Lawrence company to buy Topeka station

Free State Communications LLC, a newly created Lawrence company, has reached agreement to acquire KTKA-TV, Topeka’s Channel 49.

The Federal Communications Commission Monday accepted an application to assign the broadcast license to Free State Communications. Final FCC approval is expected this summer.

The ABC affiliate went on the air in 1983. It has about 30 employees. The station’s tower site is west of Topeka; its studio and offices are at 2121 S.W. Chelsea, Topeka.

Free State Communications is owned primarily by The World Company, which publishes the Lawrence Journal-World and operates Sunflower Broadband, and by individuals involved in its operations and management.

Patrick Knorr, general manager of Sunflower Broadband, is manager of Free State. Also assisting Free State with the acquisition and proposed operation has been Rick Rogala, of Carmel, Ind., who has held television management posts at stations in Indianapolis, Tampa, Fla., Cincinnati and Grand Rapids, Mich.

Earnings

Sauer-Danfoss profits dip slightly

Sauer-Danfoss Inc., which has a manufacturing plant in Lawrence, reported that its first-quarter profits fell slightly from a year earlier.

Sauer-Danfoss, which makes hydrostatic transmissions at a plant in the East Hills Business Park, reported net income of $10.8 million, or 23 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31. That compared with earnings of $11 million, or 23 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2004.

The company said the latest earnings were affected by costs related to financial reporting and other tasks, including closure of a plant and a long-term incentive plan.

Company shares closed Tuesday at $21.22 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 62 cents, or 3 percent.

Employment

Sprint to lay off 550 more workers

Sprint Corp. said it has 550 more jobs to eliminate from its payroll, the final cuts in an already-announced plan to cut a total of 5,850 positions.

The Overland Park-based telecommunications company said in a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it already had spent $192 million in severance costs and would spend $23 million to complete the plan.

Sprint didn’t give a timetable for the job losses, expected to be achieved through attrition and voluntary and involuntary separations.

The company announced the reorganization in 2003, saying it would reduce expenses and make Sprint more competitive. Among the changes was replacing a myriad of sales divisions centered on certain products and services to two business units.