The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 14

ii 1 sr- Market listings The Greenville News ill rw' Friday. March 20. 1981 1 4 -xmw rtm nm if i Mill MlMM.MIim...lllM.lilHiil mttt, IT III in I I Mil tii J. "fl I I I ftlllfr MTl I lUfl I ulSlLJItJiMSii-iblillAllt-lUMimmmJmmA Multimedia reaches pact for trade of WFBC-TV Mass.Providence, R.I. Glenn Christopher, vice president and general manager of Pulitzer, said Pulitzer's television stations have a reputation for solid news coverage.

"Our emphasis is on good, local news reporting," Christopher said. In addition to television Stations, Pulitzer owns two radio stations in Phoenix, and publishes the Post-Dispatch in St. Louis and the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. Christopher said Pulitzer is interested in diversifying its properties geographically. reimburse Pulitzer for the $3 million now being spent to equip the new studios of KSDK.

The sale of the existing KSDK building in St. Louis will offset part of the $3 million payment. The trade is not expected to be final until 1982. The transaction is subject to the approval of the boards of directors of Pulitzer and Multimedia, the completion of a definitive agreement and the approval of the Federal Communications Commission. Doug Smith, vice president and general manager of WFBC, said he Multimedia Inc.

of Greenville has reached an agreement in principle to trade WFBC-TV of Greenville and WX1I-TV of Winston-Salem, N.C., and to pay more than $8 million for a television station in St. Louis, Mo. The two-for-one trade, which was announced Thursday, will give Multimedia television station KSDK in St. Louis. In exchange, the Pulitzer Publishing which owns KSDK, will get WFBC-TV and WXII-TV.

All three stations are NBC affiliates. Multimedia said it also will pay Pulitzer $5.25 million, and it will does not expect a change in management of WFBC-TV when the trade is final. But WFBC may change its call letters because Multimedia will retain ownership of radio station WFBC, Smith said. "The people are not going to see any changes until mid-or late 1982," Smith said. The proposed trade will give Pulitzer its first television stations in the Southeast.

The company operates television stations in Albuquerque, N.M.; Omaha, Lancaster, and New Bedford, With a large newspaper and television station in St. Louis, part of the earnings of Pulitzer are tied to the St. Louis economy, he said. The trade will increase to six the number of VHF television stations that Pulitzer operates. That is one more VHF station than FCC regulations allow, and Pulitzer will have to divest one of the stations, Christopher said.

Multimedia will get its first television station west of the Mississippi and entrance into a larger television market. In addition to WFBC and WXII, Multimedia also operates television stations in Macon, Cincinnati, and Knoxville and Nashville, Tenn. Wilson C. Wearn, president and chief executive officer of Multimedia, said that KSDK is in the nation's 14th largest television market. WFBC-TV is in the 37th largest, and WXII-TV is in the 53rd largest The trade also will reduce the number of Multimedia television stations from five to four, putting Multimedia below of maximum number of VHF stations it can own.

One reason for the trade is the (See WFBC, p. 2-E) Reagan studies ways to protect auto industry from imports WASHINGTON (AP) President Reagan, who describes the American auto industry as the one "that can cause a depression all by itself," received a list of options Thursday from his auto task force on ways to protect the U.S. market from Japanese imports. There were indications the task force agreed that some form of protection was needed to help ailing U.S. automakers.

But White House press secretary James S. Brady said no decision was expected from the president this week. Meanwhile, 23 senators told Reagan in a letter that uie auminisirauon snouia tane "timely and aggressive action" to persuade the Japanese "to adopt a trade policy which would result in a voluntary, immediate and substantial restraint of Japanese passenger car exports to the United States for a meaningful Such voluntary restraint "would obviate the need for a legislative solution," the senators said in the letter, which was originated by Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind.

Voluntary restraint Reagan may have tipped his hand last week, when he said in an interview that if any protectionist measure was taken, "we would like to have it be a voluntary restraint." In an interview with the New York Daily News, the president expressed his concern that import restraints would contribute to inflation. "On the other hand," he talking about the one industry in this country that can cause a depression all be itself." Reagan declared "it is really a sick industry today," and said the administration could help reduce the cost of automobiles by trimming federal regulations, implementing tax policies to help the industry modernize and persuading "the auto workers to dtf what they did for the one company (Chrysler) and help in that regard." Chrysler workers agreed to give up $783 million in wages and other benefits over the next two years after the No. 3 auto company experienced the largest loss in American corporate history $1.71 billion last year. In addition, the federal government has given Chrysler $1.2 billion in loan guarantees to help stave off bankruptcy. The U.S.

industry lost $4.2 billion last year when domestic car sales hit a 19-year low. Imports accounted for about 26 percent of all sales; the Japanese sent over 1.9 million cars. The president's task force, comprised of Cabinet-level officials, has been sharply divided over whether import restraints would violate Reagan's free trade philosophy. While Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis heads the faction that favors fewer imports, another group opposes restraints, arguing they could be inflationary, strain relations with Japan, and ignite a trade war. In addition to the import issue, the task force also considered which regulations might be eased to help the automakers and whether to give the industry special tax relief.

