The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 38

The Beacon Journal Page D10, Friday, October 31, 1997 Fate of WKNffi still hangs in balance Sale of Cleveland Indians flagship radio station could affect broadcast of games. FCC reviewing deal If the deal is approved, WKNR would be Jacor's third Cleveland talk-show station, the others being WTAM and WLTF. Jacor has been on a buying spree recently, thanks to a federal law passed last year that removed limits on the number of stations that broadcasting companies can own in a given market On Monday, the company agreed to spend $620 million to buy 17 radio stations from Nationwide Mutual Insurance including ones in Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Bal- By David Adams Heanm JiturmU butnmim vritfr The fate of Cleveland radio station WKNR (1220-AM) is still up in the air as the Federal Communications Commission weighs the proposed sale of the station by Ca-blevision Systems Corp. to Jacor Communications Inc. Covington, Jacor, the nation's third-largest radio group, and Cablevision agreed Aug.

19 to timore and Phoenix. The group already owns 172 stations in 36 markets, including Cleveland stations WMMS, WGAR and WMJL Jacor also provides syndicated programming, including Rush Limbaugh's talk program. Cablevision Systems based in Woodbury, is the nation's sixth-largest cable television provider, serving 2.9 million customers in 19 states. Cablevision's media holding company owns Cleveland's dominant cable television provider. Companies plaiining exchange Knight-Ridder to trade 3 Georgia newspapers for 3 other publications KniqM RUUier Nmspnpers Miami: Knight-Ridder Inc.

said yesterday it is selling three Southern newspapers to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. in exchange for three Georgia publications. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The newspapers being sold by Knight-Ridder are The Boca Raton (Fla.) News, which has circulation of 17,069 daily and 19,371 Sunday; the Union-Recorder in Milledgeville, which has circulation of 8,355 five days a week; and the Newberry (S.C.) Observer, which has circulation of 6,000 three days a week. In return, Community Newspapers will swap the Daily Sun in Warner Robins, Ga, which has circulation of about 9,000, as well as the weekly Byron (Ga) Gazette and The Buyers' Guide of Houston County, Ga Knight-Ridder publishes 36 daily newspapers in the United States, including the Beacon Journal, with a readership of 9.8 million daily and 13.4 million Sunday.

Community Newspaper Hold ings, based in Lexington, will own 20 daily newspapers, 23 weeklies and sue shoppers' guides in 10 states once the deal is closed. cast Indians baseball games, there has been speculation that if the deal goes through, Jacor might switch the Indians games to another of its Cleveland stations, WTAM (1100-AM). WTAM offers better reception and could subsequently draw more listeners and advertising dollars. Indians Vice President Bob Di-Biasio said yesterday that he was not aware of any move to relocate the team's broadcasts, emphasizing that federal approval of the sale of WKNR is still pending. ing consumers another option for which is to be an for Halloween," said Pat D'Amato, public relations manager for Inc.

"It's a perfectly natural fit for us, especially for Halloween, which is all about costumes and candy." The licensing of costumes is not new. For years, costume makers have paid for rights to produce outfits modeled after popular toys and movie or TV characters. And each year, the manufacturers gamble over what they believe will be the best sellers. For example, this year, Disguise another large costume maker, is betting on Tickle Me Elmo, the Power Rangers and all sorts of Walt Disney characters, including Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella, Belle and Jasmine. "We elected not to do food," said Steven Cohen, executive vice president of Disguise.

"We decided kids wanted to be characters instead of inanimate objects." Rubie's, on the other hand, ap- AS T'y-rifT -J -S' Pl KEN LOVEBeacon Journal Reflecting On His Work Craig Farkas of Brooklyn washes the windows of the Applied Industrial Technologies building on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. It will take about two weeks to clean all of the glass at the company's world headquarters. Lawsuits Blue Cross lawyer sues former firm A Cleveland lawyer has sued his former firm for more than $21.7 million, alleging it wrongfully fired him after he lost Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio as a client In a lawsuit filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Kenneth F. Seminatore said Climaco Climaco Lefkowitz Garofoli wrongfully terminated his contract The health insurance company fired Seminatore and the firm in March as part of a settlement with state regulators resulting from a failed bid to sell itself to ColumbiaHCA Healthcare Corp. of Nashville, Tenn.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio later changed its name to Medical Mutual of Ohio after losing its Blue Cross franchise. Figgie International of Willoughby said yesterday that it has filed a complaint against Omniquip International and its wholly owned subsidiary, SKL Lift Inc. for breach of their contractual obligations to purchase the assets and assume certain liabilities of Figgie's snorkel division. Economy New home sales fall 0.2 in September Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.2 percent in September to a still-strong seasonally adjusted rate of 800,000 a year, the Commerce Department said yesterday. It was the second decline in a row.

