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ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Sunday, December 10, 2006
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Cardinals Return to Roost at KSDK
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), December 10, 2006 - FSN Midwest, the primary television home of the St. Louis Cardinals for the past 13 years, in 2007 will increase the number of regular season games it annually televises to 130 - an increase of 20 games - as part of a multi-year extension of its long-term television rights agreement with the reigning World Champion Cardinals.
Meanwhile, Cardinals games on over-the-air broadcast television in the St. Louis area will return next season to KSDK, NewsChannel 5, the local NBC affiliate which was the original television home of the Cardinals, airing its first game in 1947 as KSD and continuing through 1987. KSDK will celebrate its 60th anniversary of operation in 2007.
KSDK will air 20 regular season games in 2007 in the first year of a multi-year broadcast package, giving Cardinals fans 150 scheduled regular season games on local television. With additional Cardinals games slated for national broadcast partners FOX and ESPN, all 162 games in 2007 are anticipated to be televised in the St. Louis area.
"Cardinals fans and our ballclub are in terrific hands with the extension of our television agreement with FSN Midwest and return to KSDK," said Cardinals President Mark Lamping. "FSN Midwest is one of our cornerstone business partners in addition to being the principal television destination for Cardinals baseball.
"Our agreement with KSDK gives the Cardinals a strong presence on a consistent news and ratings leader in St. Louis while returning our club to a broadcast television home that is familiar and trusted with St. Louis viewers and sports fans. To be aligned with the nation's premier NBC affiliate in KSDK is consistent with our mission to deliver first-rate coverage and game telecasts to our fans."
In 2007, FSN Midwest will also televise two spring training Cardinals games and deliver a package of regular season games in high definition. FSN Midwest will continue to air the Cardinals Live pregame and postgame shows each telecast, along with hundreds of hours of additional Cardinals programming.
The multi-year contract with KSDK, NewsChannel 5, calls for plans to broadcast 20 regular season games each season in high definition, along with two spring training games, pregame and postgame shows, and a season-long weekly half-hour show devoted to Cardinals highlights, interviews and commentary. KSDK will be the flagship station for the Cardinals Television Network, which consists of stations reaching across eight states (Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma).
"Bringing back the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals to their original home is a perfect way to celebrate our 60th anniversary," said Lynn Beall, President and General Manager of KSDK. "This new contract between KSDK and the Cardinals is more than just business - it's a relationship with a rich history and a promising future. We have the people at our station St. Louisans know, and the news and information they trust. Combine that with our cutting-edge, high definition delivery, and storied tradition with the Cardinals, and everyone - especially baseball fans - wins."
The FSN Midwest/KSDK television schedule will be announced in early 2007.
Consumers Will Favor Discount Stores
But Spend More, Says Survey
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), December 10, 2006 - GfK Roper Consulting, a division of GfK Custom Research North America, has announced results from its annual GfK Roper Reports(R) Holiday Shopping Outlook that finds consumer confidence and holiday spending plans are on the rise. The report indicates not robust shopping, but a solid season, with 15% of Americans expecting to shell out more money and half of consumers saying they will spend at least the same amount this holiday period compared to last year.
Declining gas prices at the start of the season have loosened consumers' purse strings. Fewer consumers (35%) are feeling seriously crunched by fuel costs down 17% points from 2005 and more than half (52%) of respondents state prices at the pump will not limit how much they spend on gifts this year.
Spending is up and shopping lists are growing as well. Consumers plan to purchase gifts for an average of 13 people, up from 11 last year. Americans also say they'll plunk down an average of $857 on presents for friends and family, up $77 from 2005. Mid- to high-income Americans -- and men in general -- are planning to spend even more. Households with a total income between $50,000-75,000 state they'll rack up $971 in holiday shopping bills and families with over $75,000 plan to hit the $1,504 mark. Similarly, male participants state they will spend $946 on gifts.
More Playing Santa Online
E-shopping continues its steady growth this season, with 39% of Americans planning to shop online, up 19% over the last three years. Purchasing gifts over the Internet is most popular among affluent consumers (incomes $75,000/year and above) with 31% planning to complete half or more of their holiday shopping on the net. Of the respondents who say they will e-shop, music, movies, and books (each 14%) top the list as the most popular online shopping categories.
"With gas prices decreasing in recent months, Americans are feeling some relief from the economic stress of recent years which has translated into increased spending," says Kathy Sheehan, Senior Vice President for GfK Roper Consulting. "While the overall outlook is only slightly more positive than 2005, the highest income brackets will open their wallets wider than the rest, up an average $300 over last year. Look for the most growth in consumer and home electronics, the favorite spending segments of that population."
