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http://www.thecharlottepost.com 8C Cljarlotte TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2003 STRICTLY BUSINESS Radio stadons get Christmas spirit eariy By David B. Caruso THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PHILADELPHIA — It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but on radios nationwide it’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. More than two dozen FM music stations ditched regular programing this month in favor of an all-Christmas-music for mat, with plans to keep the carols coming imtil Dec. 26. Somewhere between 200 to 300 more are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks, ensuring that listeners from Pennsylvania to Dixie’s sunny shore will either get that fix of ‘TIome for the Holidays” they’ve been craving - or go mad from repetitions of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.” The changeovers mark a dramatic shift for many of the stations trying them. Just a few years ago, it was unorthodox for DJs to start spinning holiday tunes more than a day or two before Christmas. Playing “Deck the Halls” before Thanksgiving was considered downright taboo - worse than opening all yoiar presents on Christmas Eve. But the number of stations experimenting with the format has surged since 2001, and programers say it’s for one simple reason: ratings. “It has been a proven home run in market after market,” said Brian Check, a regional vice presi dent of programming for Clear Channel Communications at WSNI-FM in Philadelphia. “Maybe it’s the mood of the country. Maybe after 9/11, and with the war, people want an early pick- me-up, I’m not sure,” he said. “But audience demand is what’s driving this.” The shifts, which have happened almost exclu sively at adult-contemporary stations that nor mally play easy-listening pop, have sent ratings soaring almost everywhere they have been tried. This year the trend has even touched off holiday music arms races, with rival stations angling to See RADIO/7C Economists predict strong growth in ‘04 By Martin Crutsinger THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy, primed by tax cuts and low interest rates, should grow next year at the fastest pace in two decades, but that will do little to decrease unemployment, top eco nomic forecasters predicted Monday The National Association for Business Economics said the vigorous economic growth will continue to be accompanied by strong increases in productivity, as corporations under competitive pressures find more ways to expand output with out hiring new workers. That could present a political headache for President Bush in his re-election bid because the unemployment rate is a far more sensitive politi cal barometer than productivity numbers. But unemployment is seen headed in the right direction, at least, with a NABE forecasting panel predicting the jobless rate will average 5.8 percent in 2004, down from 6 percent currently. The forecasting panel saw payroll employment rising by 1.1 percent, or about 1.3 million workers, not enough to replace the 2.3 million jobs that have been lost since Bush took office in January 2001. While Democratic opponents are expected to point to weak job growth as a sign of Bush eco nomic failures, the White House is apt to contend that the stronger economic growth is an indication that the president’s tax cuts are starting to work. The NABE outlook, assembled by a panel of 28 forecasters from various industries, predicted that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, or GDP, v^dU grow by 4.5 percent in 2004. If that forecast comes true, it would represent the fastest GDP growth rate in 20 years, since the economy surged 7.3 percent in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was running for re-election. ‘We are looking for a very strong bounceback,” said NABE President Duncan Meldrum, chief economist at Air Products & Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pa. He said the biggest threats to the forecast are that job growth will turn out to be even weaker than currently envisioned, which could under mine consumer spending, or that consumer and business confidence will be rattled by a further escalation of terrorist attacks. The report said GDP - the value of goods and services produced within the United States — will rise 3 percent for all of 2003, up from 2.4 percent growth in 2002. After a decade-long expansion, See ECONOMISTS/7C COMPUTER HOUSE CALLS PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON Melvin Caldwell makes housecalls for sick computers as owner of The Computer Professor. Caldwell, 27, started his company after he lost his job in 2001. ‘Professor’ heals ailing hard drives By Cheris F. Hodges FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST Melvin Caldwell makes house calls for sick computers. Caldwell, 27, is owner of The Computer Professor, a full service computer compa ny he built from the ground up. He’s been in business for nearly a year, making house calls to sick computers, refiirbish- ing and selling machines out of his apart ment. CaldweU said he never thought he,d be a business owner at his age, but when he lost his job with another company in 2001, he knew he had to do something. “I could have gotten a job with another company, but I was left with a decision: Do I get a job, start a business or starve. Starving was not an option,” he said. Caldwell took his technical talent and much of his ovm savings and started