BUSINESS & REAL ESTATE
Cornerstone's "Sessions" features televised local bands
By Dennis Forney
What do you get when you
combine a region rich in rock and
blues bands with a top-flight pro-
duction studio and a hungry "new
rock" radio station?
You can see and hear the
answer on WMDT's channel 47 at
11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.
That's the date and time for the
first airing of "Sessions", a half-
hour television program, profes-
sionally produced in Georgetown,
focusing primarily on bands from
the Delaware and Maryland beach
areas and from Salisbury and
Seaford.
The first "Sessions" will feature
Blue Junction, an Ocean City and
Salisbury blues band, and the Sal-
isbury-based rock band Taste.
Over the course of the next thir-
teen weeks, "Sessions" will fea-
ture such bands as Tom Larsen,
Love Seed Momma Jump, Blue
Miracle, Red Letter Day, Geckos,
Gingham Shmuz, Robert Light-
house and many more.
In addition to featuring the orig-
inal music of the bands them-
selves, "Sessions" will show off
the audio engineering work of
Dominick Mammana and the
state-of-the-art audio and video
production facilities and talents of
Rick Greenberg's Cornerstone
Media Productions in George-
town. Out in front of the cameras,
along with the bands, will be The
Coast's (FM95.9) Gnuman [pro-
nounced newman], host of the sta-
tion's 7 p.m. to midnight "new
rock" program.
As part ot his broadcasts, Gnu-
man features a segment he calls
"Found 'Em First" spotlighting
the original music of local bands.
"It was Dom and Rich's idea to
have me host 'Sessions'," said
Gnuman, "because I focus on
local bands. Our radio station
decided to get involved in the pro-
gram because we're hungry and
innovative." Pete Weidlein also
played a part in conceiving the
program.
The Coast, 95.9, put up money
to get 'Sessions' under way, along
with Cornerstone Productions and
Parts Plus Auto Stores which also
signed on as a prime sponsor.
Together they've purchased
WMDT's half hour time slot,
from 11:30 p.m. to midnight -
right after the Saturday night news
- for 13 weeks of "Sessions".
Cornerstone's production facili-
ties include a high-ceilinged,
black-walled, sound-proof studio
with special lighting and back-
drops and the army of micro-
phones, cables, and cameras nec-
essary to professionally record the
live sessions central to the pro-
gram.
Adjoining audio and video
engineering rooms house hun-
dreds of thousands of dollars
worth of equipment necessary to
bring it all together.
The "Sessions" format will
include an introduction from Gnu-
man, two original songs from each
of the two bands featured, and
interview segments involving
band members.
Local clubs will also be fea-
tured. Videos of the bands play-
ing their songs will be shown to
audiences in various clubs around
the region and audience members
will then present live comments
on what they've heard.
To make "Sessions" commer-
cially viable, 13 advertising spots
are available during the course of
Dennis Fomey photo
Shown in the studio of "Sessions" are 0-r) Dominick Mam-
mana, Gnuman and Rick Greenberg of Cornerstone Media
Productions.
the program for businesses hoping
to reach the audience Greenberg
expects to be watching the pro-
gram. "We have advertisers like
Outten Brothers Furniture,
Thompson Music, Ron's Mobile
Homes and Redi-Call, and there
are spots still available," said
Greenberg. "Anyone interested
can call us at 302-855-9380."
"My goal," said Mammana, "is
to promote unsigned local bands
and get them the exposure they
need to get a record deal. Rick
wants to constantly improve his
music video productions, and The
Coast is hungry and showing the
initiative. We think it's a combi-
nation that viewers will enjoy and
be good for all involved."
Employees pass up valuable retirement benefits
When you think of the role an
employer plays in an employee's
life, one may consider an employ-
er as simply the person who pro-
vides a way to earn a living.
Employees today, however, tend
to expect their employers to play a
larger role, one that includes help-
ing them to meet their retirement
planning responsibilities.
Employees expect 37 percent of
their retirement income to come
from their employers, the same
percentage they expect their indi-
vidual savings will provide,
according to a recent retirement
and financial planning survey. A
vast majority (80 percent) of the
809 employees surveyed said their
employers offered retirement and
pension plans.
