Clear Channel Radio DJs threatening cyclists, again!

I just wrote two local papers, The LA Times and the
Ridgecrest paper, hope they pick it up and run (cycle) with it!!

OK, Lets see what some others can do with it, lets get it going.

Burr

Daniel Gatti wrote:

Burr wrote:

I just sent a copy of this story to:

Mike Powell, FCC Chairman,
Vince Richards, KLOL program manager,
John Hogan, CEO, Clear Channel Radio,
Mark Mays, COO, Clear Channel Communications,




Lets see what we can do to bring them down, we need all of the
USofA behind us. Lets get stories in the local papers.
I'm going after the LA Times and the Ridgecrest paper now.

Burr

Tom wrote:

It looks like the G105 shenanigans in Raleigh are getting some
publicity. Here's a link to a story about it in the Raleigh News &
Observer:

http://newsobserver.com/news/triangl...-2677916c.html

Tom



Please do contact the parties mentioned at:

http://www.trianglemtb.com/pages/projects/g105.html

If you can, broadcast this information far and wide. It would be great
if they get letters from folks from all over the country.

Good news! A local Ford dealership has pulled it's sponsorship of the
G105 morning show as a result of the broadcast. See:

http://www.capitalford.com/news.html

I just sent a letter to the WSJ asking for their help also.

Burr

I'm writing letters complaining to the radio stations but I have a
problem with this crap as well:

"After running Smith off the road, the driver stopped, chased him down
on foot and struck him with a hatchet, sending him into a ditch and
over the handlebars of his wrecked bike. Marvin Glenn Manring of
Orange County pleaded guilty in July 2001 to assault with a deadly
weapon. He promised to enroll in an anger management program."

http://newsobserver.com/news/triangl...-2677916c.html

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
The Worlds Uncensored News Source

YUP, I thought about that, wonder what the true story is!!!

ThreeLeggedDog wrote:

I'm writing letters complaining to the radio stations but I have a
problem with this crap as well:

"After running Smith off the road, the driver stopped, chased him down
on foot and struck him with a hatchet, sending him into a ditch and
over the handlebars of his wrecked bike. Marvin Glenn Manring of
Orange County pleaded guilty in July 2001 to assault with a deadly
weapon. He promised to enroll in an anger management program."

http://newsobserver.com/news/triangl...-2677916c.html

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
The Worlds Uncensored News Source

ThreeLeggedDog wrote:

I'm writing letters complaining to the radio stations but I have a
problem with this crap as well:

That one left me wondering if I could plea out to assaulting the
judge with a hatchet and get off with an anger management course.
Probably not.

Mitch.

On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 03:35:49 GMT, Burr
wrote:

YUP, I thought about that, wonder what the true story is!!!

ThreeLeggedDog wrote:

I'm writing letters complaining to the radio stations but I have a
problem with this crap as well:

"After running Smith off the road, the driver stopped, chased him down
on foot and struck him with a hatchet, sending him into a ditch and
over the handlebars of his wrecked bike. Marvin Glenn Manring of
Orange County pleaded guilty in July 2001 to assault with a deadly
weapon. He promised to enroll in an anger management program."

http://newsobserver.com/news/triangl...-2677916c.html


Apparently someone else did as well:

http://www.bclu.org/stories/abuse_re...-20010815.html

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
The Worlds Uncensored News Source

Here's a message from posted to another list of
mine.
--Karen M.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh Gee, LOOK, a wacky radio stunt goes awry & a radio producer pleads
guilty to a crime....


=====
Man in Cathedral-Sex Radio Stunt Dies
Lawyer Says Brian Florence Suffered Heart Attack
By SAMUEL MAULL, AP


NEW YORK (Sept. 30) - A man who was to appear in court Tuesday on
charges of having sex with his girlfriend inside St. Patrick's
Cathedral as part of a radio show stunt has died at his home in
Virginia, his lawyer said.
Brian Florence, 38, died last Thursday of a heart attack in
Alexandria, said the couple's lawyer, Maranda Fritz. She said the
funeral was Monday, and his co-defendant and girlfriend, Loretta Lynn
Harper, 36, is "still in a state of shock."
The judge adjourned the case until Nov. 6. Fritz said her clients had
expected to plead guilty to a minor charge and not receive any jail
time.

