University of South Carolina Libraries
TODAY: Scattered "H PCfl Q T7 July 30.2003 * Vol. 97, No. 8 T-storms, High 84, ^ VV CLlllCuLlClj University of South Carolina ♦ www.dailygamecock.com ^i# AMECOGK INSIDE VIEWPOINTS What left-wing media control? Conservatives are the real media rulers PAGE 5 THE MIX BIV comes in to town August 1 Drummer Evan Bivins takes the center stage, lending vocals and guitar to BIV. PAGE 7 SPORTS Typical summer for USC athletes Summer proves to be more than just laying out in the sun. PAGE 10 INDEX Comics and Crossword 9 Classifieds 12 Horoscopes _9 Letters to the Editor 6 Online Poll 6 Quote of the Day 7 Hotels protest USC inn PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK At Clarion Townhouse, representatives of Columbia hotels have met to discuss USC’s planned inn. The hotel owners are concerned that a university-affiliated inn would take away business. BRIAN RAY THE GAMECOCK Hotel owners convened Thursday at the Clarion hotel to contest USC’s plan for a universi ty-affiliated inn across from the National Advocacy Center on Pendleton Street. They said the inn would take away a third of their business. The owners said USC President Andrew Sorensen told them that if the hotel owners lose business, they should improve their hotels. “He believed that USC’s hotel wouldn’t hurt us, but if it did, it was their market, their land, their school. They would do what they wanted,” said the spokesman for the Greater Columbia Hotel and Motel Association, Robert Wislinski. Wislinski also said that last ♦ PROTEST, SEE PAGE 4 Columbia reacts to FCC changes Radio listeners switch to satellite radio for more choice BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK Carlos Smith originally switched to satellite radio because he worked at Circuit City and it was free. He kept it and continued to pay the monthly fee because he said it beats local radio. “I like rock and there’s 10 rock stations instead of one,” said Smith, a fourth-year Spanish ma jor. “If I don’t like a song I can change it to one of the other nine rock stations.” The Federal Communications Commission changed local radio in 1996 when it loosened ownership restrictions, allowing companies to own up to four FM and four AM stations. Columbia stations are dominated by three firms: Clear Channel, Inner City Broadcasting and Citadel, which will become a public corporation Friday. In vir tually every local market, four or fewer firms control 70 percent of market share or greater, according to a recent Music Coalition survey. Smith isn’t alone by switching to satellite radio. The Federal Aviation Administration ruled Tuesday that satellite radio can be used in airplanes, adding to the market that car manufacturers such as Chrysler, BMW, Ford and Infinity provide by including satel lite radio in their vehicles. Subscriptions recently reached 100,000 for Sirius, said Jim Collins, vice president of corporate commu nications. Sirius recently completed its first year. XM, its only competi tor, has about 700,000 subscribers. “What you get in the first year are the ‘early adopters,’” said Collins. “These are people who fol low technology very ciosely, and are looking for the next big thing.” This is beginning to change as the concept becomes well known, said Circuit City manager Ron King. Companies have begun to include ♦ FCC, SEE PAGE 2 Cheney raises $300,000 in local private fund-raiser COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney spent about 30 minutes in Columbia Monday, raising about $300,000 for President Bush’s 2004 re-elec tion campaign. Some 150 guests paid $2,000 a person at a fund-raising lunch at the home of Gayle Averyt, former chief executive officer of Colonial Life Insurance Co. The fund-raiser was closed to the public and the media. ♦ CHENEY, SEE PAGE 3