Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 34

BUSINESS DETROIT FREE PRESS WWW.FREEP.COM WEDNESDAY. NOV. 20, 2002 3D Viacom-WXYZ deal made to cut costs Kroger, tourism office teaming up on travel Agreement to hand over newscasts is confirmed By JOHN SMYNTEK FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER New program offers vacation discounts By GERRY VOLGENAU FREE PRESS TRAVEL WRITER was approached by Viacom to do what Channel 7 will do but passed. He pegged reductions at $10 million. Berwanger estimated that Channel 7 at best would get 40 percent of net profit from the 10 p.m.

telecast, too low in his mind for the effort and risk. Veteran media talent attorney Henry Baskin was also perplexed by the deal, saying Tuesday it proved Detroit "was no longer a major-league television market," despite its nominal lOth-place ranking in market size by Nielsen Media Research. The 5062 news closing means fewer jobs in a market where stations were already clipping posts and paring salaries. Baskin cited a long line of promises by CBS executives since the major 1994 affiliate change about developing a local news operation in Detroit that haven't been fulfilled. "You make money on news," Baskin said, insisting Viacom is jettisoning its major local revenue opportunity.

"It's an admission that local broadcasting can't compete with cable and other national products." JOHN SMYNTEK can be contacted at 313-222-5169 and smyntekfreepress.com. week in December. Channel 7 news director Bill Carey said the 10 p.m. newscast will be anchored by Frank Turner and Christine McDonald, with Jerry Hodak on weather and Don Shane on sports. Carey said he will be meeting with Channel 5062 personnel about hiring.

Viacom's WWJ-TV, the CBS affiliate, will not air local news, dropping its 11 p.m. newscast. It will show reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond" in its place. The shift provides Fox-owned WJBK-TV (Channel 2) with a much more serious news ratings competitor than low-rated Channel 50 was at 10 p.m. (Channel 7 is the current news leader at 5 and 6 p.m.) It also exposes Channel 7's news to the younger, more attractive demographic that watches UPN programming on Channel 50.

And it gives WXYZ an extra hour of lucrative newscast advertising time to sell. Joe Berwanger, vice president and general manager of WDIV-TV (Channel 4), said Tuesday he Creek. "Right now, we have participation from more than 100 restaurants, resorts, hotels, museums and theaters in the state," said George Zimmerman, vice president of Travel Michigan. "And we expect a lot more to join once the program gets going," he said. "We think this program is particularly important because more than half the people who visit Michigan destinations are from inside the state," Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said he believes the Kroger discount program will have an impact on the growth of Michigan's tourism industry. It should be noted that while Kroger is offering nice discounts, many travelers can get similar discounts at more places with cards from AARP, AAA and some credit cards. Starting in December, Kroger will begin advertising the vacation discounts in its newspaper flyers and other promotions. The Cincinnati-based grocery chain operates 113 stores in Michigan. The cards are free.

You fill out a simple form at the store and you are given a card. No shopping is necessary, although Kroger certainly would like you to shop. In addition to Michigan destinations, Kroger has deals for Belle Tire, Domino's Pizza, Molly Maid cleaning service, Club Med and Royal Caribbean cruises. For a complete list of Kroger card discount locations, call 888-784-7328 or check www.michigan.org, click on Travel and then on the KrogerPlus card icon. Contact GERRY VOLGENAU at 313-222-6521 or volgenauiUfreepress.com.

Viacom may reduce expenses by as much as $10 million a year by ending local news operations at its two Detroit TV stations and letting WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) produce a newscast for one of them. That was the best guesstimate of experts Tuesday as the latest major change in the Detroit television newscape was finalized. As reported Tuesday in the Free Press, Scripps Howard-owned Channel 7 confirmed it will produce a 60-minute newscast at 10 p.m. weekdays and a 30-minute newscast on Saturday and Sunday for Viacom's UPN affiliate, WKBD-TV (Channel 50), using Channel 7 employees and resources. The newscast will be billed as "UPN Detroit Action News" and could start the first If you shop for groceries at Kroger, you can get discounts at Michigan vacation destinations.

The grocery chain giant and Travel Michigan, the state's tourism office, announced Tuesday a partnership that will equal deals at select destinations in the state. Just flash your KrogerPlus shopping card and receive: 20 percent off regular rates at Grand Traverse Resort Spa. 10 percent off tickets to the Fisher Theater, on Tuesday through Thursday. 10 to 30 percent off at chain hotels including Ramada, Days Inn and Travel Lodge. $5 off a lift ticket at Shanty I I I nmV K- 1 MODERNIZE I GM's old home revamped for state One snafu occurred in the final stages of preparing the 14th and 15th floors for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Working closely with Judge Michael Talbot, the renovation team included swell touches like mahogany wood and imposing overhead discs in the two courtrooms. Just three weeks before the move-in date, it was discovered that the judges' bench was too, high; the judges couldn't look over the top and see all the people in the courtroom. "That was one of the 'Oh bleep' phone calls," said Alex Ivanikiw, Barton Malow senior vice president. The bench was lowered, the court moved in on schedule in September 2001 and the other state agencies followed. Nearly 2,000 workers occupy Cadillac Place today, in what Smith culls the "rebirth of a building." building, now called Cadillac Place.

GM had purchased the Renaissance Center in 1996 for a new headquarters and gave its old building to the state. In March 2000, Barton Malow began renovations on the old building. GM workers still occupied four floors. They didn't leave for five months, and they were worried the entire time about losing their phone system as crews were drilling holes and knocking out walls and ceilings all over the building. Barton Malow would love to say it pulled off the project with no problems or surprises, but no one would believe that.

