Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page 10

1 OA Iowa City Press-Citizen Tuesday, December 9, 1975 Public broadcasting gets new cost system Are bargain diamonds vA a girl's best WpJ friend? By JAY SHARBUTT AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) For two seasons the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has operated what it calls the Station Program cooperative, in which public TV stations defray the cost of about half the shows they get on the PBS national hookup. Now, they're also, getting a new program-buying system called the Station Acquisition Marketing Plan, or SAM, in which each station can buy programs for a fixed fee based on the size of the station's market. How do the two systems differ? John Montgomery, PBS' programs chief, says the cooperative is intended to help stations produce national programming for public TV. SAM, he says, is intended to let station officials look at and possibly buy completed programs offered by various sources. In the cooperative plan, PBS stations each spring are given the opportunity to pledge financial support for proposed public TV series or pay to keep an established series on the air.

Each station is asked to pay a predetermined percentage of the cost of a series being offered. But the per-station price may rise or fall, depending on how many stations do or don't buy the program. There is no price fluctuation in the SAM system, Montgomery says. Each station is offered a program or series on a fixed-cost basis. It must pay the price it's quoted or it can't air the program.

He says when a program producer or syndicator wants to offer a show via the SAM system, PBS officials first look at it and decide "if it's something we want to offer the (PBS) system." If it is, he says, PBS sets a minimum national price which is the total of the market-bymarket fee worked out in negotiations between PBS officials and those wanting to sell the show to public TV stations. If not enough stations buy the offering and the minimum national price isn't reached, he adds, the deal is off. If that happens, the program producer or syndicator has to go back to fe custom of past years, travelling from city to city and showing the wares to station official in each market. In the SAM system, begun last August, samples of the wares can be shown simultaneously to station managers on a closed-circuit transmission via PBS' national hookup, thus avoiding those time-consuming personal visits to individual stations. If enough station officials like what they see and agree to buy it, PBS then feeds the entire offering to the purchasing stations on its national hookup.

Each station tapes and airs it when it chooses to. jjf Hardly. Because they tend to be inferior stones, often not worth the discount price. That's a "bargain" you can't afford. Instead, come in and see our collection of quality gems, fairly priced.

We base our diamond pricing on cutting, color, clarity and carat weight of the stone. As American Gem Society jewelers we guarantee the quality of every diamond we sell. You can be sure of getting true value for your money. It's a friendly way of doing business. mlntter Photo by i Jewelers Since 1854 109 E.

Washington (ha Th. and 9:30 to Tuesday and 9:30 to 5:00, Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 DR. JAMES C. MASSON ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) Dr.

James C. Masson, the last surviving surgeon trained under the Mayo brothers, died Sunday at his home here after a long illness. Masson, 94, was a Mayo Clinic surgeon from 1915 until his retirement in 1949. City High students Irene Barber and Phillip Zerwas rehearse the musical production "Once Upon a Mattress," to be presented at City High Auditorium Thursday through Saturday. Thursday and Friday performances are scheduled for 8 p.m.

the Saturday performance is set for 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the door. The musical, directed by City High English teacher Janie B. Yates, is taken from the book by the same name. Ms.

Barber is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Barber, of 631 Capitol Street. Zerwas is the son of the Rev. and Mrs.

Jack Zerwas, of 2806 Brookside Drive. Food chain stocks better buys on market mpioeir You cairn get HosottalL Medical Seal, Major Syrg By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst NEW YORK (AP) The devil in his kitchen hardly could have cooked up a more diabolical economic recipe for the fast food chains than that whic was served up by a combination of events beginning in 1973. Disposable income failed to advance and sometimes declined during a more than twoyear period. While workers may have received raises, prices in general rose at a faster rate. Consumers were left with less spending power.

There was a gasoline shortage, and a lot of people stayed home, leaving many chain outlets somewhat lonely, although briefly, on their once frantically busy highway and shopping center sites. The emergency faded, the cost of auto travel didn't. Operating costs rose sharply. Commodity prices surged, especially for meats, fats and oils, which are used in large quantities by restaurants. Wage costs rose; in one eight-month period the minimum wage jumped 25 per cent.

Interest rates rose too, and capital became more difficult to obtain. Because of the energy shortage, expenses for heat, light and power also surged. It was enough to ruin anyone's appetite for business. Investors were repelled by events. Shares of many wellknown chains plummeted.

So hard and straight did they fall that it appeared they would bury themselves. That they could bounce seemed almost inconceivable. But the worst didn't happen. The food chains more than survived; many of them prospered. In an industry notable for its failures, the sophisticated systems and efficiencies of chain operations helped them dodge the blows.

Even though most chain food stocks aren't back to where they were in 1972 and early 1973, so far this year the prices of some issues have more than doubled. Some analysts look for further improvement. Most of the foregoing is from a commentary on restaurant chain stocks by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner Smith, which concludes that selected issues within the industry are among the better buys on the market today. Merrill Lynch suggests the industry has demonstrated its resilience. While real income was declining, it notes, consumers actually increased their purchases of restaurant meals, despite the gasoline shortage.

There was a reason, as there is for most pronounced movements by consumers en masse: In 1973, while prices at grocery stores rose 16 per cent, prices for food consumed away from home increased by only 8 per cent. The chains, it seems, are here to stay; some $9.8 billion in sales last year attest to their appeal. Of the 369,000 commercial restaurants in the United States at midyear, about 40,000 were operated by franchise chains. Medical. Beinrcafl and opticim henef its romrn me reliable' source.

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