In the Home of the Braves

Beginning of article

COX SURE OF ITSELF IN SOUTH'S TOP CITY

Scoring the triple play - from TV to radio to newspapers

Atlanta, the largest market in the South, is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Delta Airlines, United Parcel Service, Coca- Cola, and Home Depot, with the metropolitan area ranking among the fastest growing in the United States.

Explosive population growth has reached such proportions that about two years ago, the steady exodus of residents from the city to the suburbs began to reverse. Traffic had become so tangled that some suburbanites started moving into the downtown area. The population shift has helped spark a long-awaited redevelopment effort in the city. Many abandoned warehouses downtown have been converted to apartments and condos, and new office construction is also on the rise.

The city is the headquarters of Cox Enterprises Inc., which dominates local media via its ownership of the market's leading broadcast TV station, its largest radio group, and its largest daily newspapers.

Cox publishes the morning Constitution and the afternoon Journal; the papers appear in combined issues on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Constitution's circulation is more than 31/2 times larger than the Journal's. The papers' combined Monday-Thursday …