Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends,americast.usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Thu, Aug 27 1992 Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 05:59:07 EDT Message-ID: 08-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Aug. 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network LASER-DISC SALES SPINNING: Laser-disc sales are skyrocketing. The Electronic Industries Association reports laser-disc players are the fastest-growing consumer electronics product this year. Revenue from players jumped from $34 million in 1988 to $72 million in 1990 and is expected to reach $100 million this year. MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS UP: More people are subscribing to magazines. Magazine Publishers of American reports combined circulation of all magazines in the USA is more than 365-million. The number of magazines published has jumped from about seven thousand in 1952 to 10 thousand in 1982 and 11,000 this year. COLLEGE IS FOR RICH: The increase in college enrollment over the past 10 years was just about all rich kids, a new study shows. The percentage of low-income high school graduates going to four-year colleges has remained at 26% to 27% since the 1970s, says University of Wisconsin economist Charles Manski. At the highest income level, college attendance climbed from 56% to 60%. (For more, see special College package below.) `GLADIATORS' TO GET COMPANY: One of the titans of first-run syndication, "American Gladiators," begins its fourth season the weekend of Sept. 12. It soon will have company on the athletic game show circuit. On Sept. 18, "Knights and Warriors," a medieval version, premieres on 109 stations in syndication. Another action show, "Cowboys," is slated to debut in January on Superstation TBS. NUMBER OF MERGERS ARE DOWN: During the first six months of this year, the number of mergers and acquisitions in the information technology has decreased, Network World reports, citing data from Broadview Associates, a Fort Lee, N.J., mergers and acquisitions firm. The number of mergers in the first half of this year were 227, down 23% from 295 in the first half of 1991. PORTABLE PHONES GETTING SMALLER: Phone makers are tripping over one another to make cellular phones as small and as portable as possible. The latest to weigh in is the 6.2-ounce Minivox Lite, a "microportable" model from Audiovox of Hauppauge, N.Y. The phone lists for $995; a version that lets users obtain voicemail messages by pressing a single key costs $1,195. AUDIOVOX HOLDS RECORD: Cellular phones are getting smaller and smaller. Audiovox says its Minivox Lite phone - more than an ounce lighter than Motorola's 7.5-ounce MicroTac Lite - is the world's lightest phone. The phone's measurements: .6 inches thick by 2.1 inches wide by 5.9 inches long, and offers 60 minutes of continuous talk-time without recharging. SAT SCORES RISING: SAT scores are increasing for the first time in seven years. The average score of the 1 million students who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test this year is 899 (1600 is perfect), The College Board announces Thursday. That's up from 896 last year but still below the 900-plus averages posted through most of the 1980s. The SAT verbal average has climbed to 423, the math average is up to 476. NAFTA MAY SPREAD: The North American Free Trade Amendment may spread to South America in the next two years, U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills said Wednesday. Hills says the Bush administration may take the first steps toward bringing Chile into the proposed NAFTA by year's end. Many Central and South American countries are liberalizing trade and signing limited agreements with neighbors. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON COLLEGE: FEWER POOR STUDENTS IN COLLEGE: When University of Wisconsin economist Charles Manski divided all college students in his study into five groups based on family income, Manski found only the poorest group has a smaller percentage of students than a decade ago. The affluence gap is greater at private than public campuses, Manski says. It's non-existent at two year-colleges. RESULTS CONCERN SOME: "The message is alarming," says Rep. Robert Wise, D-W.V., whose Democratic Study Center commissioned the study. For the poor, "a degree is your passkey to a better lifestyle. And you have no better chance of getting into college than you did 20 years ago." CUTS ARE BLAMED: The findings of the University of Wisconsin study reflect "the Reagan-Bush legacy - a significant reduction in (federal) financial aid programs since the early '80s," says William Martin of the National Education Association. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman and Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM