Motorists vs. Cyclists



rlroadie

New Member
Jun 15, 2003
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:mad: Clear Channel Communications at it again
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Now, this makes me real mad:

Clear Channel Communications radio station, G105 promotes driving into cyclists as fun. (Sept 22-23).

The Bob and Madison morning show on G105 out of Raleigh was going on for awhile about how fun it is to run cyclists off of the roads, and how we don't deserve to be there. One woman called in and said her Dad hit a cyclist on purpose on his way to church one morning (very Christian of him) when she was 12 or something. She said he just hated bikes being on the road. The intern said there is an old man that lives in her neighborhood
that shoots a pellet gun at a group of 30 or so that ride by their house. She said he tries to hit their tires to make them crash. The host even joked of riding a motorcycle down said-proposed bike path just to ******** bike riders.

The hosts egged-on the listeners in support of physically hurting cyclists as a way of telling us they don't want us on the road.

The ending shot was Bob, the host, talking about carrying a bunch of empty YooHoo bottles to pelt offending cyclists with. Once again, more calls rained in from people who agreed with him, and said that they would do the same. Clear Channel stations across the nation are broadcasting almost criminal "kill bicyclists" verbiage by shock jocks. The recent attacks occured on G105 in the NC Triangle market two days in a row (9/22-23/03).


This follows similar comments by shows in Houston and Cleveland. Perhaps it is time to let Clear Channel know that these actions will not be tolerated by the cycling community. I would suggest contacting current advertisers, both local and national, until Clear Channel adresses this problem. Some of the advertisers with G105 include Toyota, US Cellular, Con Agra Foods, Applebees, and Kroger.

This info was gathered from numerous posts on cycling forums and first hand accounts of the broadcast. TMTB.com urges you to contact the advertizers on the show, g105 and Clear Channel to politely voice your opinion on the subject. They follow the money. If enough people write in and let them know they are going to stop listening, stop going to the companies that advertise; they might get the message.

G105
WDCG -FM Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
Music For All People
3100 Smoketree Court,
7th Floor
Raleigh, NC 27604

Business Hours: M-F, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Main Phone: (919) 878-1500

Clear Channel
[email protected]

Investor Relations
[email protected]

Lowry Mays
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer [email protected]

Mark Mays
President and Chief Operating Officer [email protected]





Now here's the update:
Update 9/29
Protest Ride Info:

Permit is for 5-6 PM in front of the station. Please maintain a civil, respectful manner. A goal of this protest is to get press coverage for the rights of cyclists and not to solely bash G105. NCBC & CAMPO is planning to meet with them before hand and it appears they are trying to make good on the situation. As cyclists, we are asking for:

"1. Public apology by Mr. Dumas and Ms. Lane, to be broadcast by the same station and distributed by the broadcaster in writing as a Press Release.
The apology will explain why the original broadcast was improper under N.C.
law, including the following points:
" that bicycles are vehicles
" that bicyclists are treated as drivers by N.C.'s Rules of the Road
" that bicyclists can use all N.C. public roads, with the exception of freeways, even when they are not traveling as quickly as other traffic
" that intentionally assaulting a bicyclist with motor vehicle can be a Class E felony (NCGS 14-32, Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury)
" if a motorist followed the broadcast instructions while committing such an assault, the offense rises to a Class C felony
" if a cyclist were killed as a result of such assault, the charge would rise to manslaughter or murder

2. Adoption by the broadcaster of an internal policy that prohibits the avocation or promotion of hate crimes. The adoption will be announced in a Press Release. The policy will include
" Specification of consequences for violation of the prohibition
" Annual employee education about the policy
" Annual written acknowledgement by employees of the policy
[Dr. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist, has stated that: "Hate crimes are message crimes. They are different from other crimes in that the offender is sending a message to members of a certain group that they are unwelcome."]

3. The broadcaster will conduct a radio campaign to educate the public about the "bicycle taboo" and the five ways in which the taboo is reinforced. This campaign will total no less than three hours of air time within a period of 6 months. The taboo is defined and the five ways explained in the "Real or Just a Taboo" article, which appeared in "FirstMonday", April 2003, page 24.
www.orlando.org/clientuploads/fm_april03.pdf

4. The broadcaster will fund the development of a series of
bicycle-driving/share-the-road television Public Service Announcements (PSA) that are suitable for broadcasting by commercial television stations. The North Carolina Coalition for Bicycle Driving will have final control of the content of this series, which be produced by reputable television production professionals. Such video PSAs shall be produced for re-use anywhere in the United States and shall be freely redistributable. Estimated cost: $150,000.

5. The broadcaster will provide the North Carolina Coalition for Bicycle Driving with an audio copy and a transcript of WDCG's "Showgram" broadcasts (aka G105's Bob & Madison shows) of September 22, 2003 & September 23, 2003. The audio copy will be unedited, and the transcript will be prepared and sworn to by a court reporter.

