The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 20

PageB-4 CONSUMER CORNER B-5 a UTAH BRIEFS B-5 BUSINESS GLANCE B-7 OCTOBER 25 2000 i YESTERDAYS mam Indicators Coldwell Banker says 23 percent of available residences were booked in first week after tickets for 2002 Games went on sale i Dow Jones NASDAQ i CLOSE: CLOSE 1033307 NYSE 341962 3- -Q BY STEVEN OBERBECK THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE -i Tickets for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City are in demand and so are private homes that visitors can rent while they (eiyoy the pageantry and spectacle The first week after Olympic tickets went on sale Oct 10 the real-estate brokerage licensed to handle the rental of private residences for the Games rented 23 percent of its available properties started booking properties as soon as tickets went on said Kent Schlopy director of Coldwell Banker Premier Olympic residential accommodations program demand remains strong We are now getting 80 to 100 calls per That is good news for Utahns who hope to rent their homes to visitors Schlopy said of the properties rented to date the lowest rate was for a two-bedroom home that went for around $400 a day Salt Lake Organizing Committee spokeswoman Caroline Shaw said in June that Games organizers anticipated they would need about 750 private residences to meet the demand for lodging SLOC is sticking with that number although Coldwell Banker estimates it may need up to 1000 properties' It currently has around 70 listed for rent on its Web site at wwwutah homescom "People are eager to rent properties and we have to work hard to increase our Schlopy said we get more listings we can rent Homeowners who list their properties with Coldwell Banker will receive 60 percent of what visitors pay in rent The remainder will be split by Cold-well Banker and SLOC Rick Davis president and chief executive officer of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau said SLOC did a good job of tying up all the first-class hotel rooms in Utah for the Games He suspects much of the demand that Coldwell Banker reports is coming from visitors worried they will not find convenient hotel accommodations we are going to see a lot of movement in the lodging market as the Games draw Davis said He estimated there are several thousand condominiums in Park City and near the mouths of Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood canyons that have yet to make their way onto tiie rental market Many of those condo owners are waiting to see if they will get the tickets they want Davis said will find out after the first of the year and if they get the tickets I suspect many will put their condominiums up for i CLOSE CLOSE: 64654 19ai3 A- 1 V- Top Performers The Bloomberg Utah Index 1 measures the stock 1 performance of the major publicly held companies a i ANALYSIS Blue-chip stocks surged Tuesday but technology issues fell back after an earnings warning from National Semiconductor revived worries about high-tech profits Steve BakerThe Salt Lake Tribune MENU QF THE DAY Racial Undertones Now at Center of KJZZ UPN Feud dislike of urban ethnic shows was racist alleges network official BY MARTLN RENZIIOFER Tom Ryan who heads menu management for US restaurants looks at two of the new chicken sandwich products at the hamburger 'giant1 corporate headquarters in Oak Brook III Company officials feel the menu has room to grow and will be the key to achieving a greater share of the fast-food market Silicon Valley Alliance Seeks Rural Development Gov Mike Leavitt met with nearly 20 rural mayors and county commissioners Tuesday in a brainstorming session to seek ways to expand economic development efforts of the Utah Silicon Valley Alliance into all parts of the state The alliance is a partnership involving business executives academic leaders venture capitalists and economic developers to promote the state as an entrepreneurial center and as a site for expansion by Silicon Valley companies Leavitt said the alliance is gaining momentum and it is that every area of the state participate in the dialogue to learn how they can become part of the work force of the New The session explored several issues critical to economic development in the rural areas: infrastructure for high-speed Internet access transportation and education and training in relevant areas including a work force willing to gain new skills Specific proposals will be developed for future consideration by the Legislature Leavitt said Utah Hotel Rates Drop Hotel-room rates in Salt Lake City dropped from $7211 in September 1999 to $7034 this September according to the Rocky Mountain Lodging Report prepared for the Utah Hotel Lodging Association Average room costs in Salt Lake City declined from $7586 the first nine months of 1999 to $7246 for the same period this year While room costs fell the percentage of hotel rooms occupied in Salt Lake City increased slightly in Sep tember to 64 percent compared with 632 percent in September 1999 But for the first nine months of the year occupancy rates in Salt Lake City dropped from 689 percent in 1999 to 651 percent for the same period this year Statewide hotel-room rates averaged $6826 in September down from $6867 a year earlier Occupancy rates for September totaled 624 percent compared with 622 percent in 1999 according to the report Reclamation Grant The Nature Conservancy of Utah has received a $100000 grant from a subsidiary of Williams Pipeline the Tulsa Okla natural-gas pipeline company with operations in Utah The conservation group is using the grant for reclamation of land in the Scott Matheson Wetlands Preserve near Moab In southeastern Utah Mid American Pipeline system Includes two pipes that run underneath the preserve where more than 180 species of birds have been sighted The Nature Conservancy began acquiring land for the Matheson Preserve in 1990 and today manages 890 acres with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Based In Washington DC the Nature Conservancy buys and preserves wildlife habitat and other natural THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE What began as a simple renegotiation of a tract between television network UPN and its Utah affiliate KJZZ has spiraled into recriminations about racial code words KJZZ General Manager Randy Rigby says UPN twisted his intentions while UPN Chief Operations Officer Adam Ware says a letter sent to him by Rigby speaks for itself that KJZZ was reluctant to continue airing the programming Friday Channel 14 (KJZZ) announced that it was dropping its affiliation with UPN while at the same time UPN declared that its new Utah affiliate would be Ogden-based Channel 24 (KAGZ) The change takes place Jan 16 2001 KJZZ has been a UPN affiliate since January 1995 Friday Rigby said recent contract negotiations between KJZZ and UPN bogged down over finances and concerns about program content He said the station was taking a financial bath in prime-time ratings In a negotiating letter to UPN KJZZ requested the option a 90-day written notice to cancel this contract should UPN increase the urban ethnic programming above the current two hours Ifwe have not finalized the contract by Friday Oct 20 we will issue a press saying KJZZ would become an independent station The word has been looked at as a code word for minority or black Rigby acknowledges the letter but denies any racism are spinning that out in the press to twist what was tha he said is a nonissue It is simply a ratings issue broadcast The Fresh Prince of Bel and an affiliated station with the United Negro College Fund and the African Heritage Rigby acknowledged both sides miscommu-nicated letter speaks for said Ware adding other stations have expressed concern about show performance but have never seen it laid out this expressively I want to defend the position Randy is Monday night programming sits at the center of the storm The two-hour block of sitcoms and features mostly African-American casts Karl Malone what he thinks of said Ware referring to the star of the Utah Jazz which is owned by KJZZ owner Larry Miller says he is concerned about content yet he broadcasts and will soon get five days a week What about the adult content in those shows? he said ethnic I think he meant ethnic See NETWORK Page B-8 Cooking Up a New Batch Of Products to Boost Sluggish Sales Burritos bratwurst Southern breakfast biscuits may become future fast-food offerings BY DAVE CARPENTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS experimenting than before The reasons: sluggish sales growth expanding tastes a new computerized and rivals cooking system that sometimes are quicker to innovate have seven or eight items that are almost said Tom Ryan a senior vice president who heads US menu management point that these are bad or outdated that we could use a few Besides new products introduced at select including the Grilled McVeggie sandwich three new chicken sandwiches Fruit Yogurt Parfait McFlurry dessert and others another 40odd ideas are in various stages of testing he said The quest for hot new products is part of a $400 ipillion reinvention kicked off recently by a new advertising slogan: love to see you The new products been on the menu long so too early to say whether customers are wowed Sales at US rose 4 percent to $51 billion in the July-September period compared with the same quarter a year earlier but that included business from 174 new restaurants which tends to skew the results Still Ryan said success of such new products as breakfast bagel sandwiches and McShaker Salads in particular See Page B-5 OAK BROOK HL You find McPizza or Arch Deluxe two forgettable flops from the past on the grill in test kitchens at corporate headquarters But almost anything else Is possible these days a reflection of the menu shake-up under way at the hamburger 12700 US restaurants following years of sluggish results from new products Burritos bratwurst brownie sundaes Southern breakfast biscuits all have emerged recently from 1 Plaza for testing and more surprises are being cooked up for release soon Some could become nationwide staples others will be strictly regional items or wind up on the food obituary list along with the McLean burger and Big Xtra the latest casualty Regardless of the fate of these dishes industry experts say the push to innovate is welcome and probably overdue as McDonald's tries to Improve slowing profit growth In the United States This is still your and founder Ray too Big Macs Filet-O-Fish and its trademark fries will remain core items for the largest restaurant chain But the fast food bastion is doing much more Utah to Add to Database That Allows Investors to Check Out Advisers Online BY STEVEN OBERBECK TI IE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The Utah Securities Division is participating with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a national effort to set up an Internet site that will allow Utahns easily to get information about Investment advisers Beginning in January investment advisers registered with state regulators and the SIX) will be asked to submit their registration forms electronically to a new database that will be run by the National Association of Securities Dealers The Wehbased filing system has potential said Tony Taggart director of the Utah Securities Division Eventually it will allow investors to access information that includes pllnary histories potential conflicts of Interest a list of services advisers provide and their fees he said The site the Investment Adviser Registration Depository or LARD could be available to Investors as early as June said Robert Blaze associate director of Investment management at the SEC first we have to load up the system with data end we are only now starting to do that" Blaze said Investment advisory firms and Registration fees also will be paid online "In terms of consumers the new system will be great" said Roger Smedley of Smcdlcy Financial Services in Salt Lake City will foster wideopen disclosure and make it easy for investors to comparison Under the new rules advisers registered with the SEC must file electronically beginning in the first half of 2001 Smaller firms will be required to file electronically on timetables set up by each individual state Taggart said the Utah Securities Division expects to make electronic filing mandatory by the end onext year individual advisers currently file paper registration forms They register with either the SEC or individual states depending upon how much money they manage Larger firms managing at least $25 million in assets register only with the SEC while those below the $25 million threshold must register in the individual states where they operate In Utah there are about 2000 individual investment advisers registered and 600 advisory firms Once operational the new system will allow investment advisers to file a single form electronically and register in every state where they want to do business I Correction Information about a new loan program offered by Fannie Mae and CTX Mortgage Co to available at 801-561-2000 The number was Incorrect In a Story in Business section.