the Computer Professor. He doesn’t pay him self a salary and invests much of his com pany’s profits back in to The Computer Professor. Caldwell said he knew the risks of striking out on his ovm. But, he added, the job market isn’t a bed of roses. “Nothing is promised and nothing is secure. Companies don’t have loyalty to their employees,” the Charlotte native said. When he first started the business, Caldwell said many of his friends and associates had their doubts. ‘Teople told me it would be too difficult. They asked me what would I do if it was n’t successful or did I know what I was doing,” he said. Caldwell didn’t let those doubters both er him. ’Mth the support of his family and the wiU to succeed, he went for it. Right now, Caldwell has two other employees and is looking to expand. “I’m working on getting some small business loan and leasing some retail space,” he said. Caldwell says owning his own business is more freeing than work-, ing for someone else, despite the obvious risks. “I don’t have anyone micromanaging me and I have more control. I make all of the decisions and I,m learning as I go,” he said. Caldwell said having the freedom to make his own decisions about how to run his business gives him a chance to grow. But it keeps him busy Caldwell says a typical day begins for him around 7 a.m. vvith a service call. He drives out to clients’ home or small busi ness to begin to take a look at the problem with his or her machine. His day doesn’t end until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., he said. Caldwell doesn’t mind the long hours, he said. “I’m doing what I want to do,” he said. On the Net: The Computer Professor WWW.thecomputerprofessor.com. Fanners urge reform of immigration laws By Shannon Dininny THE ASSOCIATED PRESS YAKIMA, Wash. - If retail giant Wal-Mart can be the tar get of a federal investigation into the hiring of alleged illegal immigrants, can the family farm be next? Jon Warhng, an apple grower and labor contractor in Othello, who provides hundreds of farm workers for growers in the Columbia Basin, doesn’t like the uncertainty the question raises. “I have a crop that needs to be picked. It can’t be done mechanically, so I need work ers,” he said. “Agriculture needs a work force. If we’re going to be scrutinized by the federal government, then we need a work force that’s dependable.” The Washington Farm Bureau says the solution is sweeping immigration reform. The bureau is backing two bills currently before Congress. One would make changes to the guest worker program, which farmers have com plained is too expensive and bureaucratic, for workers already in the country. The other would allow immigrant workers a special visa and the opportunity to eventually apply for legal permanent resident status. The advantage of the second bill is that it provides a steady supply of farm workers, said Dan Fazio, labor attorney for the Washington Farm Bureau. “Some people teU us that if you would just pay $20 to $30 an hour you could get workers. That’s not our experience,” he said. “Our experience is that this work is reaUy hard and it takes skill to do it. These are people coming here and they’ve got the skill and the willing ness.” According to some estimates, there are as many as 10 million undocumented workers in the United States. In Washington, that number has been estimat ed at about 100,000. The state offers a higher min imum wage and a bounty of crops that must be hand-picked — work only immigrants are willing to tackle, Fazio said. Employers make every effort to ensure their workers are legal immigrants, he said, but said recent federal raids of Wal- Mart stores raise concerns that agriculture could be next. “What we’re concerned about now is, what’s the next step,” Fazio said. ‘We have a desper ate problem in this country, and that is we have a critical shortage of farm skill workers, people who are willing to do the work.” Last month, federal agents arrested about 250 alleged ille gal workers in a 21-state sweep of Wal-Mart stores. The raids keyed on floor cleaners employed by companies Wal- Mart hired for the work. Earlier this month. Little Rock, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said it had received a “target letter” from the U.S. attorney’s office alleging it had violated federal immigration laws. A corporate spokeswoman said the retailer pledged its coopera tion in the probe. An employer can face civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immi grants or failing to comply with certain employee record-keep ing regulations. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has focused its investigations on industries tied to national secu rity since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “That doesn’t mean that work force enforcement, including, enforcement in the farming community, has fallen off our radar altogether. But our focus has shifted,” said Aaron Wilson, assistant special agent in charge at the Seattle office. ‘We have limited resources, and we have to look at the industries that are vulnerable to terrorism or sabotage.” Wilson said authorities also are more hkely to focus on busi nesses that knowingly sidestep immigration laws or exploit undocumented workers. “From our experience, most employers are doing their best to follow the law in good faith, and offer cooperation with us and our investigations,” Wilson said. On the Net: Washington State Farm Bureau: www.wsfb.com mm)0\
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