Clear Channel

Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?

Burr

Burr wrote in message ...
Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?

I've been in frequent communication with the local (WDCG) station
manager because the station selected me for communication with the
local cycling community. However, few other people are getting any
response, because the station management is getting so many emails and
so many voice mails that they cannot possibly read or pay attention to
them all. Last I heard, their email accounts and voice mail systems
have become practically useless for the time being.

I suggest that if you want serious attention to an inquiry or comment,
you should send a professional-looking and polite postal mail letter
to the station or Clear Channel management. This is more likely to get
read and get attention, because it is clearer that the writer is a
real person and not a virtual identity on the Internet. Also, it
doesn't create a denial-of-service effect on their electronic
communications system (which if that is the intent of mass emailings,
is probably illegal.)

Steve Goodridge
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/wdcg.htm

Burr wrote:
Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?


Just this, circulated on CrankMail (Cleveland). It's from the LA (and
I don't mean the TdF winner) Times.
--Karen M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Mikes vs. bikes

Cyclists fail to see humor in DJs' calls for assaults.

By J. Michael Kennedy, Times Staff Writer

Kevin Bray was, well, shocked, when he heard that shock jocks were
urging their
listeners to run bicyclists off the road. He was horrified when he
found out it
had happened at least three times since July, in each case at stations
owned by
radio behemoth Clear Channel — first in Cleveland, then Houston
and finally at a
station in Raleigh, N.C. To Bray, an avid cyclist and veteran North
Carolina highway patrolman, there seemed to be an ominous pattern
developing.

"All I can say is, 'Who's next?' " said Bray, who has filed a
complaint
against the Raleigh station with the Federal Communications
Commission. "What
these people are doing is some sort of sick marketing ploy."

That thought has also occurred to Patrick McCormick, director of
communications
for the 40,000-member League of American Bicyclists, an organization
dedicated to preserving cyclists' rights. He said his group has been
deluged with complaints now that three major radio markets have been
beset by the same anticyclist comments. "We're still contemplating
what we're going to do as a national organization," McCormick said.

The incidents have stirred rage in the cycling world. In each
incident, disc jockeys derided cyclists and encouraged listeners to
run them down. In the latest example, at Raleigh station WDCG-FM, disc
jockeys Bob Dumas and Madison Lane began their rant against cyclists
on Sept. 22. In the course of the program, listeners flooded their
telephone lines to vent about cyclists, including one woman who
boasted that her father intentionally hit one while they were on the
way to church. One of the DJs promoted the joys of hitting cyclists
with Yoohoo bottles.

When patrolman Bray heard about the program, he wrote an e-mail to the
shock jocks, warning them they were instructing the motoring public in
how to commit assault with a deadly weapon - their cars. Bray also
informed them that he was reporting them to the FCC.

"I don't know much about radio broadcasting," he wrote. "But I have
enough sense to know that these acts are either illegal or contrary to
the code
of ethics you should be bound by when the FCC allows you to go on the
air."

The station's initial response came from station manager Kenneth
Spitzer, who referred to the show as "animated banter." But after a
demonstration outside the
station and the threat by advertisers to pull out, Spitzer issued a
public apology on the air Thursday.

The first of the anticyclist diatribe occurred last July in Cleveland,
when WMJI-FM disc jockeys suggested cyclists be rammed off the road.
One of those who got on the phone to defend cyclists was Lois Cowan,
who co-owns four bike shops in the Cleveland area.

"I was repeatedly called a buffoon, an idiot and a PMS sufferer who
couldn't
take a joke," she said. "Then there were three hours of calls from
people
saying, 'Yeah, you guys are right.' "

The session left Cowan in tears, but she immediately swung into
action, helping
engineer a bombardment of calls and e-mails to the station. In the
end, the station called a truce and agreed to, among other things,
hundreds of public-service announcements about the need to share the
road.

The Houston incident also took place in September, and the timing of
the show infuriated the city's cycling community. On Aug. 30, a woman
driving a pickup truck had lost control and slammed into a 20-bike
pace line, killing two riders and injuring eight others. Three days
later, the disc jockeys at station KLOL-FM went on their antibiking
rampage, setting off another round of protests.

"When you incite people to violence, you've crossed the line,"
insisted
Houston cyclist Frank Karbarz, who helped organize against the
station. "They
did it almost like a tutorial. It wasn't humorous. It was how to hurt
someone."

Cowan doesn't believe that Clear Channel, which owns more than 1,200
radio stations in the U.S., is encouraging the anticycling venom. She
said it's more probable that word spread among disc jockeys that
knocking cyclists is sure to push emotional buttons with their
listeners.

Clear Channel, for its part, said through a spokesperson that each
station was "operated and produced independently," and "each station
is working to correct the problem in their city."

But noted cycling writer Ed Pavelka said he felt the three incidents
have at least the makings of a trend. "First it was Cleveland, then
Houston and Raleigh," he said. "Either someone's not getting the
message, or someone's doing it with intent."

