Show Business Editor: 625-424- 4 www standardnet Conditions improving for small businesses With increase in unemployment Utah companies able to find workers By KRISTOPHER WOODBURY S'andard Examiner staff The nationwide economic slowdown has impacted Utah's economy but March economic data showed a slight upturn giving signs of hope for small businesses in the Beehive State According to Zions Bank Small Business Index for Utah the US economy is expected to grow at a much slower rate than it has during the past four years at only 15 to 18 percent Most of that growth should occur in the sec- - und half of the year said theceport Despite analyst fears the report said positive growth in March will help the US economy avoid recession Utah-base- d small businesses had more to look forward to in March The Index reached 928 compared to February’s 922 With 100 as a base a higher Index rank is associated with “more favorable business conditions” for Utah small businesses Utah's slightly higher unemployment rate of 35 percent in March nudged the Index up As the available labor pool grows due to increased unemployment small businesses may find it easier to hire and retain employees Utah's unemployment rate came in less than the nation’s which grew to 43 percent m March Wall Street estimates had expected a rise of 60000 jobs in March Actual figures showed a staggering loss of 86000 positions nationwide In contrast Utah created 25700 jobs during the past 12 months Still the figure was about 13000 jobs less than the amount created annually between 1994 and 2000 Slower job growth leads to Construction Purchases 9d Elder County Sales m millions i- d12 lesser income creation and weaker spending which hurts small businesses and pushes down the Index the report said Another factor lending to a more favorable Index number for small businesses was interest rate reductions by the US Federal Reserve The Fed three times this year has reduced interest rates ultimately lowering the cost small businesses pay to borrow money The Index report said the Fed is likely to cut rates again in mid-Maand later this summer Construcfion Pure uses drooped 51 4 hxr)2noqtr 19® to2ndatr 2000 ITI'ITIT o Soi'Ct Toe ol Jtf Research Eam o BRIEF y Setpoint coaster wows thrill seekers OGDEN - Setpoint Inc's newest roller coaster the Flying Super Saturator won the “Ultimate" That Looks Fun! Award from Screamscape com The ride combines the thrill of a roller coaster with a giant water fight Coaster riders fire water guns at each other and observers fire water cannons at ride participants It was voted the most-furide in a survey that included more than 1200 participants The ride is located at Carowinds Amusement Park in North Carolina Economist: 2nd half of 2001 will be better n The Associated Press We’re not in a recession and in fact the economy will improve quite nicely the rest of this year in the view of Gail Fosler chief economist of The Conference Board a New York research and business membership organization and the keeper of the Index of Indicators For the year growth will top 3 percent said Fosler who took top honors in forecasting last year from The Wall Street Journal “people think I’m on an artincfiSl substance with this forecast” Fosler 53 said in an interview “I regard this year as not a recession Ogden health care facility accredited Leading-Ec- onomic year” About 40 percent of the economy is experiencing stress or some decline she said Much of that has been in the industrial sector which makes up about 20 percent of the economy the 10 to 15 percent for transportation and retail services related to manufacturing Fosler said It has been a business not a consumer downturn she said The business confidence index in December was at a low point as businessmen expressed “gloom in the extreme in terms of both the Delta launches CARL JUSTE Miami Herald Network administrator Joe Cassara (left) and founder and CEO Woody Tanger are part of Beethovencom live classical radio via the Internet a company that broadcasts Delta Airlines now caters to the needs of small business travelers with a new Web site MYOBTravel The Web site offers services at one location Rental cars and hotels can be found with discounts of up to 30 percent The enrollment-freservice begins tliis week and is designed for businesses with five to 50 traveling associates that spend less than $500000 on travel annually travel-relate- Classical via the Net attracts listeners Beethovencom gains audience throughout world Fosler said But The Conference Board’s consumer confidence measures held up through that period The Conference Board people talk to executives around the world on a regular basis and they weren’t reacting as if there was a recession Fosler said They were cutting costs that were riot related to producing revenue or carrying out strategy That meant trimming discretionary travel eliminating jobs that didn’t relate to revenue generation and holding the line on hiring And she said “There are significant sectors in the economy that have continued to be quite strong and I'm referring to the past three months” For example while consumer activity slowed in the fourth quarter of last year spending picked up in the The Associated Press name that’s more than 200 years old is bringing new life to a sector fraught with cutbacks and closures Beethovencom is broadcasting live classical radio on the Internet and is rapidly gaining listeners worldwide from Japan to Kuwait Germany to Brazil But more importantly says CEO and founder Howard “Woody” Tanger it’s attracting online advertisers and delivering revenue It ranked No 1 among all webcasters in the world in December according to latest Arbitron Webcast Ratings available The rankings are based on the total number of hours that listeners tune to a given channel Many Beethovencom listeners tune at work Based in Miami Beethovencom had nearly twice as many listeners as the A Inventories See ECONOMY6C No 2 webcaster WABC-Aa New York-basetalk news and information radio station “The No 1 ranking of Beethovencom shows that consumers want content they can’t find through traditional broadcast media” says Joan FitzGerald director of marketing and research and development at Arbitron Internet Information Services “Most people find us by accident - because of our name" Tanger says But Tanger doesn't think of Beethovencom as a dotcom he sees it as live radio that happens to be broadcast over the Internet If you tuned in to wwwbeethovencom you hear a traditional broadcast with a e DJ and two commercial breaks each hour Right now the announcer sits in a studio in Hartford Conn in the home of WCCC-FMAHartford two stations also owned by Marlin Broadcasting LLC Beethovencom’s parent company The site has some cool features such as a music log that lists what’s played on the station d four-minut- minute-by-minut- e u The No 1 ranking of shows Beethovencom that consumers want content they can’t find through traditional broadcast media - Joan FitzGerald director of marketing Arbitron Internet Information Services J for the past two to three days Beethoven shares time with Bach Mozart Debussy Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky Beethovencom offers classical music news free email - Tanger says among the 19500 registered email including one who is a relative of the Ludwig himself - and of course some While Beethovencom comes from Tanger’s interest in expanding radio to the Internet the online station has tapped into two growing areas: Internet use and streaming media According to a February’ report by ArbitronEdison Media Research on the use of streaming media "streamies” those users who watch or listen to webcasts online now represent 44 percent of all Internet users and 27 percent of Americans overall The report says streamies are the most valuable consumer group on the Internet because they're far more interactive are more and oriented to spend far more time online compared to Internet users who don't stream Advertisers wishing to target Internet users should focus their marketing on streamies The ArbitronEdison Media report also found that streamies are almost twice as interested in downloading music from the Internet to their computers listening to Internet audio in their cars and in getting satellite radio for their cars They also would rather give up TV time than Internet access if forced to choose Such findings suit Beethovencom well The company has hooked up Coollink with Dallas-baseBroadcast Network which high-valu- e d See MUSIC6C New software in market backs up all hard drive files When Midtown business site present and the future” first quarter - OGDEN Community Health Care Center is now an accredited health care center The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations toured the facility in February and found it to be in compliance with national standards for ambulatory health care organizations The commission was founded in 1951 and improves the safety and quality of health care through voluntary accreditation interface and wizard A to guide new users through their first was the last time you up your hard drive? Be Let’s face it this has got to be one of the most tedious tasks ever foisted on computer users And it doesn't matter whether you’re saving your data to tape compact disk or some other media Your computer can be tied up for hours especially when performing a complete backup Enter Backup Now! ($6995) from NewTech Infosystems Inc The newest version of the software works with any Windows operating system from Windows 95 to Win2000 and although they have done little to reduce the speed at which your data is backed up they have made the task a bit easier It even creates a bootable CD for you The one drawback is that the v step-by-ste- p Mike Berman backup Variable speed packet writing Which means that it will adapt to the highest rated speed of your CDRRW drive' Tech Talk program will only back up to compact disks which makes the process agonizingly slow so be prepared to spend a few hours tied to your IX! when backing up an entire hard drive or system But after that weekly data backups only take a few minutes because the program keeps track of previous tasks and will only back up new files or files that have been changed Among its features are: Auto speed control for write optimization to Data is compressed increase storage and reduce backup time In fact you can select either medium high or no compression You can append or overwrite or append CDRW disks ’ You can restore your data from any CD hard drive or restore single files Silent Restore brxits from a ’ recovery CD and then restores your data You can schedule daily weekly and monthly backups You can exclude files by extension or by specific attributes You can generate reports of all backup and restore activity You can backup files from a remote location You can backup files that are “in use” which means all of your data will be backed up So if you don’t want to go to the expense of a digital tape drive or other device this does the job and does it well high-spee- d NTI also makes Drivelmage Backup which makes an "image” of your Hard drive on a CD or another hard drive 2000 which has all the and features of professional CD creation software CD-Mak- e ShopKo reports boosted earnings GREEN BAY Wis - ShopKo Stores Inc logged net sales of $295 9 million for the five weeks ended April 7 an 8 7 percent increase from $272 3 million from the same time last year ShopKo operates locations in Ogden Riverdale Layton and Bountiful and a total of 141 specialty discount stores under the same name in and urban areas and runs 229 stores in rural areas under the name Pamida mid-size- d European money comes too soon BERLIN - The euro made an accidental debut in Germany when a handful of the new a coins were discovered candy machine eightritonths before the currency goes The eight coins likely were mistakenly thrown out with the trash from a mint in the southern city of Stuttgart newsmagazine Focus reported Friday All but one were found last week by the operator of the candy machine Texas and Boeing: a perfect fit? DALLAS - Texas officials hold a marketing weapon that Chicago and Denver can never hope to match in the race to land Boeing Co's new headquarters The family of the chairman's wife calls the Lone Star State home The contest began three weeks ago when Seattle-baseBoeing announced it will move its slimmed-dowheadquarters later this year to one of three cities - Chicago Denver or the Dallas-For- t Worth area Since then Chicago and Illinois officials have scrambled to compile a package of goodies and tax breaks large enough to land the aircraft manufacturer and beat out Dallas It's a race in fact that many on the Texas committee feel they already have locked up r staff n Standard-Examine- and wire servces |