Television "personalities" are often seen as having outsized egos, and as people whose perfectly coiffed hair and scripted commentary somehow elevate them above the common folk.

Maybe it's because he has lived in West Seattle for twenty years but Jim Dever, is a guy who takes anything but himself seriously and is as easy to talk to as you can imagine. His funny and clever (his name rhymes with it) segments have made him a well known feature reporter and occasional host for King 5 Television's Evening Magazine.

He is married, and a father to a teenage daughter and a grade school son.

Typical of his comedic commentary he notes for example that his daughter doesn't quite yet have a firm grasp on time. "We'll be leaving the house and she will call someone and say, 'We'll be there in ten in minutes and I'll have to say, 'whoa, whoa, whoa, we will not be there in ten minutes. We can't teleport…yet."

His light, humorous style has been developed over a long history in television, working almost exclusively on "Magazine" shows.

Dever was born in Dayton, Ohio but spent his early years in Pennsylvania. He got a journalism degree from Penn State University (and a course certificate at Manchester University in the UK ) and began his career as what he calls "not a very good" photographer for WTAJ-TV in Altoona, PA.

Despite his sense of his own abilities at the time, his big break came when a reporter for the station went to do a story about a traveling evangelical minister. The photographer on the assignment turned and could not find the reporter. Then he spotted him. "He sees that the reporter has dropped to his knees, praising god and he's crawling up to the altar. The next day that reporter left town with the evangelist," Dever said. The news producer, down one reporter, offered the job to Dever.

During his stint in straight news he kept looking for something better suited to his talents.

"I bounced around in TV for a while," said Dever who began the path that would lead to the rest of his career as a host for the local edition of PM Magazine in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. At one time there were 135 of these shows around the nation.

After proving himself there he graduated to the national office for the program. He came back to KDKA in Pittsburgh as a Senior Producer for a year, and worked on another magazine show "Beyond 2000" for the Discovery Channel. "All my TV stories have the phrase 'When that got cancelled in them," he said laughing.

Finally he came to work at KING 5 for Evening Magazine in 1991 to "replace a woman on her maternity leave, and I'm still waiting for her to return," said Dever.

Today he describes himself as a "Writer, host, reporter, producer, editor, photographer, public speaker and emcee, auctioneer, online content producer, handstand skateboarder, stunt pogo stick jumper and Elvis impersonator." His humor and eye for what makes a story click have earned him 15 Emmy Awards so far.

His job is both easy and complex. Easy because by now his skills, attitude and relationships are so well honed that he can do a simple piece like visiting a park and talking to kids about brothers and sisters, somehow managing to pull humor and completely natural responses from them even though they are on camera.

It's complex because he is almost entirely self assigned, going to story meetings once a week to discuss and review potential segments. This means your ego has to be under control because "We bring in our own ideas and everyone makes fun of each other," Dever offered.

The job requires him to pay attention to the news, get ideas from viewers, and just create stories that he thinks will make good fodder for television. It's tougher than it sounds.
The most frequent question he gets is "Where do you get your story ideas?" "The answer is as varied as you might guess," said Dever. "Sometimes it's a person you overhear and you ask, "When did THAT happen? and the next thing you know you have a great story."

The tips from viewers are not always good of course but, "sometimes you talk to them and as you are talking, something falls out between the lines and you say, 'Hey! that's exactly what we're looking for!"

The typical time between when a story is shot for Evening Magazine and when it appears is two to three weeks though the host segments are shot the day before. "Lately though we've been doing a lot more 'fast turn' stories shooting and showing them within a day or two," Dever explained.

He often travels for his stories sometimes in the northwest but on occasion will go further. "I seem to take one international trip a year," he said.

Dever's latest project is a documentary, shot in the northwest, called Giants:The Movie which as the promo materials state, "takes a quirky and intimate look at the very human drama surrounding a single minded obsession - The attempt to grow the world's largest pumpkin." It was written and directed by Mimi Gan and Jim Dever, GIANTS is a Money From Mom Film in association with Mi2 Media, LLC and Big Crunch Productions. The film is narrated by Emmy® award-winning actor Tom Skerritt.

The film premiered at the Wine Country Film Festival in Santa Rosa in September and will be shown at the Gig Harbor Film Festival at the Galaxy Uptown Theater 4649 Point Fosdick Drive n.w. in Gig Harbor, WA , Saturday October 16 at 12:40 pm and in San Francisco San Francisco Documentary Festival at the Roxie Theater 3117 16th Street, San Francisco, CA on these dates and times.

~Thursday Oct. 21 7:15pm
~Sunday Oct. 24 7:15pm
~Wednesday Oct. 27 9:30pm

While he wants to keep doing his regular job with Evening Magazine, he sees moving into film making as a direction that, while risky, offers rewards too.
"With these independent films, you try to make a decent showing in these festivals, and hope that someone will want to show it or license it."

Dever has woven his way into the fabric of West Seattle too. He's often the emcee for local events and is seen frequently in the neighborhood.

"I love West Seattle," Dever said, "I'd never leave it."

You can follow Dever on Twitter @JimDever and send him story ideas at jdever@king5.com.