Yet September marked the fourth consecutive month of sales at or above the 800,000 pace, the longest such stretch in 19 years. Mortgages 30-year rates drop to an average 7.21 Rates on 30-year mortgages declined to an average 7.21 percent this week from last week's 7.35 percent, Freddie Mac said yesterday. Fifteen-year mortgages fell to an average 6.76 percent from 6.90 percent, and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages were down to 5.46 percent from last week's 5.55 percent Automobiles Car, truck sales off 2nd straight month Americans bought fewer cars and light trucks for the second consecutive month in October, with total industry sales off about 3.5 percent from a year earlier, industry analysts said. Comerica Bank Chief Economist David Littmann said October sales got hurt by lower consumer confidence and rising debt loads. The drop is in line with slower economic growth that many investors and policymakers at the Federal Reserve -are expecting.

The industry's sales rate fell to 14.5 million cars and trucks a year from 15.2 million a year ago. Agriculture Agency is ordered to show bias records A federal judge yesterday ordered the Agriculture Department to produce thousands of documents detailing discrimination complaints by black farmers after government lawyers refused to agree to a mediated settlement of the cases. The order by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman means that lawyers for the black farmers will for the first time have written evidence of the more than 1,000 complaints brought over alleged inability to get farm loans and other government assistance. Tidbits Continental Express to fly to Toronto Continental Express, a Continental Airlines regional subsidiary, will start nonstop service tomorrow between Cleveland and Toronto with 30-passenger Embraer 120 aircraft Cleveland-based KeyCorp said yesterday it will install up to 850 automatic teller machines in Atlantic Richfield convenience stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona Shelton Acquisition a wholly owned subsidiary of Yen Enterprises Inc.

of Cleveland, has acquired Shelton Industries of suburban Cincinnati. Shelton makes trailer hitches. Paxson Communications Corp. said yesterday it has named Dean Goodman as president of Paxson Television Network. The company also said Jay Hoker has been named president of Paxson Television Stations.

The company owns WAKC (Channel 23) in Akron. I a deal in which the Cleveland Indians' flagship station would be sold for $8.4 million in cash. WKNR is one of Northeast Ohio's best-known sports and sports-talk radio stations. It was the only radio property owned by Cablevision's CV Radio Associates, a subsidiary of Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings Inc. While the station is in the middle of a multiyear deal to broad- make sure their treats are doled out on Halloweea This year, thousands are paying candy companies a small licensing fee a tiny percentage of the costume price for the pleasure of dressing as the treats themselves.

A spokeswoman for Toys Us Inc. said the costume is "the No. 1 costume for teens and adults." Among those wearing candy costumes this year will be 9-year-old Ginny Mohler of Arlington, Va. "I've wanted to be an for a long time. It's one of my favorite candies," she said "You will undoubtedly see packs of trick or treating this year," said Howard Beige, vice president of sales for Rubie's Costume the nation's largest costume and accessory manufacturer, which just this year began mass-producing a variety of food costumes.

Sales "have been better than our wildest dreams," Beige said. "We're very excited to be offer- ers, package handlers and other laborers at some of the state's largest companies. The Teamsters have about 1.45 million members nationally, making it the nation's largest labor unioa Carey, a former United Parcel Service driver in New York, has been president since 1992. Carey said he would also brief the rank and file about other labor issues, such as fast-track trade legislation and negotiations with unionized trucking companies for a new master freight contract He plans to take questions and suggestions. Carey declined yesterday to discuss the investigation into his re-election as Teamsters president Federal officials are determining whether Carey was involved in a move to funnel union money into his re-election campaign last year.

Carey defeated his opponent James P. Hoffa, by a narrow margin on a reform platform. "I don't think I should get into the campaign," Carey said. "That's not the purpose of my visit It's about the membership and issues that affect their lives." should occur by the middle of next year. The Oakdale, company has about 9,900 employees in 60 countries.

