The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 13

Friday, January 31, 1997 5B Montgomery Advertiser I Richard Thompson, Business editor, 262-1611 IT (L0Sr hi None mentioned a refund. The toll-free number finally was updated by Thursday afternoon to include a prompt for getting refunds. America Online said through a spokeswoman that it took time to gear up because the settlement was negotiated in less than a week. Still, some customers encountered the same problem they were trying to get compensated for clogged phone lines. A customer service representative answering AOL's phone line Thursday said it would take at least 30 minutes before someone AOL devised a plan to compensate customers.

That created pressure for AOL to sign the deal Under the deal, the company can't advertise its service in February, diminishing the flow of new customers. In addition, AOL is spending $350 million to upgrade its network, including buying new modems, building a new data center to house computer equipment and adding more customer support representatives. CompuServe and Microsoft Network said they experienced a recent surge in new customers. settlement planned to issue a statement urging people to write the company. Consumer protection officials reiterated their praise for the company's willingness to compensate disgruntled customers.

Jack Norris, chief of special prosecutions for the Florida attorney general's office, said AOL's delay in accommodating refund requests was understandable given that negotiations over the deal began just last Wednesday. One day later, New York's attorney general, Dennis Vacco, threatened to sue within five business days unless could handle a refund request because of a flood of phone calls from customers. Instead, he urged the request be put in writing. The trouble that prompted the refund agreement began in December, when AOL began offering customers a flat-rate price for unlimited on-line time. But the price plan created overwhelming on-line demand that clogged AOL's lines.

Customers trying to log on frequently got busy signals. The agreement allows those of the company's 8 million customers with trouble logging on in Decem ber and January to request a refund of up to about $40, or about two months' on-line fees. America Online would not estimate how many customers are expected to qualify for refunds. But because the refund is calculated by the number of hours spent online, several industry analysts said only a small percentage is expected to qualify for a full reimbursement and that total cost to AOL shoudn't be more than $20 million. Concerned about the latest bout of phone-line congestion, attorneys general involved in the multistate THE ASSOCIATED PRESS r- NEW YORK Frustrations America Online customers intensified Thursday despite the company's pledge to reimburse 1 for their on-line troubles, i A day after AOL reached a multi-; state agreement to give millions of i dollars worth of credits and re- funds to customers, the company had not yet updated its toll-free iphone number for handling re- quests.

People calling the number got a maze of recorded options. Schools get funds for computer link INew Fox transmitter packing more power Mr mm mm Coverage: WCOV said the new transmitter generates about 2.7 million watts of 'power and doubles WCOV's area Ml 3 Iff jL- 2,139 feet above sea level. WCOV's transmitter is about 1,630 feet above sea level. Montgomery radio station WZHT 105.7 FM's transmitter is also side-mounted on the tower. Mr.

Woods said the new transmitter generates about 2.7 million watts of power and doubles WCOV's coverage area to 23 counties. There are now 561,931 people within its coverage area, a significant jump from 358,782 with its old tower before the tornado last March, he said. With the new tower, there are indeed brighter days ahead for WCOV, Mr. Woods said. Before the tornado, only 10 out of 38 cable systems in its coverage area carried WCOV.

Now, 33 cable systems have agreed to carry the station, Mr. Woods said. Mr. Woods said he expects the station's revenue to increase about 20 percent for the next two years, fueled by the station's ability to charge advertisers higher rates because of its expanded coverage area. Mr.

Woods said the station also will begin challenging the rights of people who receive the Fox network programming via satellite. Other Montgomery stations have also challenged those rights. Within the next two years, Mr. Woods said WCOV will try to get into producing local news, which means the Fox News Cable Network will become to WCOV what MSNBC is to WSFA. "Fox has delivered a mandate that you will be in the news business," he said.

"The question is not whether you will be in the news business, but when." fa "-i 1 V' Richard Thompson ADVERTISER BUSINESS EDITOR Ten months ago, WCOV Fox Channel 20's transmission tower in Montgomery was twisted into a long pretzel by a tornado, and since then station owner David Woods has been praying for the day the new one would be ready. WCOV was able to transmit its signal loyally using a low-level broadcast tower dur--ing the interim, and revenue from local advertisers helped the station survive. Still, there were some months, like December, when the station lost an estimated $75,000 because of lower advertising revenues compared to the previous year, said Woods, the president and chief executive of Woods Communications Corp. "The 'soft' costs (of the lost tower) is enor-j-mous," he said. "It could have easily been about $500,000, and you can't ever get that back.