Shopping Deadline ... December 15 for Most
This year's shopping shows signs of an early and prolonged peak. Up nine points from 2005, 39% of consumers predict they will finish this year's holiday shopping before November comes to a close and more than half of respondents (64%) say they will wrap up the spending season by December 15.
The Gift of Choice ... Gift Cards Hold Steady
The GfK Roper Reports(R) Holiday Shopping Outlook found that gift cards are continuing to thrive as the gift of choice for those hard-to-shop-for friends and family members. Although gift cards show little growth in 2006, they won't lose any ground either, with two-thirds (66%) of shoppers planning to give at least one this year. More than half (59%) of gift card buyers will purchase music or bookstore gift cards, with consumer electronics and department store gift cards the next most popular choices.
Kids are most likely (43%) to receive gift cards, and half of all parents with kids ages 6-17 are planning to purchase gift cards for their children. Other likely recipients include friends (41%), distant family (35%) and siblings (34%).
Big Box Stores the Hot Shopping Destination
Whether buying gift cards or traditional gifts, the majority (77%) of consumers, including high-income households, will rely on discount superstores to supply the bulk of their gifts. According to a separate study, the so-called 'Big Box' stores stand to gain the most ground with the often under-served Hispanic market. Through its GfK Hispanic OmniTel(R) Retail Study, GfK Omnibus Services found 35% of the U.S. Hispanic population list Wal-Mart as their store of choice listing low prices, convenience, a wide range of merchandise and Spanish-speaking sales associates as their top reasons for selecting which stores they will visit.
Missouri Gets 2,200 Miles of Smooth Roads One Year Ahead of Schedule
ST. LOUIS, (SLFP.com), December 10, 2006 - Missourians are experiencing 2,200 miles of smoother, safer roads one year ahead of schedule thanks to the Missouri Department of Transportation's early completion of the state's Smooth Roads Initiative.
Gov. Matt Blunt joined MoDOT Director Pete Rahn in announcing the department had met the governor's challenge to improve 2,200 miles of the state's busiest highways by the end of 2006 - a full year ahead of schedule. The initiative delivered smoother pavement, brighter striping, rumble stripes and other safety improvements on Missouri's most heavily traveled highways. With the completion of the Smooth Roads Initiative, about 70 percent of the state's major roads are in good condition.
The highway miles included in the Smooth Roads Initiative account for 60 percent of all traffic on the state system. About 86 percent of Missouri's population lives within 10 miles of one of the improved roads, and about 80 million miles a day are driven on these roads. Three-fourths of these roadways were in fair to poor condition at the beginning of 2005 when the work started.
"In just two short years, we repaired or repaved almost enough highway miles to stretch from New York to Las Vegas," said Rahn. "We want to thank Missourians for approving Amendment 3 and giving us the funds to tackle this important road work. I think everyone was tired of hearing how bad and unsafe Missouri's roads were, and we worked hard to turn that around in a short amount of time."
The aggressive road-improvement program was scheduled to be finished in December of 2007. However, in this year's State of the State address, the governor challenged the department to complete the work a year early.
"I issued the challenge because I firmly believed MoDOT had turned the corner and was up to the task of improving our worn out roads as quickly as possible," Gov. Blunt said. "I'm proud of the way the agency and its partners worked to restore the citizens' trust. We needed these improvements, and MoDOT delivered."
Rahn said the program's success came from many players working toward the same goal.
"Thanks to the dedicated efforts of MoDOT employees, our industry partners, state and local officials and contractors throughout the state, we were able to meet the governor's challenge," Rahn said. "I'm extremely pleased with the teamwork that went into accomplishing this goal. We hope we've shown Missourians we're accountable and can deliver timely, quality projects within budget."
MoDOT experienced its largest construction seasons ever in 2005 and 2006 because of the Smooth Roads Initiative. Highway workers placed more than 12.8 million tons of asphalt in those two years, double the amount for a typical two-year period.
In addition to making the ride smoother, MoDOT also worked to make the way safer through brighter, wider road stripes, rumble stripes and bigger, easier-to-read signs. More than 188,000 signs, 12,000 emergency markers and 150,000 guardrail and guard cable reflectors were installed as part of the program.
With the end of the Smooth Roads Initiative, Rahn said MoDOT would be busy tackling new projects funded by Amendment 3, as well as those that were sped up because of the increased revenue. In addition, the agency is working with interested contractors on a design-build program that will repair or replace 802 of the state's worst bridges by the end of 2012.
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