Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Jan. 20, 1983, edition 1 / Page 2
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. ' • EDITORIALS & COMMENTS WCT^eeds A New Focus! Iif tiroes like these, when the nation is ip the depths of a depression, it appears ctwpg^ teristicaUy common to find in a recent three-part Pas* feeries that redid Option WGIV has experienced difficulty iiTraeet ing its financial obligations and was thus offered for sale on the action block. The possibility of new ownerahip of the station has y Jocused attention on the sta ; tion’s role in the Black com • munity says Post Staff writer "" Rachel SwAnn in part two of the series. "" In tbe series, WGIV’s general manager, Hal Haft-ill, and. station employee, Rhotida Anthony, credited tbe strength of Station WPEG’s FM signal from Concord for eroding their listen ership: Reportedly, statistics support their viewpoint in that in - the last 10 years, AM listeners have decreased from 75 to 39 percent, while FM listeners have increased fronS'25 to 61 percent. . There' appears to be little reason to accept the more power ful FM signal of station WPEG or the status of tbe economy TOr WGIV’s apparent decline. First, WPEG’s listeners reportedly Claim'its station programming, not tbe stronger FM signal, which influences then- radio pre ference. Secondlyr with a knowledge of “ this decifne in Its listening audience, and a subsequent de cline in its advertising, WGIV’s Hal Harrili nevertheless fnHn tains the station will not alter its programming, Will not Change an* of its personnel and Will continue its involvement In the Black community. Mr. Harrili Even--Bays, aCCOtUfng to-nur - series, Chat these conditions -won’t change even under'a new ownership. We find it difficult to believe that with or Without new owners WGIV will dgptinue to follow the when in effect’ ttwy^are^nOt revenue producing for profit as any privately owned business needs to be in order to survive. Station employee Rhonda An thony has expressed die view that because WGIV has spon sored the annual "mountain of Food Drive, summer neighbor hood block parties and provided people with naes to pous oh election days, the community owes tbe station something. She skid, “We’ve tried to make the community happy, but then I wonder where they are when w€ heed them.” Tbe Met is, as noble as these community projects are they* are in effect a part of tbe community affairs endeavors that should result in listeners and subsequently advertising dollars. * * A fourth point involves Mr. HArrill’s statement that WGIV is “the only Black station- on the AM dial.* We have no competi tion.” This "has little meaning for a couple of reasons. To begin with, the illusion that WGIV has no competition may hAveTbd to complacency and thus became less competitive, in addition, there is in fact competition be cause some Black listeners tune-in to other AM stations or flip to FM stations: The Hard Met is, if WGIV hopes to maintain itself ancTgi Jw in the Charlotte area' radio market if must develop pottdes and programmihg formats that will attract and maintain listen ers based oh quality and a competitive spttit, not oh a “community owes-us” attitude. "The station heeds to consider broadening its programming to appeal to the full range of the sodoeconomie-edUcational Black community. Similtaneous ly, it should vehtQre into pro gramming 'that may attract Some white audiences; after all Black announcers on “white Stations” can and do develop a white listening cflehtele. In our opinion one example of iitfprovement in program quality would, be. the station’s Sunday highf call-in talk stun?. since JiiA Black’s “Black Rap” days tfiere has not been a show' host with sufficient knowledge of current events and soda! and economic issues to' be able to discuss anything with any. degree of depth or understanding. We also believe that it is time for WGIV to develop competi tive contemporarybusiness practiees-prograras with great er variety and audience appeal and to efnpidy artd or develop anhouncers who identify with segments of tbecortimunltyand cah develop w loyal listening audience. This is the Americah way. Oianging American Scene Twenty years ago Governor George Wallace told toe people ef Alabama and promised the world “segregation foretrer." This week, on Monday, the day taott of the nation wad honoring the contributions of the fate Dt. Martin Luther King Jr., George Wallace-sat in a wheel chair on the same spot where be gave his “segregation fOrever” speech, to be inaugurated for a fourth term as governor of Alabama, ironically, Wallace bad been elected with major Black voter support. Consistent' with ibis irony, a Black led tbe Pledge of AllegienCe, another Black man gave tbe benediction, and a Black man was'sworn in as a justice of tbe' Alabama Supreme Court, all on the same platform with Wallace. This is truly a Changing scene for America.' GET IN THE/ CAR SUS STOP mr 'RAPE HAS BECOME A BLACK CRIME" ABLACKDETROtT 7 POLICEMAN RECENTLY STATED. HE SAU) NONE 24 HOUR PERIOD EIGHT PAPES WERE REPORTED.au ' VICTIMS WERE BLACK SO WERE THE RAPIST. *Crime 1b A Pressing Problem hi The Black Community WGJV Safes Angas Ste^-i EhjJoyee Dear Sir: I was appalled, angered and extremely hurt by the story written by Rachel Swann of The Charlotte Poet on Thursday, Janu ary 14, 1WS entitled “Post Reveals, WGIV Losing Listeners Because of Pro gramming.'