SEVERAL FAMILIAR NAMES PUBLISH DIRECTORIES

Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Midwestern Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., GTE Directories Corp., Falconbridge Publications Inc., Illinois Bell, Donnelley Directory all are familiar names to many of the region's telephone users.

Each company publishes telephone directories and yellow pages.

This listing of yellow-page publishers only scratches the surface of the hundreds of companies involved in the $9.5 billion yellow pages industry.

Yellow pages rates aren't inexpensive. A boldface listing in the Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, for example, costs the customer $10 a month. Rates go from that point up, to $278 a month for a third-page display ad and to $814 a month for a full-page ad.

Southwestern Bell, which publishes more than 400 directories in five states -- Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas -- is the most widely know directory in Southeast Missouri, while GTE Directories and Illinois Bell are familiar in Southern Illinois.

GTE, headquartered in Dallas, publishes directories in 42 states and 11 foreign countries. The company publishes a dozen directories in Southern Illinois, including a 725-page directory and yellow pages for the Anna, Carbondale, Marion, Metropolis areas. GTE also helps sell yellow pages for operations in Piedmont and Doniphan areas.

Illinois Bell and the Reuben H. Donnelley Corp., based in Chicago, team up to publish many Illinois telephone directories and yellow pages.

Most of these companies, except Southwestern Bell Yellow pages, use the "walking fingers" symbol for their directories.

Jim Newberry, who owns Midwestern Directory Co. Inc. of Cape Girardeau, uses the walking fingers for the yellow pages in his company's telephone directory.

Newberry's company has published telephone directories and yellow pages in the Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri area for eight years.

"The walking fingers logo is not copyrighted," Newberry said, adding that the walking fingers is an insignia used by the National Yellow Pages Association, and those joining that association can use it -- and most do.

The press run for Newberry's 1994-95 directory is 50,000 and is being delivered this month after a year's delay.

The directory covers the Southeast Missouri area and includes listings from Marble Hill and Patton to the west, Advance and Benton to the south and Pocahontas to the north.

Newberry said printing difficulties prevented him from publishing a 1993 edition, but he decided to publish a 1994 directory that is good through next June.

Advertiser billings for the 1993-94 directory were credited to the 1994-95 publication.

Newberry admitted that some complaints were received because of the delay. However, no complaints were lodged with the Better Business Bureau or the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

Rumors also cropped up that he was going out of business.

"We're not going out of business," he said. "There are some people out there who want to start a new independent directory and they're spreading rumors that we're shutting down."

Newberry previously published Mississippi County, Sikeston/Morehouse and Poplar Bluff directories.

Falconbridge Publication Inc., based at Jackson, now publishes two of those three directories -- Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

Falconbridge also publishes directories and yellow pages in the Malden-Dexter area and the Bootheel area. The company will soon add a Perryville directory. Gregg Dullum is president of the Jackson-based company.

R.L. Polk & Co., headquartered in Richmond, Va., publishes more than 1,400 city and suburban directories, including those at Cape Girardeau and Jackson. That company also includes the walking fingers logo on many of its publications.