You missed it." I Yet, the Montgomery Fox network televi-i sion affiliate's pain and suffering ended last Friday when its new $2 million transmission facility in Grady became operational just in time for the Super Bowl, i WCOV's new transmitter sits side-mount-' ed to WSFA Channel 12's tower, which is 13 teachers receive grants STAFF REPORT The Alabama Power Service Organization has selected 13 first-year teachers in Alabama's public school system to receive an educational endowment grant, according to an Alabama Power Co. news release. The group's educational endowment was established in 1995 and provides start-up funds of $700 each to the new teachers. Thirteen teachers will be honored at an awards luncheon at noon Saturday in Birmingham at the Alabama Power Corporate Headquarters Auditorium: Barbara Adams of Bob Jones High School In Madison. Melissa Boothe of Hay- neville Road School in Mont-gomery.

Sheryle Bracy of South-side Elementary School in -r Tuscumbia. Julie Johnson Graves of Centre Middle School In Centre. Jack Hankins of Thorn- asville High School in Thorn- asville. Jayne Kennedy of Fonde Elementary School in Mobile. Jeff Madden of Russel- Mile Middle School in Russel- Mile.

Joni Magwood of Madi- son Crossroads Elementary School in Toney. Salli Sanders of Oden- ville Elementary School in Odenville. Wanda Solomon of Clo- verdale Elementary School in Dothan. Stephanie Todd of Mid-field Elementary School in Birmingham. Melissa Tumipseed of Erwin High School in Birming- ham.

Elizabeth Wicks of Holt- ville Elementary School in Deatsville. By Melissa Montealegre ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER Although they're not waxing up their surfboards, eight high school guidance counselors in three Alabama counties soon will surf a computer network that will help them communicate with other education officials throughout the state. The network, called Counselor-Net, will be used by guidance counselors in eight high schools in Butler, Dallas and Lowndes counties. The network will help counselors participate in on-line professional development and improve the educational services they provide their students. The hookup to cyberspace which should be completed in early March results from a $32,000 grant made Thursday by the BellSouth Foundation to Troy State University Montgomery.

TSUM was only one of 16 universities nationwide to receive this grant, and the only Alabama recipient, according to a news release. The grant will provide the funds to create CounselorNet, a computer-based network, that will provide underprivileged area high schools with advanced communication capabilities, said Donald Thompson, the dean of the TSUM division of counseling, education and psychology. The CounselorNet project will have an interactive bulletin board, said Mr. Thompson, who serves as the CounselorNet project director. Users can post messages and receive either private or public responses.

The second part of the project includes a direct link to educational issue sites that are of particular interest to guidance counselors, he said. Alice Logan, a guidance counselor at the Lowndes Area Vocational School and at the county's Central High School, said the computer network will help guidance counselors better network among themselves. "If there's a particular program that we don't have, that someone in Butler County does have, then we might be able to share it," said Ms. Logan. "I foresee great things happening with this system." RICHARD THOMPSONSTAFF David Woods, owner of WCOV-Fox Channel 20, stands Thursday at the base of the transmission tower in Grady on which WCOV's transmitter is side-mounted.

WSFA leased space on the tower to WCOV. Household names lead blue-chip shares higher ing late Wednesday that it would cut prices of its most powerful microprocessors less than most analysts had anticipated. Intel's announcement suggested that demand for computers and computer technology is strong. Micron rose 238 to 353s on leading volume on the Big Board. Texas Instruments closed up 434 to 74V2.

added 2Ve to 9134. Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds, which move in the opposite direction of prices, fell to 6.87 percent after the Labor Department said first-time state jobless claims rose by a surprising 10,000 in the week ended Jan. 25. Meanwhile, technology stocks rose. Intel shares gained 538 to 160V8 in Nasdaq trading after say age, up almost 85 points Wednesday, climbed an additional 83.12 to close at 6,823.86.

The Dow's charge higher was led by household names Procter Gamble, up 4 9-64 to 11538, and Philip Morris, up 3V2 to 119V8. Interest-sensitive stocks rose as bond prices climbed, pushing interest rates lower. Citicorp shares were up 2V8 to 114V4, while Chase I THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK Stocks rose i Thursday, led by blue-chip shares, as a jump in claims for unemployment benefits pushed interest rates lower and as technology shares rallied on fresh signs of industry strength. The Dow Jones industrial aver- 5 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER Boll weevil program review off the mark, official says Market in brief January 30, 1997 DOW (Industrials) NYSE Dial the number above and enter a four-digit category code: Business news update Wall Street headlines Stock market update NYSfupdate Arriex update Blount's profits hit record in '96 OTC update AMEX MidCap NASDAQ 6710 6732 6730 6735 6740 6745 6734 67SO 6755 6760 6761 6732 6733 6736 6737 6736 6730 Standard Poors update Key ratesprices update Bond market update Precious metals update Commodities update Wall Street money report Wall Street gold and coins Mutual funds update Most active stocks For example, he said the review documented that Alabama's trap costs per acre for eradication services were higher than any other state's. They were in 1994 and 1995, according to review figures.

