As usual, our luncheon will be at Sinbad's just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission St. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30. To make reservations call Paul Black at 925-827-9511 and leave a message on his machine.

My son called me from New York the morning of the 11th and told us what was going on. When the WTC fell, I thought: there go all the TV stations in NYC. In the subsequent days, no one we talked to in NYC or the surrounding area mentioned any problem with TV. They were all on cable, which was getting direct feeds from the studios. (So who should be paying whom for air signals?)

The following TV stations were on the WTC: WCBS / 2, WNBC / 4, WNYW / 5, WABC /7 WWOR / 9, WPIX / 11, WNET / 13, WPXN /31, WPIX / 33, WNJU / 47

The following FM stations were also on the WTC: WKCR / 89.9, WPAT / 93.1, WNYC / 93.9, WKTU / 103.5 (I want to thank Larry Bloomfield for checking the FCC database.) The following techs are missing and feared dead:

Ron Copolla - WNET-TV
Donald di Franco - WABC-TV
Steven Jacobson - WPIX-TV
Bob Pattison - WCBS-TV
Isaias Rivera - WCBS-TV
William Steckman - WNBC-TV

SBE
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Only WCBS had a backup at the Empire State building. No one was moved to install a backup after the earlier bombing attempt on the WTC. There is a story to the effect that the only reason WCBS had a backup was that someone had screwed up and renewed the lease at the Empire State Building. I can't confirm that, but it's pretty consistent with present day corporate thinking.

I was beginning to get the message when the TV set manufacturers optimized for cable and didn't give a fig about over-the-air. Since the network O&Os don't seem to care about staying on the air, we've reached the end of an era.

Webmeister Tim Pozar has the current newsletter plus newsletters all the way back to 1996 at: http://www.lns.com/sbe

Tim is also keeping track of email addresses and you can subscribe to the mailing list at:

(What follows are not recommendations of SBE Ch40)

The attack on the US merely nudged the market further in the direction it was already going. Uncle Alan is pushing on a rope with his interest rate cuts. A great many ill advised mergers and expansions took place during this cycle. Their value has vanished but the borrowed money remains to be paid. I would remind you that over the long haul, the average PE is 13. We're not there yet. Near the bottom of the economic cycle, some stocks will have high PEs based upon their current earnings. They have to be valued in terms of their potential.

A bear market often ends with a final hair raising capitulation sell off. It then bumps along the bottom before heading up. Essentially all the hope has to be squeezed out. It's not uncommon for major companies to sell below their book value.

It's probably not a good time to load up on yesterday's favorites or to buy high PE companies that might make money someday.

I expect most of those twenty-something money managers will be sporting a bit of gray in their hair.

Roy Trumbull