Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 49

Moras? li NewsSun-Sentinel, Sunday, June 19, 1988 Section MIKE BILLINGTON Staff Columnist Miriffiais ffnirmm mmiifcr -fffiip VI By JIM McNAIR Business Writer and the mortgage broker's fee, her ents had signed up for an unrequested life insurance policy costing $2,055. Canceling the loan application, the were told, would not help. "They told us that we had already signed the papers and would have to pay the fees, so we took the money," they said in a subsequent complaint to the Florida comptroller's office. Even before the Moores accepted the money, parents and people with poor credit rat-' ings. Part of the case could affect the livelihood of mortgage brokers state-y wide.

The allegations include: SJ, Selling unnecessary and over-priced property appraisals and life in-, surance and forcing customers to loans despite the lack of a closing session. Metropolitan owner Walter Falk's ri ownership of the insurance agencies SEE MORTGAGE 1 1 7 fices across Florida, Metropolitan is one of the state's most controversial mortgage brokers. Pitching easy-to-get home-equity loans and easy-to-remem-ber telephone numbers (dial VICTORY or JUSTICE or 1-800-EASY-YES), Metropolitan caters heavily to low-income borrowers. Those customers, the comptroller's office says, are most ripe for exploitation. In a 54-page complaint filed in May, the comptroller accused Metropolitan of civil wrongdoings against the poor, the aged, the unemployed, single Grant and Lola Bell Moore were not prepared for the bombshell that hit them on Jan.

12. After applying for a $5,000 loan from the Metropolitan Mortgage Co. earlier that day, they learned upon arriving home that they had obligated themselves to $14,015 of debt Their daughter read the loan papers and found that, in addition to the usual billings for an appraisal, title search Adapt to worlii trade situation or else Metropolitan filed a lien against their Riviera Beach home. A Miami-based company with 14 of rade, he said, or die. Those are the only options we really have left in a world that now has an integrated economy, Florida Commerce Secretary Rush said at th TUNE IN TO TURMOIL The purchase of WTVJ, Channel 4, by, the parent of NBC has created some unusual situations: CBS snubs WTVJ CHRONOLOGY Network affiliation flap, is setting precedents 1 1 i i v.v.:::r -yy: 3 Wometco Enterprises' breakup, federal regulations and an aborted sale eventually led to NBC's control of CBS affiliate WTVJ, Channel 4 and the network's feud with Edmund N.

Ansin, the owner of NBC affiliate WSVN, Channel 7. SEPT. 21, 1983: WTVJ, Channel 4, sold by Wometco Enterprises to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts a New York investment firm, in a deal that transformed Wometco into a private company. DEC. 5, 1985: Kohlberg Kravis acquires Storer Communications.

Kohlberg Kravis is required by Federal Communications Commission to sell either cable or broadcast properties in Mi- ami. MAY 21, 1988: WTVJ tentatively sold to Lorimar-Telepictures Corp. for about $405 million. Sale falls through four months later. JAN.

16, 1987: WTVJ sold to National Broadcasting Co. and a related company by Kohlberg Kravis for $270 million. Ansin quickly challenges the sale. i DICK LOBO: Dick Lobo has an unusual challenge as general manager of WTVJ, Channel 4. The station has been purchased by General Electric, the parent of NBC, while it has remained a CBS affiliate.

For example, there was the sticky matter of getting an invitation to a CBS affiliates convention this month. "I got my invitation." Lobo said, "but I wouldn't be surprised if my wife and I are seated at a Jable in Burbank while the rest of the convention dines In Angeles." EDMUND ANSIN: After his family coped with years of NBC's low ratings, Edmund Ansin now finds that his WSVN, Channel 7, may lose its affiliation while NBC is the leader. Ansin has fought to retain the NBC affiliation. If WSVN became an independent, the value of the station would drop by millions of dollars some estimates have said $100 million. WSVN is called the most valuable network affiliate owned by one person and Ansin wants to pass the legacy on to his-children.