6. The station will broadcast an interview by Mr. Dumas and Ms. Lane with Tom Norman (Director of NCDOT's Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation), about road bicycling in North Carolina."

Bruce Rosar, President, NCBC
Steven Goodridge, Vice President, NCBC

NCBC and CAMPO are not organizing the protest at G105. Members of the online community that visit Trianglemtb.com have taken out the permit to protest. TMTB.com is acting solely as an information portal. We don't have anything to do with Critical Mass (but respect their rights too). Kudos to NCBC and CAMPO for taking the issue to the next step; real action. The protest is for
getting the word out and letting people know they shouldn't run cyclist's off the road.




Just picked up the permit for a picket at 5-6pm tomorrow outside G105.

We'll have to gather on the side of the road and it gives us about 17 feet before their property line starts.

If you are going to bring signs they cannot be any larger than 2x2 feet.

Directions:
3100 Smoketree Ct
Raleigh

440 to Captial heading North
Left on Highwoods Blvd
Left on Smoketree

From NCBC:The CAMPO Bicycle/Pedestrian Stakeholders group is working to include Clear Channel station manager Ken Spitzer at our scheduled meeting in downtown Raleigh from 4-6 pm Tuesday, in response to Ken Spitzer's request. Ken has tentatively accepted our meeting time. The meeting will include CAMPO and city staff in addition to some local cycling club members including myself and Bruce Rosar. We will be discussing what kind of major public education campaign is needed to correct the wrongs of previous broadcasts.

I am unaware of the details of your described protest ride on Tuesday evening. I do not wish to create a time conflict for the availablity of Clear Channel management staff if you desire to meet with them at the station.

Please note that thanks to the pressure put on by others, I have been able to open constructive dialog. If at all possible, I hope that your ride will be civil and lawful to present a good image of bicycle drivers, to match the image of legitimacy that we hope to promote through the public education campaign.

I will keep you informed of what happens. Please let me know if I can do anything more.

-Steve Goodridge
NCBC VP
Member, Campo Bike/Ped Stakeholders Group


Update 9/27: A G105/Clear Channel protest is forming for Tuesday night. Please check back for more details...

Update Sept 26: A ground swell of activity is growing from cyclists across the country. I have received dozens of emails that were sent to Clear Channel and their advertisers. It also appears this is not the first time that Clear Channel radio stations did the same stunt. Incidents in Houston and Cleveland were documented earlier this month. I wonder if Clear Channel is actually doing this on purpose?

From Cyclingnews.com:
Clear Channel continues to threaten cyclists
Despite a public outcry following radio segments encouraging motorists to taunt or even strike cyclists on the road in both Houston, Texas and Cleveland, Ohio, it appears Clear Channel Communications, owner of radio stations throughout the United States, has not received the message. Listeners report hearing jokes about running cyclists off the road at a Raleigh, North Carolina radio station (G105) owned by Clear Channel. The
segments, during which DJs shared tales and suggestions of how to run cyclists off the road, were aired September 22 and 23.

Clear Channel claimed to have taken action with its Cleveland affiliate, and the Houston station was to run a public service announcement for the Houston Police Department's cycling education efforts. Nonetheless, a third radio market has deemed it appropriate to advocate violence against cyclists, to the horror of many listeners, but to the apparent amusement of others.
 
From the "For what it's Worth" news desk...

This just in from a friend of mine who lives in Tucsan, AZ and who's son, Phil Zajicek, rode for Team Saturn this past year. Since Saturn will not be sponsering a team next year, Phil is considering a contract with either Navigator's, HealthNet or Colavita-Bolla for th upcoming year....

Mark also let me know, when I mentioned the post about the broadcasts by the DJ's on Clear Channel, that they had broadcast the program out there as well, and the local paper had had an article about it in the paper since Tucsan has a large cycling community.

The following is his email to me about an incident that happened to him today...

"....Interesting road rage incident this a.m. (today) on a ride with Phil and another rider - guy is now facing felony assault and hit and run charges. In our incident this a.m., the driver tried to swerve into the bike lane, then when we went left, he proceeded to follow us into traffic, barely missing me, then back into the bike lane and slammed on his brakes, almost grinding Phil into guard rail. My reflexes didn't stop in time as I was right behind him and I did a 8mph superman onto his trunk and header into the rear of his car. Our 3rd rider ran interference, as the guy tried to get out of the car to peel me off his trunk and then tried to open a serious can of 'wuup ass' (his exact words) on me. He then decided to peel out instead of stick around, as 4 different cars were calling 911. I ended up with quad bruises, stiff neck and lower back pain - luckily my Fasso Bortolo kit was unscathed! Witnesses say the guy had " Total Intent " to do damage...

No telling what far reaching reperccusions this broadcast will have across the country or for how long it will last...hopefully this doesn't mean it will be "Open Season" on cyclists...everyone needs to be aware of this and be on the lookout for each other while out riding...

rlroadie
 
That's disgusting. It's scary to think about some of the dumba$$es that are on the roads.
 

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