*- It—wa» not only the worst piece of journalism that I have ever read, but some of the com ments and quotes printed were silly and untrue. The article does give, a positive and negative view of WGIV, but the negative clearly outweighs the posi tive. After reading the article, I came to the con clusion that it was trying to say that “WGIV is inferior to WPEG.” Now, here are some facts about WPEG that you'may not know: WPEG is white-owned; WPEG is owned by the Surburban Radio Group, a white radio chain, which does not have any station other than WPEG with a black format. The' com pany has no blacks on the local level in upper or middle management; WPEG employs three full time and one part-time ployees. These employees are on-tbe-ahr personnel, creating the fallacy that WPEG is a black radio station; WPEG has no blacks on the sales staff; WPEG never has anything in its programming of cul tural interest >to blacks; WPEG does not consider itself a black radio station. Now, why should The Charlotte Pott support this radio station? j. It saddens me to think that a so-called black news paper would play up and degrade a fellow black owned media outlet. The purpose at a black news paper Is to support issues and events from a sensi tive black point of view. That was clearly not done by this article. I would ex pect the Charlotte Observ er to play up something negative about the Marft community, but not The Charlotte Pott. _ • Rachel Swann and Tfe Charlotte Post if you are going to be the voice ot the black community, you can not continue to write ar ticles like this. WCUV has been in your corner for about SO years no*; we need your respect and sup port. Let's work together because we are both in this struggle together. (The preceding' com ments were written by Mel Kilgore, an employee of WGIV. . The comments were purely personal and do not in any way repre sent the opinions of the staff, management dr sponsors of WGIV.) _:__ -Melvin Kilgore Editor’s Note: The series of articles written by '• Rachel Swann on WGIV, were reflective of the wide ly-known problems facing WGIV and numerous other small businesses. The Intent of Ms. Swann and The Post was not to sup port either WGIV or WPEG. These articles were written objectively. We do not support “issues' and events’’ from a “sen sitive black point of view.” We support the facts. WPEG Not Responsible _JM.. wear sir: WPEG is not responsible for the failure of WGIV nor can you blame the listening audience <?r your advertis ers. I feel that WGIV failed because it lost per spective of its main goal - to cater to the listeners' enjoyment._ Blaming WPEG for tak ing your business is poor sportsmanship. For in stance, it’s like McDon ald’s telling its customers "if you hadn’t gone to Bur ger King we’d still be the number one burger Sellar. WGIV has been on the air for. a lot longer than WPEG. WGIV should have changed its format to meet the changing desires and needs of the black popu lation. WGIV should have real ized. that the competition was going to be tough a long time ago especially when the advertisers began to leave and take their busi ness elsewhere. WGIV should have made improvements thenlnstead of pushing the blame on someone esle when it’s too late. -. Frances Wright Many of the tax benefits of the 1961 tax law have been changed or modified in the new tax law the Congress passed Septem ber 1969 Some nf the major 1QK2 rtmngra refer to reduction in investment incentives, pension fund limitations, restrictions on tax iree^acquisjtions^withholding of dividends and interest, and acceleration of corpora tion tax payments and deferral of construc tion period expenses. If you are not sung how these'iteros affect your business, it is m good idea to contact your CPA or tax attorney to discuss these new changes. The 1962 law reduces the depreciation deduction to eliminate a portion of the investment credit. A business firm should make a discounted cash flow present value analysis to determine the best tax advan tage in Combining depredation and the investment tax-credits! A major change in investment incentives is the reduction in depreciation expense. Under the 198r law, deductions for depre dation were planned to be increased in 1965 and 1966. These depreciation deduction increment increases in 1966 and 1966 have been cancelled. The 1982 law sharply reduces the permis sible employer contributions to pension and profit sharing plans and defined benefit pension plans. The maximum contribution plans have been reduced from 145,475 to $30,000 per employee. This amount will be raised under a Cost of living formula after 1985. The prior law allowed a defined benefit pension plan to fun retirement benefits of as much as $136,425 per year, , starting at age - 55. The new law limits this amount to $90,000 and has penalities if you use the plan prior to age 62. Many business firms will now be required to withhold 10 percent of interest and. dividends paid to individual investors ot debt holders. This rule doolies to intermW and dividends paid or credited for low inCome and older recipients Whd must files exemption requests. Interest and divident recipients are' exempt from the 10 percent withholding if they are tax exempt- insti tutions,orcorporafions, or who receive less than $150 per year. Administering these new withholding rules will be difficult, but business firms will be able to delay payments of the amount withhold, and use the “float” to help pay or offset this additional Cost of doing business. These withholding changes will probably require extensive and expens ive computer programming to modify your accounting system. Stride the program j; starts in less than six months you maywant,: to plan now for Computer program revisions in your Credit financial management system. The tax changes also accelerate the payment of corporatton taxes. The old law required firm* to pay 10 percent of ttwir-C current year tax natality in quarterly :: estimated payments. The new law places the minimum level at 90 percent of the tax liability. For additional information, contact the ■: Economic Development Division, Center •: for Improving Mountain Living, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North .: Carolina 28728, 704-227-7492. THE CHARLOTTE POST Second Class Postage No. 966600 “THE PEOPLE'S NEWSPAPER" Established 1918 Published Every Tharsday by The Charlotte pest Publishing Cs., lac. Subscription Rate 917.66 Per Year Send Afl2S79’sTo: ISM West Bhrd., Charlotte, N.C. 28M6 Telephone 764-176-6496 i;.'