NETWORK SHARE, ARBITRON RATINGS Governor Conference on World Trade in Orlando last week. Speaking at the same conference, Toronto lawyer Shelly Battram, an international trade expert, delivered the same message, albeit a little less bluntly: "We are facing a new world trade regime and neither the United States nor Canada has adapted to it if we do not trade, we will not i live." Unfortunately, theirs is a message that simply 1 has not penetrated very deeply into the North American political consciousness. Take, for example, the landmark Free Trade Agreement that President Reagan 'and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed Jan. 2. Widely hailed because it will eliminate all tariffs and duties between the two countries over a 10-year period, the agreement requires the approval of both (he U.S.

Congress and the Canadian Parliament before it can go into effect next January. I Agreement blocked for six months For its part, Congress promised to put the agreement on a fast track and rush it through for a quick vote. That was more than six months ago and, today, the same congressional leaders who once pledged to bring the agreement to a quick vote admit that its progress is being stalled by parochial backroom politics. With luck, they say, the agreement could come up for a vote "sometime this session." The Canadian Parliament is no better. Antitrade forces in Parliament are waving the flag and claiming that Canadians will lose their economic independence if the agreement is ratified.

The result: The agreement also is stalled in Ottawa. i Why is that? Why is an agreement that will permit virtually unrestricted, free trade between two countries that share a undefended border and a 200-year history of friendship and cooperation stalled in Washington and Ottawa? Geoffrey Elliot, the Canadian consul general for the southeastern United States, says it's because protectionist legislators are generally better organized than free traders. I "1 Protectionists better organized "It's always been true," he said, "that the forces of protectionism are always more focused, more vocal, and better organized than the free traders. Free traders, therefore, don't have the luxury of complacency." It's important that you understand the implications of the ongoing free-trade debate because if you do business in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties you have a real stake in its outcome. Consider this: One of the reasons foreign companies have been able to make such huge inroads into the American domestic market is the fact that they haven't had to protect their own domestic markets.

As a result, virtually every foreign manufacturer that has wanted a piece of the American market has been able to commit a significantly larger share of his money and talent to that effort than he would have been able to if he was facing stiff U.S. competition at home. The same holds true for those in service industries and the professions. The bottom line? Those companies that refuse to recognize that they can no longer define their sales territory by geographic boundaries are simply not going to Survive. Because the plain, unvarnished truth is, you've got to trade.

Or i While NBC has led in the ratings nationally, its local affiliate, WSVN Channel 7, has trailed ABC's affiliate, WPLG Channel 10. Ratings measure a station's portion of overall potential viewers in a market, while a share represents its portion of viewers whose sets were actually in use. NETWORK SHARE TV RATINGS Station, MAY '88 MAY '87 Channel Affil. Arbitron Nielsen Arbitron Nielsen WPLG 10 ABC 6 7 6 7 WSVN 7 NBC 6 7 6 7 WTVJ 4 CBS 5 6 6 6 WCIX6 IND 3 3 2 3 WBFS33 IND 3 3 2 2 WLTV23 IND 3 2 2,2 WDZL 39 IND 2 2 2 2 "I Ml.l WPBT2 PBS 1 12 WSCV51 IND 1 1 1 1 By BILL KELLEY Television Writer When Dick Lobo left Miami this" month for the CBS affiliates' convention; in Los Angeles, he didn't expect to be welcomed with open arms. 1 The general manager of nel 4 had to demand an invitation to see CBS' fall lineup, even though the station', has been a CBS affiliate for three def cades.

The reason for the snub: Channel 4 was purchased in January 1987 by Gen-'1 eral Electric, parent company of NBC. GE plans to turn Channel 4 into an NBC;" affiliate by January. That is when the" 1,1 affiliation contract between NBC the top-rated TV network and WSVNtJ," Channel 7 runs out. "It took me three tries before some-" one at CBS returned my calls," "I reminded them that Channel 4 would still be a CBS affiliate for anoth-" er six months. "I got my invitation," he added, "but I wouldn't be surprised if my wife and I are seated at a table in Burbank while the rest of the convention dines in Los Angeles." The complications surrounding the Channel 4-Channel 7 affiliation switch are not limited to the cold shoulder that Lobo received from CBS.

