The Cincinnati Post from Cincinnati, Ohio • 30

'VP HP I fy mhmm npw 'i I i 1 1 OBThursddy Jj 1 9 2 v- 1 os: i Great American radio stations WLW parent to buy rival WKRC 'j i i Airwave partners The owner of WLW-AM will run and eventually purchase WKRC-AM under a (rian known as a local i- marketing arrangement WThe plan Is popular with weaker stations that seek to stay in business by hooking up with f-powerful nearby stations with similar formats-CS a-lm Under the first such arrangement i In Greater Cincinnati rock station i WEBN-FM is managing and has an option to buy WAQZ-FM in Milford- 1 By Jennifer Kent end Douglas Bolton Port tW wportwi The owner of Cincinnati radio power house WLW-AM has agreed to run and eventually buy troubled WKRC-AM culminating a decades-long rivalry and months of rumors that the weaker station might collapse The agreement announced Wednesday will help ease but Is not expected to end WKRCs parent company's scramble to raise cash for debt repayments due next month Though the two officials declined to elaborate statements about the agreement appear to signal that WKRC parent Great American Communications Co plans to hold onto its popular Cincinnati FM station WKRQ Cincinnati-based Great American faces $2868 million in debt payments' next month left over foom its $15 billion 1987 acquisition of the former Taft Broadcasting Co The takeover was orchestrated by Cincinnati financier Carl iindnar Jr About three dozen WKRC staffers were told Wednesday afternoon that their Jobs will be terminated as of Dec 1 when WLW begins running the station said production director Vince Zimmer a shock or anything Everybody knew that it was going to said Zimmer who also has worked as a disc Jockey a talk show host and a side-kick to Jerzy Thomas at the station David Crowl president of Great American radio group told employees that they will have to apply to WLW if they want to work at WKRC after the end of November Zimmer said staff members were expected to get details about severance pay today Great American disclosed Monday that it was considering several proposals for the sale In the fourth quarter of individual stations or station groups The Post reported that Jacor had made a bid for programming sales and advertising In exchange for assuming WKRCs revenues and expenses WLW owner Jacor Communications Inc will likely mit a monthly payment to Great American The local marketing arrangement will give Jacor time to build studios Wmk programming changes and gain regulatory approval before buying the station The terms of the agreement was not disclosed Great American maybe moving its corporate office to the WKRC portion of the broadcast center once the station is moved to the Jacor production center in Mt Adams Zimmer said With the acquisition of WKRC Jacor stations would control 248 percent of the tri-state market Just under the FCC limit The announcement Wednesday said no immediate changes are planned and Cincinnati games will continue to be broadcast live over WKRC But programming and personnel changes would be likely sources said WKRC and also possibly WKRQ Under the agreement announced Wednesday WLW most popular station will control WKRCs GM cutting Allarite $62000 coupe never AMOdaM Prwt Howard Zuefle Small business Home expenses are deductible 525 Vine rehab brightening image New walls windows and other Interior and exterior additions and improvements are part of the first major renovation of the 525 Vine St office building since it wasopened in 1985 The renovation to be completed by the end of the month follows the relocation last May of the downtown branch of the US Post Office to the building The work on the 23-story building is being done by Duke Construction Management whose affiliate Duke Associates manages the property Above 1 welders Randy Weber right and George Smith install support beams in the 525 Vine St lobby They are employed by CHC Fabricating a dunawaytiw QndmMi pom a steel sculpture in the ceiling of 525 Vine's lobby is surrounded by new walls DETROIT Al-lante Introduced seven years ago to rival Porsche Jaguar and other European coupes is the latest victim of General Motors costcutting The $62000 two4oor luxury coupe will be discontinued at the end of the 1993 model year next summer GM officials announced Wednesday At the same time fl- nancing arm is preparing for a possible credit crunch telling dealers who sell multiple brands to go elsewhere for backing on non-GM vehicles starting Jan 1 The move was spelled out in a letter to 9000 dealers Wednesday It acknowledges that General Motors Acceptance Corp despite a clean balance sheet may have a harder time borrowing money in coming months because of its troubles Dealers who finance their non-GM vehicles through GMAC have until March 1 to make other arrangements the letter says Allante was always a want car not a need GM spokesman Vince Muniga said luxury roadster car market never really blossomed like we thought it would Mercedes Jaguar all Atlanta's discontinuation was the fifth this year for GM It also is phasing out production of Oldsmobile's Toronado Custom Cruiser station wagon Cutlass Ciera and Bravada (Allante) has never nev- -er lived up to its expectation I care what they try to put on said analyst Joseph Phil-lippi of Lehman Brothers Inc in New York started a small travel agency to supplement my full-time Income My office for the agency Is in what used to be a guest bedroom In my home Can I deduct a portion of my house expenses as a business expense? A A percentage of your home office expenses may be deducted on your federal income tax return under certain circumstances If your office is used exclusively and regularly as your principal place of business or a place you bring customers or clients you qualify for the deduction The percentage you are allowed to deduct is usually determined by dividing the square footage of your designated office by the total square footage of your residence An acceptable alternative if all the rooms in your home are roughly the same size is to divide the number of rooms used for your office by the total number of rooms in your house or apartment Deductible home expenses include