Mr. Karr said this conclusion was misleading because Alabama didn't join the boll weevil eradication program until 1992. "That's why our costs are so much higher we have more bugs," he said. Gail Hubbard, the director of the state audit division in the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, said she stands by her department's findings, which were also based on the Department of Agriculture's 1995 review. "We went over the entire review with Mr.

Karr and (Agricultural Commissioner Jack) Thompson before it was published," she said. "They did suggest a few changes, and we added those to the report before it went into print." By Melissa Montealegre ADVERTISER STAFF WRITER Responses to a review criticizing the accounting methods of the Southeastern Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation are leaving the wool pulled over someone's eyes. The question is, whose? On Jan. 24, the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts released a review reporting that the nonprofit foundation which oversees boll weevil eradication in eight states could not account for the Alabama program's disbursements. Guy Karr, the secretary-treasurer for the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation of Alabama said the examiners failed to take in the entire picture.

"Their unfamiliarity with the way the program is managed has resulted in a lot of unfair comparisons," Mr. Karr said. TopTO dollar stocks TO most widely helcfsiocks Fourth-quarter net income was $17.4 million, 88 cents per share, compared to $15.5 million, or 79 cents per share, the prior year, the company said. For the 12-month period, Blount said sales of $649.3 million in 1996 represented a 4 percent increase over the $621.4 million reported for 1995. Operating income from segments increased 8 percent to $113.1 million from $104.9 million the prior year.

Net income for 1996 increased 12 percent to $55.2 million, or $2.82 per share, from $49.4 million, or $2.53 per share, the company NYSE Diary STAFF REPORT Montgomery-based Blount International Inc. reported Thursday record operating results for its fourth quarter and the twelve months that ended Dec. 31, 1996. The diversified international industrial manufacturer said fourth-quarter sales of $174.1 million were 10 percent greater than the $158.7 million in the prior year's fourth quarter. Operating income from segments for the quarter increased 15 percent to $30.6 million from $26.7 million for the same period last year, the company said.

STOCK QUOTES To get updated reports on Individual stocks, punch In 1000 and use the stock's ticker symbol not the abbreviation that appears in our daily stock listings then convert the symbol to a INFOLINE code: Advances: 1,561 New highs Declines: 931 114 a Unchanged: 843 New lows Total issut's: 3,335 16 A 21 42 63 83 22 I 43 71 01 23 61 01 02 31 52 72 S3 32 I 53 73 03 33 61 It 11 41 62 62 .13 Composite volume: 629,436,060 l96avg.comp. 4973HJ70 Quotes Intended (or Information only. MARKET HIGHLIGHTS January 30, 1997 January 30, 1997 High I 6,845.03 I Highest rln-. LmQn Low 6,719.96 784.17 11.67 6823.86 83.12 High 784J7J Highest close I law 772.50 Wv23.W HA HA 795 t. 1 -b 765 -T-735 6950 6750 6550 6350 6150 5950 5750 Thursday' volume Thursday' volume National Market 624,160,000 shares 19,998,000 shares Thursday' volum Most Active Stocks Most Active Stocks 653,637,500 hre Most Active Stocks Norn.

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Doncraleni ll 5,778,400 RoyolOak 0 tn.XO 1 I-H m(( i AlrTouch MU.lOO 15. 1 EChoBaV 477,300 tVt Vi QrocH 37V -3-t ComoUSAl 4,724,100 1 1V HarknnEiwv IMt-Jlt WIcroiHt 101W ISM 4.S01.W0 MTVt 1 Naborilnd SS4.400 10V WoriaCm 7,449,000 UVl Vi PtoICo 4,371,400 J4'A Hearx 5 Vt jaytiwk 7,134,200 3V 4V Corp i 3,033,100 3l Audlvox 504,700 Quantum 4.313,KK Jv 2W AMD 35 21 IvaxCp 440,000 11 VI JCoffl 5.024,500 45' 2V Brlnkw 3,475,500 11 PHAuitPrm 427,200 -M4 lunMIe 4,764,000 31 1104 705 675 645 3197 2197 1197 12196 11196 11196 12196 1197 2197 3197.