For those of you who are interested, the Talking Business column is back online again.
And we’ve added columnists Rick Kahler and John Quinn are online, too. Along with a bunch of new features.
It’s all part of the new Black Hills Business Journal, a Monday supplement in the Journal.
The online version is a little hard to find on the Journal website, but if you CLICK HERE, you’ll find it.
 This seems like it warrants a thread of its own. Three people on an other thread have reported that Knonology Internet service in Rapid Valley has been bad. And it sounds like it has been that way for some time.
As Doug Hanson pointed out,  ”Knology would be better off spending less time and money in advertising (those commercials are on every 5 minutes telling me there is a drill bit stuck in Mt. Rushmore) and a little more time and money fixing their services!”
I also thought their ad blitz was a bit over the top.
Last week I was kind of bogged down trying to finish up all the stories I’ve started, but Monday I will try to call Knology and see if they’ll tell me what the problem is.
Meanwhile, what’s been your experience with Knology? Or for that matter, Midcontinent?
Here are the posts from the other thread:
Comment on RCJ coverage Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 6:03 am   edit
One of the area’s largest internet providers, Knology, has been failing to provide internet service to hundreds of their customers for over a week and I’ve seen nothing about this in the RCJ. Was this a story that only appeared in the “dead tree†version? They have provided their customers with no estimate of when, or IF the problem will be fixed. Knology has also billed these customers for service that was not provided. I would think this would be of interest to RCJ readers.
If I could find a “tip line†function on the RCJ web site, I would have submitted this question there.
What area is affected?
– Dan
A reader just notified me that when you comment on this blog, anyone can click on your name and see the website — in her case, where she works — that is associated with your name.
It must have something to do with the new blog design.
It looks as if you can protect your identity by leaving the “Website” line blank when you post your comment. It’s not required.
Your e-mail address, which is not published, is still required.
If anyone wants me to purge their web address from one of their comments, please let me know.
dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com.
I did it for her; just took a second.
My old buddy Steve McEnroe had a great idea for a thread. Since I’ll be commuting to Deadwood, I’ll need something to occupy my time. He said I should ask you guys what books on CD would be good.
“Let me suggest any of the Disc World books by Terry Prachett. Start with ‘Guards, Guards’, a great introduction to the many weird characters. They are in the same strange English humor vein as ‘The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy.’â€
I remember my first book on cassette tape. We bought it for our trip to Idaho. On the last half of the last cassette — the story’s big finale — the tape broke. I spent 45 minutes at a truck stop restaurant at Green River, the cassette in pieces on the table as I tried to splice the tape together and rewind it. A trucker at the next table watched me work. “Must be a really good tape,” he said.
Anyone have any suggestions?
I’m not sure what we’re going to do in print on this, but I wanted to let you Daly Business Blog readers know: I’m leaving the Rapid City Journal.
I’m going to work for TDG Communications, an advertising and public relations firm in Deadwood. My last day with the Journal is April 11.
It’s going to be really tough to leave. I’ve had what I think is a great relationship with our readers, especially through this blog, Rapid Replies and other online stuff.
Also, I’m convinced that business is the best beat in the newsroom. Always something new, something different, something that readers are as curious about as I am. I just pick up the phone, ask nosy questions and let everybody kind of look over my shoulder.
I’m grateful to all the people who have been willing over the years to answer those nosy questions.
And I’m grateful that the Journal has let me have some fun with it. Not many papers would allow their biz reporter write over and over and over that Olive Garden is not coming to town. Or write that “I’ll believe it when I can smell the garlic bread wafting over Interstate 90.”
But I’ve been at this for 18 years, and I miss that sort of queasy feeling you get when confronted with something you’ve never done before.
I hope I don’t get too queasy at TDG. But they’re a great bunch of people, and it’s a growing firm. I’m sure I’ll figure out the public relations business. Now I’ll be the one answering those nosy questions.
The Journal is advertising my position, and I’m sure they will find a good reporter. (I hope the new reporter doesn’t show me up too badly.) Meanwhile, somebody else on the staff will be filling in with Talking Business — which, by the way, will soon be online again — the blog and the beat in general.
So please, keep the tips and comments coming. We need as many eyes and ears as possible in the community.
And I really want to thank you all for your comments, tips and everything you’ve contributed. When I get up in the morning, I can’t wait to check the comments to see what you have to say.
– Dan
Not long ago I did a Talking Business item on Black Hills Rugs at 906 Main St.
It’s a tiny shop, but the cool thing was the store’s exterior. Every day, owner Mike Young would climb up on a ladder and cover the building almost completely with oriental rugs.
It looked like a Turkish bazaar. … at least until the city code enforcement folks came by. They said he was violating the sign ordinance. He had to tone it down — a lot.
In some ways, I think sign ordinances are a good thing. I don’t think we want Rapid City to look like Times Square. But Mike was adding color and interest to the downtown, and I hate to lose that.
I remember a few years back when Bob Fuchs had a giant American flag painted on side of the Hooky Jack’s building. The city tried, briefly, to force him to paint over it. Then God-Bless-America types from all over the country got involved. They were willing to defend to the death Bob’s right to fly the flag. The city quietly dropped it.
Mike Young doesn’t have that support. So now he’s down to about 6 rugs.
My questions: Can city ordinances be changed — and should they be changed? — to allow more color and character in downtown Rapid City?
I’d be especially interested in how Dennis and some of the folks who have downtown shops feel about this.