. Circulation 16,01 iisssm,rrrr 5 p.m. Mooiav. AD photo* and ceov /\ m a I wi a ted F^ubliahera Inc MM g. MlrMgaa Aw. 45 W. 4Mk 84., fteho 14M CMeag*. III. Mill New Ywk, New York lent Ipekmat S-MN m-4»l2» ■ ■'■ 1 ■■ —'■.. ■■' From Capitol HiU Administration Should Reveal Facts On Public Defense»i Ob November », Presi dent Reagan addressed the nation on television, show ing charts and explaining that the United States is almost batting zero in de ' The Center for Defense which Is a non-profit, non partisan rsseerch organiz ation which behaves in a sarong defense, bat it op Alfreds L. Madison poses exceases made and It gave an analysis of the -President's speech. ' In the report retired Rear Admiral Bc^ene Car roU said the President’s statement, “...while the Soviet Union has raced, we have not,” is high inac curate President Reagan said, "In virtually every military power, the Soviet Union enjoys decided ad vantages,” and yet he has selectively ignored the many significant areas in which the U.S. has a clear advantage,” said Carroll. The report states that the U^SJhas always had more Soviets. The Soviets have more delivery power. We have more warheads on our missiles and bombers, which give us a significant edge in the number of nuclear weapons we can explode on the Soviet Union. The (Soviet Union has been playing “catch up” since 1945. The UJ5. has stayed two to five years ::: ahead of Russia in every major arms race. Secre tary Weinberg said, “Soviet missile improve ment is based on techno logy that they fof rranuH ” In addressing a congres sional committee in 1982 ha stated that he wouldn’t trade nuclear arsenals with USSR because we have an Immense edge in tech nology. Mr. Reagan’s chart which showed the down ward trend In America’s defense spending during the 1970s Ignored the fact that Soviet* must sdfrsss our NATO allies as well NATO has always outspent the Soviet Warsaw Pact. The Pentagon reported that NATO outspent War aaw Pact by $900 billion during the seventies The President’s state ment that the U.8. baa HunluwH nit now Strategic bombers for 90 years, while the Soviets have built backfire bombers Is dis puted by the Defense Canter. The U S has built F-lll strategic Air Com mand Bombers which are comparable to the Soviet's Backfire bomber in bomb load, speed and perfor mance with an additional advantage of being re fueled in night which the Backfire bombers cannot - do. Mr. Reagan said many of our strategic bombers are While ours are old the Soviets are older. His state ment that the Soviets have 000 intermediate range missiles based in Europe, ignores the fact that the U.S. and Its NATO allies have more than 1,000 nu clear weapons and mis siles, long range aircraft in Europe and submarines off the coast for use against the Soviets The Defense Center cri ticized Mr. Reagan's charts as being one-sided . and quite different from charts based on Pentagon statistics. Retired Rear Ad miral La Rocque said the President “In his televised address gave the false im pression that the United Kales ¥ wwfc and prac tically defenseless.” In commenting on the President’s television broacast. Ron Dellums Mid, “in a series of re peated, deliberate distor tkms and outright falsifi cations of recent history and current, easily veri fiable facts, the President and his national security advisors have committed a collective crime ev* con science against the citizens of this country and by ex tension, the world at Rear Admiral Carroll •aid the Administration's aircraft carrier concent still displays World WaTlI thinking which Is a losing strategy, today. Wa cannot attack Russia with aea based weapons. He said our Geneva nuclear weapons proposal was so onesided that the Soviets could not accent it. The President's call for sero, sero option is not sero, sero at all. He wants the Soviets to take out their intermediate bal listic missiles out of Europe, while we maintain our aircraft, submarines, and the French and English will also keep theirs. Mr Carroll said wa have all the military equipment and military men that we need. The United States is the moat Powerful military nation on the foes of the earth. Mr. CarriU continued, “We are > selling weapons to other : countries, giving the im - pression that it Is a deter rent to conufcpnism.” The Center for Defense * says there Is no such thing •' as superiority and inferior ity in this nuclear war ; thinking Both Russia and • the United States have more than enough warfare ; to deatwqf each other jiUlPMWK'ji■'T At preaent there is strong ; debate going on In - Congress over financing I the MX missile. Major > General William Falrbort said, “for the short-term I gain of trying to sell the : MX to the public, the Pre- - •Went is apparently will- t tag to sacrifice the good I name And agutation of our ; armed forces, and of the - the yean, who halpadbtaS;: America into a strong and • confident nation.”
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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