Not in a building that once had 1,960 offices, men's and women's swimming pools, 19 bowling lanes and lodging suites for visiting From Page ID Barton Malow's task was to overhaul the grand but woefully outdated structure into offices suitable for 16 new tenants, all agencies of the State of Michigan. Oh, and do the work while parts of the building were occupied. "It's a marvelous old building, structurally great," says Bob Smith, the project director for Barton Malow. "But there was no central air, no unified sprinkler system. We had to sandwich the ductwork into some pretty small spaces between floors." Smith's team also installed 285 miles of new cable in the building and 7,680 new ceiling light fixtures.

They wrapped up work last month, as the final new tenants moved into the 15-story 1 aLLu ii nil imil imi iViiiiYniii Vr" iimi -i iilrilrti iitoinii ml niimfa rTaaiiniwm; wmim mmh Contact TOM WALSH at twalshfreepress.com or 313-223-4430. General Motors archives The General Motors executives pictured at the June 27,1944, meeting are: 1. Alfred Sloan chairman 2. Charles McCuen, vice president, engineering staff 3. Ormond Hunt, executive vice president 4.

Harley Earl, vice president, styling staff 5. James Crawford, chief engineer, Chevrolet 6. Albert Maynard, chief engineer, GM of Canada 7. Benjamin Anibal, chief engineer, Pontiac 8. Charles Chayne, chief engineer, Buick 9.

William Davidson, administrative engineer 1 0. John Gordon, chief engineer, Cadillac 1 1 Lyle Walsh, assistant to McCuen and manager, engineering staff activities 1 2. CO. Ball, chief engineer, GMC Truck Coach 13. Jack Wolfram, chief engineer, Oldsmobile 14.

J. D. Appel, chief engineer, GM overseas operations 15. Henry Crane, technical assistant on Sloan's staff Announcing the cure for checkbook amnesia. ILSH I Sleuths find story behind photo BANKiONB mm y'toci.

From Page ID importance. Sloan, 69 years old at the time, worked almost exclusively from GM's New York office in those days. He rarely traveled to Detroit. But he was hard of hearing and hated the telephone, so he took the train to Detroit for important occasions. Photo becomes wall decoration Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Michael Talbot knew nothing of that history as he rummaged through GM archives last year, looking for old photos that could be blown up, framed and hung on the walls as artwork.

The appeals court and 15 other state agencies were moving into the old GM building, now called Cadillac Place, which GM vacated in the late 1990s to move to the Renaissance Center. Talbot was the court's point man for dealing with the building renovation team from Barton Malow Co. of Southfield. Talbot thought it would be nice to hang old photos of the 80-year-old building in the appeals court's new home on the 14th and 15th floors of Cadillac Place, which had once housed GM's legal staff. One 14th-floor wing, with the former offices of GM CEOs and other top brass, was converted for use by the Michigan governor when Names of all 15 men were in the minutes, but the other men weren't as famous as Sloan and Earl, so matching names to the faces was a challenge.

Nitschke and Murphy and pals identified 12 of the 15, but they were stuck on the last three CO. Ball, Benjamin Anibal and J.D. Appel, the chief engineers of GMC Truck Coach, Pontiac and GM Overseas Operations, respectively. Those three became Catherine Cochran's project. Cochran has been a GM research librarian for 35 years.

"They call us information scientists now," she says. Cochran scoured copies of Automotive News and other trade publications from the 1940s, and internal GM newsletters at home and abroad, looking for news blurbs, photos and captions of the mystery threesome. She tracked one down, then another, meaning she could match the final name and face by process of elimination. Detective work done, Babcock and Nitschke wrote to Talbot last month with a proposal. How about blowing up another copy of the 1944 photo and displaying it with a complete legend, explaining the history of the meeting and identifying the participants? "We'd be thrilled," Talbot told them.

The work is under way now. When completed, it will be displayed in a public area of the appeals court space. No point in keeping such a grand bit of Detroit history and detective work in the judges' robing room. Contact TOM WALSH at twalsh a freepress.com or 313-223-4430. hung in a robing room, where the judges suit up for court sessions.

He didn't think any more about it until GM lawyer Charlie Bab-cock stopped by for a visit. Bab-cock was intrigued by the photo and asked if he could bring Bob Nitschke by for a look. Finding names for the faces Nitschke of Bloomfield Township retired from GM 22 years ago as vice president and associate general counsel. He wrote a book called "The General Motors Legal Staff 1920-1947," published in 1989. When he saw the 1944 photo, he told Talbot and Babcock that he'd track down the names of all the people in it.

"I knew six or seven of the people," Nitschke says. "Tom Murphy knew a couple more." Murphy was GM's chairman and CEO from 1974-80; he now lives mostly in North Carolina and Florida. Nitschke sent Murphy a copy of the photo. Solving the rest of the puzzle was more difficult, even with the good fortune of finding minutes of the June 27, 1944, meeting in the GM archives. Nitschke says it was common to keep minutes of meetings where technical matters were discussed, especially important meetings.

And this was important. "Sloan never went to committee meetings," Nitschke says. "And Harley Earl's presence made it important too." Earl, whose ghost appears in a current Buick television ad campaign, was the most influential stylist in automotive history. He brought cui-ves and tail fins to GM car designs from 1927 through the 1950s. NOW BANK ONE LETS YOU SEE YOUR CHECKS ONLINE.

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The picture of 15 guys sitting around three tables was identified only by its date. Talbot had it Member FDlC Minimum deposit fo open is $25. Bank One Corporation.