The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 15

The Billings Gazette Tuesday. Mar. 1, 1988 9-A KOOK, KBIT change call letters, format BUSINESS ming will originate locally, and the entire record library will be on compact disc for top sound quality, said Tilkens. News will be provided by the NBC network. The KOOK call letters have graced the Billings airwaves since 1951.

At various times, they have appeared on AM and FM radio stations and a television station. Tilkens wouldn't detail the reasons for the call-letter switch, but he said that radio listeners are more concerned with programming than with ca 1 letters. Both stations had been simulcasting adult contemporary music during the past month. Before that, KOOK-FM was an adult contemporary station and KBIT-AM had a country music format. By PAUL J.

HOLLEY Of The Gazette Staff New call letters and a new format will debut Tuesday at Billings radio stations KOOK-FM and KBIT-AM. Starting at 5 a.m., the two stations will be known as KCTR and will play "modern country music," said vice presidentgeneral manager Keith Tilkens. The FM station is at 102.9 on the dial, and the AM station is at 970. The two stations were purchased in January by Citidel Communications of Phoenix. The new owner based the format change on a telephone survey of Billings-area listeners.

"Our research showed that 76 percent of the listeners prefer modern country music," said Tilkens. Examples of "modern country" include The Judds and Randy Travis and some records by pop artists like Neil Diamond. He said the stations will simultaneously broadcast, or simulcast, the same programming most of the time. KCTR-AM will carry Billings Mustangs baseball this summer. All of the stations' entertainment program Dividend set: Security Federal Savings Bank will pay a dividend of 4 cents per share on March 31.

The dividend is payable to shareholders of record as of March 17. Security Federal, headquartered in Billings, operates six branch offices in Montana. Name change: a consolidation and name change have been completed for PLM Cos. Inc. The San Francisco-based firm, now called Transcisco Industries completed the sale of three subsidiaries PLM Financial Services, PLM Railcar Management Services and Transportation Equipment Management to PLM International Inc.

for a combination of cash, stock and a note. After the sale, Transcisco Industries will now focus on it railcar-maintenance business and its PLM Power subsidiary, which develops and owns small power-production facilities. The company announced in a news release that it will seek to diversify its businesses by related industrial acquisitions. Transcisco's trading symbols for its two classes of stock are TNIA and TNIB. PLM International shares are now traded under the symbol PLM.

All three stocks are listed on the American Stock Exchange. Mine questions: Critics of a proposed vermiculite mine east of Hamilton want to know how much asbestos is in the ore, but they don't trust the method proposed by the U.S. Forest Servicer to find out. The U.S. Forest Service says it wants to check the asbestos content of test samples drilled for the mining company.

Grain-grading manipulation blamed on confusion "Nobody ever accused any FGIS grain inspector of making any money on this," he said. In a letter to Melcher and Marlenee, Beuley said there was widespread confusion throughout the FGIS about the order last spring to reduce the spring-wheat protein-grading standards. A summary of the investigation said internal disagreements about the adjustments were not resolved when the changes were implemented, resulting in the confusion. It said the confusion could be linked to "the insistence of FGIS not to reduce the oral instructions to writing as a simply means of resolving this Issue." Beuley said the second 0.2 percentage point reduction apparently was carried out only in Montana, and by mistake. "Only the Montana state inspection office interpreted the May 7, 1987, memo from QCTB (Quality Control Testing Branch) to be a second 0.2 percent reduction of the baseline," the investigation summary said.

Other states made no adjustments at all, it said. and perhaps prevented, the confusion that occurred." The Montana Grain Growers Association charged last October that the FGIS decided arbitrarily last April 15 that its rating for spring-wheat protein was too high and told inspectors to lower all calculations by 0.2 percentage points. That reduction and a second mistaken reduction by the same amount cost Montana farmers millions of dollars, the grain growers group said. Lower protein ratings mean lower prices for grain farmers. The grain growers group said the orders were issued without notice and were procedurally flawed.

While the inspector general said he found no criminal intent, grain growers Executive Vice President Randy Johnson says the investigation may have missed the point: why the reduction was ordered in the first place. GREAT FALLS (AP) U.S. Department of Agriculture manipulation of protein-grading standards for spring wheat last year was caused by bureaucratic confusion and poor communication, the USDA inspector general says. But Robert Beuley, the inspector general said an investigation into the changes in protein-grading standards showed no criminal intent or willful coverup by the Federal Grain Inspection Service. Beuley's investigation was partly in response to a request by Sen.

John Melcher, and Rep. Ron Marlenee, who were prodded by the Montana Grain Growers Association. In a letter to the two lawmakers, Beuley said an investigation "found no evidence of criminal intent or willful cover-up We did find that better coordination and communication within FGIS could have lessened, Cattle futures dive The Associated Press Futures prices for livestock plunged Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and analysts blamed it on a "nervousness" over Deaconess Medical Center Cup White Stag Trophy Race Feeder cattle were .45 cent higher to 1.27 cents lower with March at 79.75 cents a pound; live hogs were .05 cent higher to 1.07 cents lower with April at 43.25 cents a pound; and frozen pork bellies were .25 cent to .63 cent higher with March at 51.85 cents a pound. On the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat settled V4 cents lower to 1 cents higher with the contract for delivery in March at $3.15 a bushel. Corn was 24 cents to 3 cents higher with March at $2.03 a bushel; oats were 214 cents to 4 cents higher with March at $1.94 a bushel; and soybeans were 8 cents to 10 cents higher with March at $6.36 a bushel.

Crude oil settled 12 cents to 23 cents higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the contract for delivery in February at $15.49 a barrel (Since 1932) A recreational race for all ages and abilities March 5 6 MiljSnHIMHjJ slaughter house shutdowns. Prices fell as much as 127 points, or 1.27 cents, and only one contract, live hogs for delivery in December, managed to finish higher. Selling interest in cattle was heightened by inactive cash markets, traders said. "Packers, with squeezed margins, have reduced their slaughters. They're closing some plants, and there's nervousness in market," said Tom Morgan, head of Sterling Research Corp.

of Arlington Heights, 111. Live cattle settled .40 cent to 1.12 cents lower with the contract for delivery in April at 71.50 cents a pound. mm Red Lodge Mountain LIVING ROOM HALL LIVING ROOM, HALL DINING ROOM 95 95 $28 Dual course on Bobcat Individuals sixs age groups Teams Men, Women, Mixed Fees per day $5 individual; $30 team Registration 8:30 a.m. at Main Lodge Race starts 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Awards daily 3:30 p.m. Main Lodge area Special arrangements for out-of-town jobs. Living Room, Hall 3 Bedrooms $49.95 Living Room, Dining Room, Hall 3 Bedrooms $59.95 Wyoming leads in mineral-lease funds (CHEMICAL STEAM-CLEANED) Deaconess Medical Center For more information, call: 652-3515 or 446-2610 A fundraiser for the Silver Run Shi Team E-Z CLEAIH! 252-9612 royalties, bonuses and other fees collected by the Minerals Management Service. Wyoming received $153.47 million last year to lead the country. Montana was paid $28.19 million in 1987.

Other top federal minerals reserve states were: New Mexico, $72.51 million; Colorado, $34.78 million; and California, $29.18 million. Wyoming ranked first and Montana was fifth among 29 states that received money associated with mineral leases on federal lands last year. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service reported that $396.57 million was distributed to the states on a monthly basis in 1987. The payments represented the states' share of rents, Deaconess Medical Center of Billings, Inc.

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