The announcement was made as the company reported a third-quarter loss of $38.7 million, or 97 cents a share, compared with earnings of $11.8 million, or 29 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. In the just-ended quarter, the company took a charge of $41.7 million, or $1.05 a share, for the writeoff of research and develop CANDY Food fad reflects love of advertising Continued from Page D9 don't want to eat it, but actually dress up as it you can't ask for a better promotioa" This latest food fad also says "Americans love advertising and advertisements," Ries said. "It's been a trend that's been percolating for years. Since the 1980s, we've seen the rise of T-shirts or hats with company logos. It's just a natural progression that this trend would go all the way to Halloween costumes." The dressed-up delicacies also represent a happy twist for food manufacturers.

For years, they have spent millions of dollars on advertising to Carey Visit strikes foes as 'outside influence' Continued from Page D9 Slanker said yesterday. He said Issue 2 would make the system more efficient and speed the claims of injured workers. He said Ohioans should be able to decide the issue for themselves without help from out-of-state labor leaders. He said out-of-state lawyers are funding the effort to defeat the issue. "Why are opponents of Issue 2 bringing Ron Carey in from Washington to tell Ohio voters how to vote?" Slanker asked.

'They have all this outside influence trying to tell Ohioans what to do because they don't want to lose their gravy train." The Teamsters have about 87,000 members in Ohio, representing truck drivers, plant work Agency demands recall of Spacemaker toaster proached the major food manufacturers for licensing rights after concluding that people wanted more family-oriented costumes. "We were looking for licenses that were safe and more fun-oriented than scary, for costumes where the entire family could get dressed up," Beige said. "Food products turned out to be very much what we were looking for -perfect for the youngest to the oldest, allowing the entire family to trick or treat together." The food costumes' popularity is leading other candymakers to think about licensing their products next year. "We're considering it," said Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. President Ellen R.

Gordon. Meanwhile, Gordon said, Tootsie Roll is ready for Christmas. People already can buy decorative lights designed as Tootsie Rolls or Hershey's Kisses or if they prefer. something it hasn't done since 1988 when negotiations with the company broke down, Commission spokeswoman Kathleen Begala said. Black Decker posted a recall notice on its Web site, but it doesn't alert visitors that there is a recall unless they click on the "T1000" link.

Both sides agree customers should stop using the toasters immediately. The company sold about 224,000 Spacemaker Optima Horizontal Toasters (T10O0 Type from 1994 through 1996. The $50 to $69 toasters can be easily identified because they are the only ones that have an "open" button on the right side of the control panel Black Decker says it will send customers a catalog and a $40 coupon toward the purchase of a new appliance and not charge for shipping and handling. For information, call Black Decker at 800-746-2159 and the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 800-638-2772. a cob "Compare Us To if you've put a pencil to your personal finances and they're not where you want them to be, maybe it's time to sharpen your investment skills.

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OH 44)1 1-800-925-5540 Fnim sUff and wire reports A federal safety agency is going to court to force Black Decker to recall toasters that can catch fire. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said the design of the Black Decker's Space-maker under-the-cabinet Model T1000 toasters is. flawed and allows food to catch fire. The company said customers have reported 242 fires linked to the toasters.

The hazard may be magnified because the door opens and the rack extends automatically, pushing flaming food out into the open, the commission said. Black Decker announced it was recalling the toasters Tuesday, but the commission said the company's recall doesn't go far enough to alert customers. The agency filed a complaint with an administrative law judge ment from the acquisition of Ce-max-Icon. Not including the charge, the company's earnings were $3 million, or 8 cents a share. Revenue fell to $529.5 million, from $559.3 million.

"We are disappointed with our results in the quarter and year to date," Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Monahan said. "Weakness in our low-end tape storage market, a slowdown in Europe and the strength of the dollar continued to hurt us." Imation announces layoffs, losses Your Scottsdale $40 $55 $HO joide 60 100 125, by karren mills Associated hvss Minneapolis: Imation faced with mounting losses, said yesterday it will restructure its worldwide operations and lay off up to 1,500 people, or about 15 percent of its work force. Imation, formerly part of 3M, provides data-storage, printing and medical imaging products. It said the restructuring would reduce costs and put a stronger focus on its most profitable businesses. Spokesman Jason Thun-strom said most of the job cuts A lntrrnrt 0 Scottsdale Securities.

Inc. a en 865-1930. Call for a Free Copy of "YOUR GUIDE TO COMISSION SAVINGS" htto www.discountbrokcr com 1.