Despite the wide availability of
retirement plans, and their impor-
tance as a source for retirement
income, most of the employees
said they do not participate in their
employer plans to the degree they
could. Only 67 percent of employ-
ees who had a plan available to
them said they participated in it.
Eight in ten employees were eligi-
ble to participate in their compa-
ny's 401 (k) plan, but only two-
thirds did.
Is this the situation at your com-
pany? Do your employees rely on
you to provide a retirement saving
vehicle, yet still you lack full par-
ticipation in your plan? By exam-
ining some of the data from two
Merrill Lynch surveys, perhaps
you can find ways to help employ-
ees take better advantage of the
retirement benefits you offer.
Employer responsibility
In the employee survey and a
companion survey of 400 benefits
managers completed in August,
1995, both employees and bene-
fits managers said they believe
that ideally retirement income
should come in relatively equal
proportions from personal sav-
ings, Social Security and employ-
er-sponsored plans. :
Unfortunately, we do not live in
an ideal world. The rate of per-
sonal savings in the United States
averages only 4.5 percent of dis-
posable income. It is estimated
that baby boomers are saving at
about 40 percent of the rate they
need to in order to maintain their
cmrent standard of living in retire-
ment.
Government benefits may not
FINANCIAL FOCUS
make up the difference for this
generation. Few benefits man-
agers have confidence that the
Social Security system will pro-
vide employees with the same lev-
el of benefits as that of current
retirees. An overwhelming major-
ity of benefits managers surveyed
(86 percen0 said they believe the
government will eventually cut
back on its Social Security and
Medicare programs.
Employers have a special
responsibility to help employees
meet their investment and finan-
cial planning responsibilities.
Employees must do their share;
almost a third of employees lack a
comprehensive understanding of
available defined contribution
plans, according to the managers
surveyed. Employers, however,
can help employees investigate
options and participate knowl-
edgeably in their retirement plans.
Misunderstanding 401(k)
The 401 (k) plan is among the
most popular employer-sponsored
retirement plans, yet a full third of
the employees eligible to partici-
pate in 401 (k) plans don't enroll,
the employee survey showed.
Benefits managers say the most
common reason that employees do
not participate is their belief that
they do not have enough money to
participate.
The second most common rea-:
son is lack of understanding of
how the 401 (k) plan works. Man-
agers said that nearly one-fourth
agers said that nearly one-fourth
of employees do not participate in
available 401 (k) plans simply
because they do not understand
how the plans work. And, while
benefits managers typically report
that their firms match up to 15
percent of contributions, employ-
ees believe that companies match
only 8 percent.
In recent years, employers
report that they have expanded the
range of employee investment
options within 401 (k) plans. At
least half of today's plans offer
five investments, while half of the
plans four years ago offered just
three investments. An increase in
choices can be to your employees'
advantage, but only if they know
how to make well informed
investment choices.
The tool of education
With the continuing shift from
defined pension plans to defined
contribution plans, individuals
have to make more investment
decisions than ever before. Three-
fourths of benefits managers
responding said their firm's
employees have the responsibility
of selecting and directing their
investments under company-spon-
sored plans.
But the employee survey
revealed that many employees feel
unprepared to make such choices.
While 80 percent of employees
said educational materials or
assistance could help them make
better investment decisions, more
than half said their employers pro-
than half said their employers pro-
vide no educational materials.
The recommended response for
employers is to provide the kinds
of educational opportunities and
tools that employees say will help
them make better choices.
Employees overwhelmingly favor
individual counseling and semi-
nars as effective means of helping
them make retirement and finan-
cial planning decisions.
Brochures, newsletters, video-
tapes and audio tapes were also
mentioned as helpful materials.
Benefits managers agreed that
seminars are the most effective
means of communicating, but
only 68 percent say seminars are
frequently used. A full 76 percent
of benefits managers surveyed
listed manuals and brochures as
their primary means of communi-
cations, with personalized state-
ments the second most used
means.
To remain competitive you or
the benefits manager of your com-
pany should also know what other
companies offer in the way of
benefits and services. You should
strive to retain qualified employ-
ees who have a keen understand-
ing and appreciation of company
benefits and can pass their knowl-
edge on to newer or less experi-
enced employees.
Daniel D. Tidwell is vice presi-
dent and resident manager of
Merrill Lynch private client
group, Rehoboth Beach. For more
information call 227-5135.
Daniel Tidwell