mortgage Interest (or rent) real estate taxes utilities insurance repairs etc This issue has been litigated extensively If you frequently bring home work bom your full-time job and do the work in your travel agency office your home office expenses may not be deductible The office would not be used for travel agency business Should you open a second travel agency office outside your home your home office may no longer be considered your place of You might say a minute: still talking to customers on a regular basis from my home office phone The law says my office must be either my principal office or I must contact customers Unfortunately contacting customers by electronic means such as a telephone or computer modem is probably not good enough You must physically have customers in your home office regularly Since your travel agency is new you are likely operating close to break-even You might figure that the home office deductions let you show a handy paper loss Sorry but a home office deduction cannot exceed the amount of income it generates though losses can be carried forward If you do qualify for a home office deduction complete the IRS Form 8829 in conjunction with your Schedule I understand what depreciation amortization and capital expenses are all about Can you explain? A If you replace the compressor on your walk-in cooler the cost of the new compressor is a capital expense If your compressor Just needed a good cleaning or a new belt the cost of the repair is an operating expense A capital expense has a useful life extending beyond the end of your tax year Instead of expensing the full cost in one year as with an operating expense you must depreciate it over its useful life and expense a portion of it each year Depreciation is essentially an operating expense spread over a period of years Buying the compressor is a depreciable capital expenditure for a tangible asset meaning an asset you can see and touch Other capital expenditures (such as for a patent branchiae or a customer list) are intangible assets meaning they be seen or touched They are amortized over their useful life Amortization like depredation is tantamount to an operating expense spread over a period of years Howard Zuefle has owned and operated several small businesses He is an attorney with a law office in College HilL Address your questions to him co The Cincinnati Post 125 Court SL Cincinnati Ohio 45202 Retailers looking for merrier holiday Fed chairman sees loosening of credit crunch By Jennifer Kent Aasoeiatad Prwt Sales pitch strategy Here's what retailers are doing to attract shop- pers: 21 percent are increas- ing promotions 21 percent are tighten- ing expenses 15 percent are cutting inventory 15 percent are offering more exclusive mer-chandise 9 percent are offering everyday low prices 9 percent are increasing advertising as a percentage of sales NUKE MMi I touch UK MM Hottf spent the last two Christmas seasons worried about their jobs and the economy according to the survey But in interviews retailers Indicated the promise of change following the presidential election is spurring sales think (President-elect Clinton has made so many promises to do so many things that the average person believes there are going to be some said Ivan Steinberg president of electronic and appliance stores seeing the result of that Sales have really picked up in the last And in case those sales are short-lived retailers are trimming inventory so they aren't overloaded with markdown table merchandise the Deloitte A Touche survey said Customer service is the No 1 reason Cincinnati retailers believe shoppers will choose their stores over the competition this year the survey said But Deloitte A national survey of consumers showed service was low on priority lists Nearly 25 percent of 1011 Local retailers anticipating a more generous flock of' Christmas shoppers this season expect sales to increase an average of 4 percent this year a new survey shows Despite a generally dismal outlook on the local retail environment retailers expressed optimism concerning their own fortunes according to the Deloitte A Touche survey to be released today Out of 25 Greater Cincinnati retail-Steinberg era 71 percent expect their same-store to increase Another 22 percent expect sales to be flat while 7 percent expect a decrease But of those expecting an increase 43 percent expect a boost of 3 percent or less As for retailers as a whole they expect sales to rise 4 percent over last year Like last year retailers are cutting prices and increasing promotions to lure consumers NEW YORK The banking industry is healthy pnnngh to begin financing the emerging rebound Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan said Greenspan in a speech Wednesday night before the Tax annual dinner also said the credit crunch may be easing The credit crunch refers to a dramatic slowdown in bank lending since 1990 the cause of which is in dispute "Fortunately the credit crunch which has been so debilitating to the economic performance of this country over the past two to three years has shown no evidence of worsening in recent months and may finally be Greenspan said Alan least this is the implication of Greenspan some stirring in the loan markets in recent He referred to the recent "beige survey of wnHnnai economic conditions that showed an uptick in bank loan demand many problems remain before one can conclude that our banking system has fully weathered the storm of recent years it certainly appears in sufficient reasonable shape to assist in the financing of a sustained expansion in economic Greenspan said But he warned that new strict federal banking regular tin" particularly the 1991 banking bill could hamper the recovery of the banking industry and the econo- shoppers polled said they wen most attracted to stores offering everyday low prices think people are attracted by value whatever that said Robert Malinowski partner in charge of Deloitte A local retail practice are defining value as something other than price consumers are responding that looking for everyday low prices think what retailers need to understand is a cost of providing more customer MttMttMoMMl.