If Channel 7 becomes a CBS affiliate, it will be shifting its alliance from the first- to the third-place TV network. MiamiFort Lauderdale is ranked 14th among the nation's more than 200 broadcast markets. At the core of the affiliation switch is a dispute that sets precedents in local and national broadcasting, as well as relations between networks and their affiliate stations. NBC and CBS (which ranks third in national audience ratings) are being, sued by Channel 7 owner Edmund Ansin, who alleges that the networks broke antitrust laws and worked to deprive WSVN of its NBC aff iliation. Ansin insists the difference in value between a CBS and an NBC affiliate in a market the size of MiamiFort Lauderdale is as much as $75 million in station value.

The station's advertising rates also would drop substantially; GE and NBC reached a 1987 agreement to buy Channel 4 less than two weeks after Channel 7 signed a new, two-year affiliation contract with NBC. 1 Ansin was thunderstruck and out- raged. Ansin, who inherited Channel 7 from his father and says he intends to leave it to his children, insists GE's purchase of, Channel 4 is illegal and will deprive Anv sin's company, Sunbeam Television '3 of profits by canceling its NBCV" affiliation. Ansin 's displeasure is not hard to un- derstand. He endured more than a ade with NBC at the bottom of the ratv ings.

Now that NBC is three seasons into a comfortable first-place ride, Ansin does not want to slide back into third. What's more, most South Florida broadcasters believe that Channel 7's main newscast, anchored by Sally Fitz and Steve Dawson, will plummet in the SEE WTVJ11D May May Seasons 87 '88 86-87 87-88 NBC 25 26 28 26 ABC 20 20 22 22 CBS 24 21 25 22 '-t I ,1 i 3. 0 v. COMING MONDAY PETER FORD: Channel 7 had its best ratings ever in May with Ford as a co-anchor, but that didn't save his job. Ford was dismissed recently while he was on vacation in London.

Ford has been replaced by weekend anchor Steve RALPH RENICK: In South Florida, "a new mindset has resulted in well-known television friends being exterminated from the screen without even being given a chance to say good-bye," says Renick, a commentator for WCIX, Channel 6. SALLY FITZ: Sally Fitz had been Ford's co-anchor on the newscast and now pairs up with Steve Dawson. Many local broadcasters say the news broadcast's ratings will plummet once it no longer has NBC's prime time shows as a lead-in. ANNE BISHOP: Anne Bishop, who teams up with Dwight Lauderdale at WPLG, Channel 10, has the top-rated local newscast despite affiliation with ABC, the network second in the ratings. Channel 10 may benefit from turmoil at Channels 4 and 7.

ti "j-- Oi OFFiwt SHOWROOM UREHOUSS trwn 400 ft HEADING FOR A SHOWDOWN? Nurses reject doctors' proposal to recruit new health-care help from $273 Here's how the American Medical Association's proposal to create a new category of health-care worker, to be called registered care technologists, is viewed by the various sides involved: 'The nurse shortage has reached the point where our members are saying 'what are we going to do about Ail of us recognize there's a number of things that are part of the problem, but the focal point is the patients, who often aren't getting the level of care they may require. If we don't do something to bring In other people and nursing enrollments continue to decline we're faced with a worsening shortage over time and the patient is going to suffer." Dr. Joph Painter, a Houston internist and American Medical Association board member. 'The doctors are saying that all we want to do is get more education and leave the bedside, and that's not the case. But what the AMA is proposing is duplicative and you're going to have a mess administrativery.

How is putting a lesser-trained person in there going to solve the nurse shortage? We say why not work with us and we'U solve the problem." Cathy Koeppen, an American Nursing Association spokeswoman. in ways we've never seen before," ANA spokeswoman Cathy Koeppen said. In some respects, the debate seems largely a turf battle between two prominent professional healthore organizations. The AMA essentially wants more bedside care-givers to implement doctors' orders. The ANA, among other things, is against other professional groups inventing categories of healthcare workers to assume nursing functions.

The proposal is so new that many groups that would be affected by it, By JIM TALLEY Business Writer A lot of disagreement is not unusual when nurses discuss the future of their profession. But some nurses were showing plenty of unanimity at the American Nurses Association's biannual convention in Lexington, last week when they lined up solidly against an American Medical Association proposal to create a new category of health-care workers to help solve a severe national shortage of nurses. "This AMA proposal is uniting nurses GOING INDUSTRIAL Developers are finding industrial properties such as the Boca Rio Center west of Boca Raton more appealing. WEEKLY BUSINESS SEE NURSES 2D 'u, -i- -r.