In 2001, 728 cyclists were killed in accidents involving motor
vehicles in the United States. And an additional 45,000 cyclists were
injured.

Legally, cyclists are afforded the same rights as motorists. Lawyer
Gary Brustin, who specializes in cycling cases, noted that some
motorists just don't like sharing the road with bikes. "They just
don't like them."


http://www.latimes.com/features/outd...lines-outdoors

OR

http://tinyurl.com/q2jk

I wrote the LA Times last asking them to do a story!!!! I
also wrote the WSJ and asked for their help!!!

Maybe I'll send the LA story to the WSJ to push a little.

Burr

Steven,
I was not trying to jam their email account or spam or jam
their VM.
The first time I wrote about the first two deals I did get
nice replies back that I posted here. This time I have not
heard a work and YES I also filed a complaint with the FCC,
wrote the local LA Times and the WSJ asking for their help
and I think I got some and I am going after the WSJ again, I
have paid my money for years and I hope they will help.
Your post makes it sound like we are wrong to complain, that
we are the bad ones!! If I had my way they would be shut
down for six months this time and for ever the next time and
I hope it does hurt their stock.
I had a guy jam me to the edge of the road Sunday while I was
riding, he missed my handle bars by a foot and was going
maybe 40 mph or better.
The local police here in California do a good job of "trying"
to help cyclist if they see someone messing with us but they
don't see much.

Burr

Steven Goodridge wrote:

Burr wrote in message ...

Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?


I've been in frequent communication with the local (WDCG) station
manager because the station selected me for communication with the
local cycling community. However, few other people are getting any
response, because the station management is getting so many emails and
so many voice mails that they cannot possibly read or pay attention to
them all. Last I heard, their email accounts and voice mail systems
have become practically useless for the time being.

I suggest that if you want serious attention to an inquiry or comment,
you should send a professional-looking and polite postal mail letter
to the station or Clear Channel management. This is more likely to get
read and get attention, because it is clearer that the writer is a
real person and not a virtual identity on the Internet. Also, it
doesn't create a denial-of-service effect on their electronic
communications system (which if that is the intent of mass emailings,
is probably illegal.)

Steve Goodridge
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/wdcg.htm

In article ,
Burr writes:
Your post makes it sound like we are wrong to complain, that
we are the bad ones!!

Really? I just "got" that mass electronic communications tend to
backlog and are readily deletable, and therefore can get missed;
traditional post can circumvent those problems, and perhaps better
ensure that your complaints get noticed.

In other words, I think Steven was trying to help folks to get
their message[s] across.

The price of a postage stamp is no great strain.

And if the Truth may be invoked, email *is* eminently more
ignorable than snail mail.



cheers,
Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

(Tom Keats) wrote:
In other words, I think Steven was trying to help folks to get
their message[s] across.

The price of a postage stamp is no great strain.

And if the Truth may be invoked, email *is* eminently more
ignorable than snail mail.

Yes, postal mail on paper is more likely to be viewed as authentic,
and requires a more physical act to read and respond. People who write
postal mail also tend to organize their thoughts better, and tend to
be more polite.

WDCG's management says that they are getting a lot of very nasty,
threatening emails and voice messages. I don't think these help; and
at this point the station is virtually ignoring their email and voice
mail. I imagine that most people will want to contact higher-ups at
Clear Channel or the FCC anyway, if their intent is (a) to prevent
this in other areas of the country, or (b) to obtain greater gains in
terms of public education.

Steve Goodridge

Controversy to be covered by Good Morning America Weds Oct 15.

--Karen M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One for the good guys
From: "Lois Cowan"
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 15:31:01 -0700
To:


Score one more for the good guys!!

You may have been following the Clear Channel Radio versus bicycles
controversy. Many of you have been instrumental in the fight by
writing, calling and e-mailing management and their advertisers. Thank
you for your efforts and your help.

This afternoon, Good Morning America taped an interview from Century
Cycles' Solon store regarding the issue. Unless a big story breaks, the
segment is due to air Wednesday, October 15.

It's a great opportunity to do some public education. Who knows how
my comments will be editted, but cross your fingers that the piece helps
get the message out to Share the Roads!

Burr wrote in message ...
Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?

Burr
Not a direct answer to your question but Velonews had an interesting
article about the legal issues of this:

http://velonews.gadoz.com/news/fea/5058.0.html

Tom

THANKS



Burr
Diamondback Road Bike
REI Touring Bike
Schwinn City Bike
So. California Deserts

Thomas Reynolds wrote:
Burr wrote in message ...

Any body heard any more about this mess???
Any body getting any replies this time?

Burr

Not a direct answer to your question but Velonews had an interesting
article about the legal issues of this:

http://velonews.gadoz.com/news/fea/5058.0.html

Tom