This was posted by ProudVet in the You Name It category:
“What is up with the TV here? I used to be a Black Hills Fibercom/Prairiewave/Knology customer because of their package deals. I bought an HD TV and upgraded my cable package and was sorely disappointed - only 15 channels of outdated HD content and no option to get NHL Center Ice or NBA Full Court access. MidCo had NBA but their cable internet speed was slower then what I already had. I researched other HD options and chose DirecTV since they had up to 92 channels of HD content and Knology sold their highspeed internet ala cart. All was well…until I tried to watch the Super Bowl and realized DirecTV had no local access. I asked DirecTV about the issue…they suggested submitting for a FCC-required Waiver (that had to be approved by local TV stations) to get national-level TV access (eg ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox) from a station in N.Y. City or L.A. Not exactly what I wanted, but better than nothing. In the meantime I bought a portable antenna and watched 4 channels of snowy local content. We waited 6 weeks for waiver request…it was denied by KOTA (ABC affiliate) but approved by CBS and Fox affiliates…still waiting for response from NBC. When I called KOTA and the person in charge of disapproving the waiver request said he NEVER approve them because of legal issues. When I asked to talk with the owner of KOTA literally laughed and said the owner, “Will tell you the same thing.†He added, “Get an antenna if you want to watch our channel.†Why is it the other affiliates approved but KOTA will not? Money? Politics? Spite? I wonder what would ABC stockholders think about this. I also wonder what is the sense of buying an HD TV and having all these other otions but having to buy an antenna for one channel. 
Must be nice to have a monopoly on what goes on in this beautiful little area of America. My wife and I can’t wait for warmer weather so we can ride our motorcycle. I’ll never watch KOTA in light of all this crap.”
I did a story on this a long time ago. I didn’t realize it was still an issue.
Backed by the Satellite Home Viewer Act and a couple of court decisions, KOTA started pulling the plug on satellite viewers in 1999. It claims that the law gives local broadcasters the exclusive right to carry network programming in their markets.
KOTA used some kind of computer program that they said proves you can get their signal. So no waiver. To anybody. A lot of Hills residents, especially in Custer and other towns, said they simply can’t get KOTA.
KNBN was pretty good about giving them, because their UHF signal was so weak. I think KEVN was OK, too.
At the time, the fight was about signal quality, and frankly people wanted to watch Denver news and sports.
Now that the FCC is requiring broadcasters to invest in digital equipment, and the fact that more people that ever are turning to satellite HDTV, I’m sure the fight is going to heat up.
I did a story yesterday on the fact that a movie called “South Dakota” is being filmed in Iowa. (Ouch.) I followed a wire story on the same subject the previous day.
I thought it was odd that Iowa’s 50-percent income tax credit would be such a lure for the film’s producers. Like Jim Lintz told me, South Dakota doesn’t even have an income tax. How can Iowa be better?
So I called the Iowa film office to ask why the tax credit is so attractive. Turns out that it’s more of an outright subsidy. If a producer spends, say, $2 million in Iowa making a movie, the state gives him a tax credit certitificate worth a million bucks. And if he has no Iowa income tax to pay, he can sell it for cash to someone who does.
In other words, the state of Iowa is willing to foot the bill for half of your production.
States all over the country are going “Hollywood” to lure movies. I’m not sure South Dakota can compete in the subsidy race. About all we can do is tout our scenic incentives. (Which has worked fairly well in the past. Check out this list.)
Do you think we should even try to compete with financial incentives?
This question is from “Thinker,” posted on You Name It.
“After visiting Sonic’s over the weekend, I started wondering if you are you supposed to tip the car-hops that bring your food? I haven’t been, but it seems like they hover some times as if they are expecting one. Do you know one way or the other?”
I’ve only done the drive-up window at Sonic’s, so I don’t know for sure. But it would seem that if someone is bringing you food, a tip would be in order.
I also don’t know how the credit card machines work at the drive-in. Is there a way to add a tip to the charge when you slide it into the slot? I don’t carry a lot of cash.
Anybody know the protocol?
I don’t usually pay much attention to TV ads. People who do have told me that when a restaurant chain starts advertising in the local market, a restaurant is soon to follow.
I’ve seen a lot of commercials on cable lately that feature mouth-watering shrimp and other seafood goodies. At first, I thought they were Red Lobster ads, but they turned out to be for Joe’s Crab Shack.
Could it be? The closest Crab Shack I could find online was in Colorado. And no, Sioux Falls doesn’t have one.
Anyone heard anything? Has anyone eaten at Joe’s?
March 28th, 2008 at 6:38 pm   editWhen you call the Knology help line they say the problem affects “east rapid cityâ€. That area includes me and is very frustating after a week. However (so far) today the service seems to be back to normal.
March 29th, 2008 at 2:41 pm   editThe quality of the service by Knology, Prarire wave, Black Hills Fibercom who ever they are is at mininum HORRIBLE. My internet has been going off and on for the last 2 weeks. I work evening shifts, so I make a phone call to the 721-2000 number and it goes directly to Georgia. The not so friendly individual in Georgia tells me that there is “nothing†he can do because they are in the process of merging all of their data bases. So on Wednesday of last week, I bit my tounge and switched to the company that I said I would never go back to, Midcontinent. From what I have heard from co-workers, it sounds like a majority of the area affected is from the Airport west. Knology would be better off spending less time and money in advertising (those commercials are on every 5 minutes telling me there is a drill bit stuck in Mt. Rushmore) and a little more time and money fixing their services!