March 16, 1999

Here are descriptions of the radio stories available on the Ohio State University Info Line, March 19 through March 26, 1999. Stories are changed at noon on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All feeds include one wraparound report of approximately 1:00 and at least one other actuality plus background material. If you have questions, want additional information, or need a re-feed of a missed story, call Amy Murray at 614-292-8385.

Friday 3/19-Monday 3/22 - Richard Klausner, director of the National Cancer Institute, will speak at winter quarter commencement exercises at St. John Arena on Friday morning. Approximately 1,400 students will receive their degrees during the ceremony.

Monday 3/22-Wednesday 3/24 - Injuries from backyard trampolines have reached epidemic proportions and their sale should be stopped immediately. That’s the warning from a new study on emergency room admissions by Gary Smith, director of emergency medicine at Children’s Hospital in Columbus and a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State. Smith says parents can’t prevent most of the injuries that occur on trampolines because most are not due to falling off the device, but by landing wrong.

Wednesday 3/24-Friday 3/26 - If you’re a small business battling a giant national retailer, having an affiliation with a trade-name franchise may not give a competitive advantage. Alice Stewart, a business professor at Ohio State, looked at the strategy used by small hardware stores when a giant national discount store like Home Depot came to town. If you’ve ever gone to a hardware store in an attempt to fix an old plumbing fixture, you may have been frustrated by the lack of product knowledge in store personnel. Stewart says it’s that product knowledge that the small independents are capitalizing on to succeed and even thrive when the big discount chains come to town.

Many news outlets are getting our news releases electronically. Would you like to receive your weekly Info Line rundown via e-mail? It’s faster than the postal service and offers less chance for bad addresses, lost or damaged mail. We can e-mail this and other news releases directly to your computer. E-mail Amy at murray-goedde.1@osu.edu or call 614-292-8385 to make arrangements.

www.osu.edu is Ohio State’s Internet address. News releases (including this rundown sheet) from University Communications and many other offices are posted on the website. The site is also a great source for answers to frequently asked questions about OSU.