Business briefs
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Originally published 09:47 a.m., October 27, 2007
Updated 09:47 a.m., October 27, 2007
Broadcaster honored
A pioneer of Kansas radio broadcasting is a new member of the Kansas Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Edward J. McKernan received the honor posthumously at a recent gathering of Kansas broadcasters.
McKernan, who purchased KVOE Radio in 1957, had a long career in broadcasting. Shortly after his graduating from the University of Kansas in 1930, he began playing in orchestras and dance bands at the Jenny Wren mill in Lawrence, broadcast over WREN Radio. He was pressed into service when a play-by-play announcer was ill and unable to cover a KU football game, according to a biography submitted by the broadcasters group.
After working as an ad salesman for Capper Publications and serving as regional compliance chief for the War Production Board, he returned to Topeka in the mid-1950s and joined WIBW-TV. He also held many civic positions in Emporia and made a name for himself as a radio editorialist.
After McKernan’s death in 1983, his personal papers were donated to the Spencer Research Library at KU.
At the broadcasters gathering, KVOE-AM received a first-place award for its 5:40 p.m. sportscast, delivered by Greg Rathke.
Ribbon will be cut
The Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau is planning to cut a ribbon next week to celebrate a new Emporia business, Spiceland Café & Lounge.
The restaurant, inside the GuestHouse Inn and Conference Center at 2700 W. 18th Ave., features Indian, Thai, Sri Lankan and Western entrees.
Samples of the foods offered by the café will be served immediately after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Wal-Mart cuts
Wal-Mart Stores will cut back on spending to build new stores and tighten cost controls as sales growth slows over the next three years, Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe told investors and analysts at a conference Tuesday.
Schoewe trimmed plans for capital expenditures for the second time this year, to about $15 billion from a June forecast of $15.5 billion. The original projection was $17 billion.
Analysts welcomed the move to focus on keeping more of the cash Wal-Mart generates rather than spending furiously on new stores.
Increased free cash flow, or the money left over after a company pays its expenses including capital expenditures, could make Wal-Mart shares more attractive by funding higher dividends, new technologies or acquisitions, analysts said.
Wal-Mart, which is finding fewer places to build new stores and faces tougher competition from other retailers, said sales will continue to slow after years of strong double-digit growth.