entertainment.
Ken’s growing business activity recently led to him purchasing a building in Northfield at 910 New Road. It will provide entrepreneurial space for him to do remote broadcasts when he hosts his show on WIBG in the evenings. The new headquarters will also provide a creative venue for him to meet with prospective wedding and deejay clients in a fun atmosphere with vintage pinball machines and a nostalgic juke box.
Through this musical journey, Ken met John McKernan, his DJ assistant for almost a decade and now a DJ himself, and close friend Jacob Hackett. They were all drawn together through their shared love of music. The new office will serve many purposes, including creative brainstorming, and a creative space to produce podcasts. Ken can offer his firsthand experiences in the DJ business and as a radio host.
Ken’s creativity goes much beyond his thousands of performances, including some highlights of his career, opening for such stars as KC and the Sunshine Band and The Beach Boys at high roller parties at Borgata. He even helped rap star Will Smith and wife Jada, providing sound and music for a family wedding at a secret location in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Ken lived in Brigantine for almost two decades, before relocating to Northfield with Erica and their twin sons Kenny and Evan. Even then, entertainment carried into his business life. He converted the residence above his Brigantine marina into “The Pinball Palace” Airbnb with the help of local Airbnb expert Krista Baum. It combines waterfront living and family fun in such a unique way, which has led to a high occupancy rate, and it doesn’t stop there. Ken also owns a state-of-the-art arcade in Rio Grande as the hub inside the Cape Square Entertainment complex. It’s surrounded by 8 movie theatre screens, bowling, simulated golf, a pinball and billiards parlor and a restaurant/bar including an outdoor beer garden.
Ken rounds out his entertainment hospitality businesses with the Inn of St. Louis located at 408 St. Louis Ave. in Egg Harbor City, transforming a closed business into a quaint, “Cheers”-like atmosphere — a place where everybody knows your name! It includes an entertaining outdoor area when the weather warms up. In the meantime, you can warm up inside and enjoy great food in a festive holiday environment.
Rich Baehrle, of Berkshire Hathaway Fox and Roach, can be reached at 609-226-6680 or 609-641-0011. Email richardbaehrle@gmail.com or see www.getrichinrealestateSJ.com