Meanwhile, Attorney General William French Smith has advised the White House that a voluntary agreement by Japan to curb exports may be liable to private anti-trust suits in the United States. He warned that the government, if it negotiates with Japan, should emphasize the necessity for Japan to protect its companies by "mandating the restraints in a leeallv hindine manner I' i 5 ,4 11 'tfi News Darrell Hueniann Official says gas price boosts underestimated NEW YORK Energy Secretary James B. Edwards said Thursday decontrol of domestic crude oil has raised wholesale gasoline prices by 6 cents a gallon more than the Reagan administration's estimate of 3 to 5 cents a gallon at the pump. "I can't stick to the original estimate when the wholesale price of fuel has gone up 6 cents a gallon," Edwards told a news conference before making a luncheon speech honoring American Energy Week. "I still feel 3 to 5 cents a gallon was a reasonable estimate on the price of fuel under decontrol," said Edwards, who has taken the blame for the administration's apparently low estimate.

The administration's projection on the cost of decontrol to the American public has come under sharp criticism from some Democratic congressmen and consumer groups because the average U.S. pump price has climbed by 9 cents a gallon since price controls on domestic oil were removed eight months ahead of schedule on Jan. 28. Professor touts coal RICHMOND, Va. The energy future of the nation should be built around coal because it is the most flexible of fuels, a Virginia Tech professor said Thursday.

Walter Hibbard, director of the Virginia Tech Center for Coal and Energy Research, said increased coal use would generate more jobs and tax money for coal-rich states while lessening the nation's dependence on foreign oil. "Coal is the largest of all energy sources in the United States," Hibbard told an energy seminar sponsored by the state Division of Industrial Development. "Coal is also the 'jack of all "You can burn it, make electricity from it, burn it in an oil burner if you mix it with oil, convert it into gas, make it into methanol, make it into gasoline and even convert to synthetic crude oil," he said. Hibbard said coal exports to overseas markets will triple by the end of the century. "Consumption of coal in the U.S.

should also triple at the same time," he said. One of the best uses of coal could be converting it to gas, Hibbard said. But the plants needed for coal gasification are almost prohibitively expensive to build, he added. Trade deficits hit record WASHINGTON The world's major industrial countries had their biggest trade deficit in history in 1980, the International Monetary Fund reported Thursday. The trade deficit of $129.6 billion in 1980 was about 52 percent higher than the $85 billion deficit of 1979, the IMF said.

The 17.1 percent rise in the industrial countries' exports was more than offset by the 19.7 percent increase in their aggregate imports, the IMF added. Although the United States' deficit of $32.3 billion was the largest of the group, it was some $4.8 billion less than in 1979, the IMF said. However, the Commerce Department has revised the figures and now says the 1980 deficit was $36.4 billion compared with $40.4 billion in 1979. The IMF said France's $19.6 billion figure was more than three times that of 1979, but the United Kingdom cut its deficit from $11.9 billion to less than $4.8 billion during the period. West Germany's 1980 surplus of nearly $5 billion was down sharply from its $12.2 billion surplus of 1979.

The IMF said the industrial countries' aggregate exports in 1980 amounted to $1.24 trillion, but the value of their imports.surpassed this by $129.6 billion. Sex bias suit settled GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. Awards ranging from $250 to $32,000 will be paid to 77 women in the settlement of a 5i2-year-old sex discrimination case against Kelvinator Inc. Attorneys for the appliance manufacturer and the women employees reached the $475,000 settlement in February, but only recently determined the amount of individual awards. The award distributions must be approved by U.S.

District Judge John Feikens of Detroit, who was hearing the case before testimony broke off and out-of-court negotiations began last fall. Jean King, the women's attorney who designed the distribution plan, said Wednesday that the amounts were higher for the original six plaintiffs as well as female management employees who were denied membership in the Kelvinator Management Club. A class-action suit was filed in U.S. District Court by women who alleged they were passed over for promotions and pay raises because of their sex. Water to be heated by the sun will be stored here outside Bell Linen plant hopes to cut costs by harnessing the sun and its own well Company turns to the earth, sky to meet its water, energy needs Administrative guidance For its part, Japan's head of the International" Trade and Industry Ministry, Rokusuke Tanaka, said the ministry would use "administrative guidance" to persuade Japanese automakers to cutback imports.

