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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. Special to WPCNR from The Business Council of Westchester. April 10, 2012:

The Westchester Business Confidence Index, increased from 54.2 in the 4^th quarter of 2011 to a current level of 64.8 (on a scale oThis reading represents a tremendous increase in confidence overall since the inception of the index in December 2008, when levels were at 27, and is the second-highest reported confidence level since then, next to the second quarter of 2011, when it was at 66.3.

 “This tells me that our combined efforts to improve Westchester’s economy are successful. We’re  working with our legislators to reduce the inhibitors to business growth, and with our county government officials, through our Coalition for Business Development, to make Westchester more welcoming,” said Business Council President/CEO Dr. Marsha Gordon. “The results are seen and judged most effectively in the small and mid-size companies that call Westchester home – and we know that they are hiring, they are spending, and they are beginning to flourish once again. Let’s all keep up the good work.”

The Westchester Business Confidence Index – used to track key business metrics, such as trends in  staffing levels, top line revenues, bottom line profits, Capital spending budgets, and other industry performance data each quarter – compiles information from more than 100 CEOs and business leaders of BCW-member companies.

This elevated confidence is driven by improved revenue and profit outlooks and higher anticipated employee hiring rates: 22% of Westchester companies have more job openings compared to a quarter ago (with just 7% of companies having fewer openings). Westchester’s buoyed outlook is  likely riding on the back of on optimistic nation, as the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate, “held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent last month after falling by 0.8 percentage  points in the year ended January,” per Bloomberg.  In fact, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “the jobless rate in the U.S. could drop to as low as 6 percent by the first half of 2013.” Westchester is currently running at about a 6 percent jobless rate according to the Westchester Department of Economic Development.

The owner of a professional multimedia firm remarked: “In my industry, we believe businesses are starting to spend more money. They understand that they cannot stagnate in this economy and expect to increase profits. They need to become proactive and make changes. Increase their brand exposure and awareness.”

Bolstering that theory, survey respondents report that overall, capital spending budgets are slightly up since last quarter, with 21% or respondents intending to increase spending since last quarter and almost a third of respondents (31%) reporting plans to increase their spending compared to one year ago.

The CEO of a technology services concurs that business is back on track: “I feel that businesses in general held back spending on technology but have started to spend again… we see an increase in closing compared to a year ago.”

Revenue projections are also more optimistic than last quarter, with jumps of 14 points and 16 points,  in the number of companies expecting increased revenue compared to 3 months ago a nd a  year ago, bringing both of those totals to 59%. That means that a strong majority of respondents have a positive outlook for revenue change over the next two quarters. In alignment with optimistic revenue projections, the majority of respondents indicated high expectations about profit numbers, with an 11% increase in the number of companies who expect to report higher profit than three months ago.

All in all, this leads to higher confidence in the business community, with the majority of respondents (60%) reporting increased confidence compared to 1 year ago and 43% reporting an increase in confidence since last quarter. These numbers represent vast improvements over last quarter, when only slightly over a quarter of respondents reported a sunny outlook. Expectations for Westchester County’s outlook, in particular,    soared  for the first time since the inception of the index in 2008, the majority of respondents expected that Westchester’s economic conditions would fare better than that of our regional neighbors.

As the CEO of a not-for-profit observes: “Westchester is doing better  than other areas. Proof is in the housing market!” 

WPCNR MILESTONES by Peter Katz (special to WPCNR) April 9, 2012:

Although I never worked with Mike Wallace during my news and broadcasting career, we were nodding acquaintances over many years at uncounted events due to the fact that my father had worked with him in the mid-1950’s, and I had first met him as a youngster who yearned to get into television.  

Until 1955 or so, Mike Wallace had not been known as a journalist. His career in radio and t-v was checkered. During the 50’s, he had been on a number of shows originating in New York, including a daytime show on CBS with his wife at the time, Buff Cobb. He had done commercial work, hosting of quiz and variety shows, and just about anything else that came along. Channel 5 here in New York, which went by the call letters WABD, (standing for its founder Allen B. DuMont), decided it was time to establish a news department and begin daily news programming. Among the key people hired were Ted Yates, Sanford Socolow, who would later go on to produce the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and Mike Wallace.

Wallace would on rare occasions be sent out with a film crew for a story, would anchor the evening 15-minute newscast, and would also do the live commercial on the program. The sponsor of the program was Bond Clothing. My father was display director for the clothing chain, and was responsible for the in-studio set-up of the store’s live commercials. In fact, he had that responsibility on other shows the store had sponsored on the DuMont network.

As a child, I had the opportunity to see early television from the inside, watching shows such as “Captain Video” at the DuMont studio in the old John Wanamaker Department Store in Manhattan. Now, I was getting to hang around with Mike Wallace doing the news at the state-of-the-art DuMont Tele-Center at 205 E. 67th street. And, in early television one of the rules was that you had to be kind to the sponsor’s kid.

When I first met Mike Wallace, he was with Ted Yates, the program’s producer. Yates would soon invent the late night interview show Night–Beat at DuMont, which would establish Wallace as a tough interviewer and create his cigarette-brandishing tough reporter image. It was in studio 3, on the 3rd floor at DuMont. As an aside, my co-hosts on White Plains Week, John Bailey and Jim Benerofe, and I recently visited the studios on 67th street. They’re still home to Channel 5, which now is Fox television. What was studio 3 has been converted into the Fox5 newsroom.

At the time, two shows originated back to back in studio 3. The studio was divided by a large translucent rear projection screen. On one side of the screen, Wallace sat on a stool reading the news and moved to the commercial set at the appropriate time to tout the virtues of a Bond suit. On the other side, an interview show featuring television personality Tex McCreary was set-up to follow the Wallace newscast.

Four things I remember now about the late Mike Wallace: first, he was very nice and encouraging to me to pursue a career in television; second, he was himself excited about the prospects for the burgeoning medium of television to have a serious impact on society; third, his face was terribly pockmarked; fourth, over the years, he was kind enough to remember me even as I was pursuing the career as he had encouraged me to do.

Mike Wallace

1919-2012