Nov. 02, 2003 - 19:49 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Peddle This

Heather and I, about twice a year, are in Eugene, Oregon to visit our daughter and family. Several things are a given, in the winter it rains, the grass stays green the year around and the bicyclists swarm. They definitely stand up for their rights there. Some rather obstreperously, it is rather hard you know for a cyclist to run over a car. But drivers have to keep more of an eagle eye out for the flash-of-lightning appearance of a cyclist in front of their car.

Clear Channel is in the news. Article by Connie Mabin of the Associated Press in today's Denver Post (the only paper in town on Sunday) titled "Radio programs anger bicyclists"

Mostly will be quotes here.

Connie Mabin says, "Bicyclists are demanding that the nation's largest radio group be punished because the disc jockeys at three stations made on-air comments they say encouraged drivers to throw bottles at bike riders or hit them with open car doors."

"They say the morning-show hosts at Clear Channel Communications stations in Cleveland, Houston and Raleigh, N.C., also suggested motorists blast horns at cyclists, and speed past them and slam on their brakes in front of them."

"Deejays encouraging the masses to hurt people in any form is insipid and should not go unpunished, Said Edwin Reeves, 30, a cyclist and ceramic engineer in St Louis."

"Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, owns roughly 1,200 stations in the U.S."

"The company won't release transcripts or tapes of the broadcasts, but the three stations apologized on the air, and Clear Channel donated $10,000 and air time to promote bicycle safety."

Connie Mabin quotes, "We deeply regret that comments made by on-air personalities were misinterpreted. Clear Channel does not condone violence in any form, and we are committed to working with the cycling community to improve cycling safety," chief executive John Hogan said in a statement"

Then it goes on, "Clear Channel, which said it was coincidental that similar comments came from three stations, said it told the stations to refer questions to corporate headquarters. It wouldn't say if the disc jockeys were disciplined."

One last quote, "Dorothy Nance of Raleigh said she and her husband sold their clear Channel stock after she heard the bicycle comments on WDCG on Sept. 22."

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That really gets to me, that sort of action. I have no trouble understanding someone being angry about bicyclists holding up traffic, that I have seen in Eugene - both the hold ups and the anger. But a company like Clear Channel Communications being so lax as to allow disc jockeys the opportunity to promote acts of "road rage" is to me unforgivable. And that - quote, "Similar remarks came weeks later on WDCG-FM in Raleigh and KLOL-FM in Houston," unquote indicates to me that Clear Channel Communications the radio giant holds very loose reins on its people on the air.

I guess over the years we have had our share of incendiary talk show folk and dee-jay types that are stirring up barnyard aroma about one thing or another, people who encourage call-ins in order to abuse listeners over the air. I remember there was a personality here in Denver some years ago, Alan Berg, I think was his name, who got blown away because his manner and philosophy infuriated someone. I don't really know whether his comments were fair or unfair as I was working the times he was on the air. Obviously his program roused the rabble. So we are used to those, in my eyes, pig-sty programs.

I have been a bicyclist on a busy street and have had a car door opened just ahead of me. I was lucky, many folks encountering the same had to be hospitalized as they went over the car door and on their heads in the street. I have had trash thrown just ahead of me and not enough time to swerve or duck. Horns from a car right beside or just behind this cyclist are startling torture. Bottles thrown are a heinous act which can easily cause a fatality. I remember once being forced off the road by a motorist when riding my motorcycle, they drove off laughing.

Typical political, corporate poop, "We deeply regret that comments made by on-air personalities were misinterpreted." And they will not release transcripts or tapes of the programs wherein said comments were made. CYA ? Darn right it seems to me. And I don't think Clear Channel gave a damn about cyclists or cycling safety until they realized they had to aplogize and put money into the pot for that cause, I think.

So now it seems to be listener beware, especially if you are a cyclist. They say they are for the public good most of them, yeah riiight, Peddle This . . . . . . . .

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