That is considered an order without sanction of law. Brady hailed it as "certainly moving in the right direction." And Japan's foreign minister, Masayoshi Ito, who arrives in Washington for talks next week, said Thursday that he favors voluntary restraints 1f they do not interfere with "the principle of free trade." But the talk of auto import restrictions apparently is making U.S. allies uneasy. The West German minister of economics, Dr. Otto Graf Lambsdorff, reportedly told the Reagan administration this week that Japanese import curbs could trigger an international trade war.

He said that if the United States receives voluntary restraints, Europeans would demand the same to avoid getting the overflow of Japanese autos turned away from the United States. And he declared it would lead the decade, market forces will set the price of decontrolled natural gas. At the same time, inflation has pushed up the operating costs of Bell Linen like all other small businesses. Increasing costs even had forced some of Bell Linen's smaller customers to end their linen service, Foster said. But Bell Linen plans to put a damper on those cost increases without ever leaving its Broad Street compound.

The company has dug a well in its front yard and is building a water tank in the same location. It also plans to install 1,470 square feet of solar collectors over the tank to heat the water, Foster said. "We're a corporation, and we want to earn a profit. To do that, I want to provide linen as cheaply as possibly," Foster explained. "Using our own water and solar collectors, I can pass on the savings to my customers and continue to hold the line on inflation." When Bell Linen's front yard water and solar system goes into operation, the company will use its own water for processing linen.

That will make a nice savings on water bills for Bell Linen, and it also will make a substantial savings in water for the Greenville Water System. "The people at the water works have been very helpful to us. They said they'd save enough water (by Bell Linen using its own wells) for 175 families of four," Foster said. "One hundred seventy-five families is a lot of people." Bell Linen's well will pump more (See Solar, p. 2-E) By SCOTT SUNDE News staff writer Bell Linen Service had to look no farther than out its own front door when it searched for a new source of water and energy.

The Greenville company, which provides linens, towels and other articles for clubs, restaurants, supermarkets and hotels, was facing increasing costs. It uses 75,000 gallons of a water a day, five days a week to wash linens. Bell heats about 60 percent of that water to 160 to 180 degrees with a natural gas boiler, according to R. Jack Foster, president of Bell Linen. The company also uses natural gas to dry its linens.

The price of water has been rising. And the price of natural gas, which is being slowly decontrolled, is rising rapidly. By the middle of to international protectionist measures for other udget cuts vital to economy, group warns and its situation is not comparable to Chrysler's, which was granted union wage concessions. General Motors was the oniy U.S. automaker to post a fourth quarter profit, but still lost money, as did the others, for all of last year.

Fraser urged the United States to hold Japan's "feet to the fire" and get both temporary import restrictions and long range commitments for new facturing plants in the United States. The Commerce Department reported Thursday the balance of virtually all international payments, including trade exports and imports and foreign profits and losses of U.S. firms overseas showed a surplus of only $700 million in the last quarter of 1980. The third quarter im3 shown a $4.5 billion surplus. came in the announcement that all but two U.S.

auto assembly plants will be operating next week, boosting production and employment slightly in anticipation of a stronger spring selling season. The auto companies reported that indefinite layoffs of U.S. hourly autoworkers declined this week for the seventh consecutive week. Auto industry executives were even beginning to predict car supply shortages later this year, although with recent production gains, output remains well below peak levels during 1977 and 1978. In Washington, United Auto Workers President Douglas Fraser announced that the union's General Motors and Ford councils had voted not to accept any cut in current contract wages to help out the auto companies.

Fraser said GM will make a profit in the first quarter, WASHINGTON (UPI) This year's surprisingly strong economic growth, bolstered by improving auto sales, is still not enough to bring about a full recovery from last year's recession without federal budget cutting, one business group warned Thursday. "Stubborn inflation and high interest rates are now expected to precipitate a decline in real economic activity in the second quarter," said Richard Rahn, the chief economist of the National Chamber of Commerce. "Recent scattered signs of economic strength are insufficient to sustain a recovery in the first half of this year, but enactment of the Reagan economic recovery program will arrest this projected decline," said Rahn. He said by mid-year expected tax relief will bring an upturn in the economic activity. The government's first measurement of gross national product of the new year shows it is growing at an annual rate of 5 percent, far beyond almost all expert forecasts up to now.

The so-called "flash GNP" figure, based on partial data and estimates about March business levels, was made available Thursday by the president's Council of Economic Advisers. The Reagan administration had predicted GNP for all of 1981 would reach only 1.4 percent. Some other private forecasts based on administration economic assumptions, such as the 0.3 percent GNP growth predicted by Data Resources, have been even more pessimistic. A positive sign from Detroit Thursday I.