Meet the new boss; same as the old boss

Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Thursday it had closed on its previously announced acquisition of Fisher Communications, but KIDK and KXPI, the Idaho Falls-Pocatello stations, apparently won't be part of the $373.3 million sale.

Shortly before the deal, it was announced that KIDK (a CBS/Fox affiliate) and KXPI (a Fox affiliate) were to be sold to VistaWest Media, LLC, a company based in St. Joseph, Mo. The sale is pending, but it means that if the Federal Communications Commission approves the stations will most likely remain operated by News Press & Gazette Co., also based in St. Joseph.

NPG was the company that bought KIFI Local News 8 from the Post Company in 2005. In December 2010, Fisher Communications announced it had entered into a shared services arrangement with NPG, which moved KIDK's operations out of its longtime home on 17th Street and into KIFI's shop on North Yellowstone and also brought about the layoff of more than two-dozen KIDK staffers. That arrangement was finalized Jan. 1, 2011.

Checking in from the East Coast

Dunkin' Donuts in the background. Concord Pike was the 17th Street of Brandywine Hundred when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s. Now it's a superhighway. Also in the background is the Charcoal Pit, a place that dates back to the '50s and was the place to come after football games, dances, movies, etc. Real Archie and Jughead stuff, I know, but those were the days.

Heaven knows I hate to see visits to this blog slow down because of something as trivial as a trip to see my mother, but faithful readers deserve to know I am writing this from muggy Wilmington, Delaware, the city of my youth.

I found this at ShopRite, grocery shopping with my mom. It felt like a letter from home.

I left Idaho Falls Sunday morning at 2:45 a.m. aboard the Salt Lake Express, arriving at SLC International shortly before 7. My first flight, on Frontier Air, was to Denver, leaving at 10:17 a.m. My flight from Denver to Wilmington was at 3:50 p.m., which meant I had a lot of time to kill.

Frontier flies big Airbus jets from Denver to Wilmington three days a week. I sat next to a woman from Bala Cynwd, Pa., who said she was flying in and out of Wilmington because of a.) the cheap fare and b.) that ease of getting in and out of the New Castle County Airport.

This airport, people is, right out of the '60s. No jetways, no baggage carousels, no waiting area to speak of, just a lobby. The last time I'd set foot in it was 1980, when a friend and I went to the lounge to hear saxophone great Dexter Gordon play with a trio. Being quite drunk, Dexter was not "on his game" that night. I don't doubt he was wondering how he had come to the sad state of affairs he was in (this was before Clint Eastwood resurrected his career by involving him in the Charlie Parker biopic "Bird").

Anyway, I don't want any of you regulars to stop coming to BizMojo, so I will be posting notes and letters in the next nine or ten days. If you have any pictures or news to contribute, fire them to me at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com. It has long been my goal to involve readers more in the content of this program, and I will be checking every day.

And if you haven't already, join BizMojoIdaho on Instagram. I will be posting photos of Trader Joe's and Dunkin' Donuts to torment you.

Casapulla's, a sub shop and deli. I would favor bringing a place like this to Idaho Falls for economic development reasons.

BizMojo Idaho branches out into Instagram

Want your BizMojo Idaho in your Instagram feed? We're ready to give you what you expect from us!

In my relentless quest to embrace all social media -- I eventually hope to learn about 20 percent of what anyone in their 20s probably knows already -- I have turned to Instagram (but I have to admit I've kind of cooled on Twitter).

There are days when all it seems like I'm doing is riding around shooting pictures of construction sites, and I'm not complaining. At a certain point, however, it dawned on me that Instagram might be the natural way to go. You can basically shoot anything that catches your eye -- a squirrel on the lawn, a cat in the windowsill -- and post it to the world as "wild art." Not sure I'm going to get that carried away, but for bread-and-butter construction photos I thought it looked like a natural.

Up top I've posted two shots from yesterday. I invite you to subscribe to BizMojoIdaho on Instagram if this is the kind of thing that turns you on. I am also learning about hashtags. Considering the random way my mind works with free association, I think it could be fun.

Any comments or suggestions I would greatly appreciate. I'm the first to admit I am fumbling my way toward understanding social media. This morning I heard about Vine clips going viral. I want to try that soon, too.

E cigarette store, The Vapor Door, opens on West Broadway

Norm Christensen, owner of The Vapor Door

Norm Christensen has never smoked a day in his life, but three sisters who smoked led him to discover e cigarettes -- tubes that deliver water vapor and nicotine but not all the tar and carcinogens of a Marlboro or Winston.

After a year of looking into it, and seeing his sisters switch, Christensen decided there would be a market for a store selling e cigarettes and e juice. In late July, he opened the Vapor Door at 1733 West Broadway.

"Here in Idaho Falls it's not that big yet," he said. But in three weeks, he has seen people who smoked for 45 years no longer smoking.

In addition to what they sell, the Vapor Room offers free wi-fi, games and a Sunday ping-pong tournament.

For Christensen, it is a switch from the construction he was doing for years. "I wanted to do something that was fun," he said.

Here's the link to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheVaporDoor

And for an in-depth look into e cigarettes, here's a link from Thursday's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/fashion/smoking-is-back-without-the-stigma.html?hp&_r=0

Idaho's WinCo Foods gets write-up in Time

The self-checkout line at WinCo in Idaho Falls

It's not really a David vs. Goliath battle. Idaho's WinCo Foods is simply doing what it has done since it became employee owned in 1985 and changed its name from Waremart  in 1999.

But it seems that after a writeup in the Idaho Statesman, Time magazine is paying attention. Here's the link to the piece in which the no-frills chain is called "Wal-Mart's worst nightmare": http://business.time.com/2013/08/07/meet-the-low-key-low-cost-grocery-chain-being-called-wal-marts-worst-nightmare/.

You can read it yourself, but here's the paragraph that caught my attention: In sharp contrast to Wal-Mart, which regularly comes under fire for practices like understaffing stores to keep costs down and hiring tons as a means to avoid paying full-time worker benefits, WinCo has a reputation for doing right by employees. It provides health benefits to all staffers who work at least 24 hours per week. The company also has a pension, with employees getting an amount equal to 20 percent of their annual salary put in a plan that’s paid for by WinCo; a company spokesperson told the Idaho Statesman that more than 400 non-executive workers (cashiers, produce clerks, and such) currently have pensions worth over $1 million apiece.