A third man involved in the case, radio producer Paul Mercurio, 43,
pleaded guilty earlier in the day to disorderly conduct. The judge
ordered him to perform seven days of community service.
Authorities said a police officer was listening to the "Opie and
Anthony Show" in August 2002 when he heard Mercurio say on the air
that he was speaking on a cell phone while watching the couple in the
cathedral. The officer arrested Florence and Harper shortly afterward
in a vestibule a few feet from worshippers.
The stunt had been part of a regular feature in which couples could
win prizes for having sex in public places.The couple's alleged antics
inside the landmark cathedral resulted in WNEW-FM firing DJs Greg
"Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. 09/30/03 23:41 EDT


==============

Steven M. Magas
Olivas & Magas
Attorneys At Law
6926 Main Street
PO Box 44268
Cincinnati, OH 45244-0268

A canned reply and an attorney's viewpoint.
--Karen M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for your e-mail message regarding recent Bob and Madison morning
show broadcasts on G105.

Our morning show includes a good deal of animated banter, between callers and
on-air personalities, that can be both humorous and caustic. The
intention is always
to entertain our listeners. During a couple of shows this week, time
was spent by
callers and on-air personalities discussing driving and cyclists.
During this discussion,
comments were made which at the time we felt were humorous in nature.
In retrospect
we feel that the some of the comments were inappropriate, and for that
we sincerely
apologize.

Be assured that G105 does not advocate harm to cyclists. Again, thank you for
your message and please feel free to write
or phone me in the event I can be of service.

Best regards,

Ken Spitzer
Regional Vice President
G105-FM Radio
Phone: 919-878-1500
=============

Mr. Spitzer

Thank you for the response, albeit in a form-letter-like fashion.

Bicyclists take their right to the roads very seriously. They take
personal threats of harm VERY seriously. Even a slight accidental
nudge from a passing motorist can kill a cyclist - dodging a Yoohoo
bottle, or getting hit with one, can cause a cyclist to crash or
swerve into oncoming traffic...applying the brakes too rapidly to
avoid stuff thrown from cars can lead to a head-over-handlebars tumble
when the laws of physics take over. This normally means a serious
shoulder injury, hand injury or head injury. I can tell you, as an
attorney who has handled 60+ "Bike Cases" in Ohio, Florida, Virginia,
New Jersey and Kentucky, cyclists lose EVERY encounter with motor
vehicles!

Your station's comments went WAY beyond humor and advocated violence
against cyclists simply because they are legally using the roads.
Cyclists have the right to ride on most roads in every state in the
country. Cyclists who ride on the road are, for the most part,
responsible riders who try to avoid encounters with negligent
motorists. When motorists become intentionally threatening, the risk
of harm rises to the Life-Or-Death stage. Please do more than
apologize to cyclists and take some action here... sponsor safe
cycling events, get helmets to kids, help out your local cycling club,
get involved in cycling advocacy. Put some money where your apology
is! You can check with your Clear Channel brethren in Cleveland and
Houston, who also briefly felt advocating violence against cyclists
was funny, for some ideas.

I thank you and am,

Very truly yours,


Steven M. Magas


=========

STEVEN M. MAGAS
Attorney At Law
Olivas & Magas
P.O. Box 44268
Cincininati, OH 45244-0268

513-484-BIKE

"Fighting for the rights of cyclists..."

More correspondence from .
--Karen M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[sent to Clear Channel PR dept]

Below is an email report of recent Clear Channel comments in three
separate venues in which DJ's felt there was some humor in encouraging
illegal assaults on bicyclists. These illegal assaults included
throwing objects out of cars at bicycle operators, shooting pellet
guns at cyclists and running cyclists off the road.

Clear Channel must be put on notice that these activities can each
lead to catastrophic injuries or death. Cyclists have the legal RIGHT
to be on the road in all 50 states. The fabric of "traffic" is wide
and colorful... it includes far more than cars and trucks and busses.

Clear Channel has, in three separate venues, chosen not just to attack
the right of cyclists to be on the road but advocate, humorously or
not, terrorist tactics of physically attacking cyclists for exercising
their right to ride. Clear Channel can be held liable to injured
cyclists for compensatory damages and, arguably, for punitive damages.
Further, such action by Clear Channel stations puts the Clear Channel
at risk with the FCC as cyclists around the country are beginning to
hear tales of Clear Channel's antics... my understanding is that
thousands of cyclists emailed the Cleveland station after its DJ's
found humor in encouraging listeners to physically attack cyclists.

There are over 100 MILLION cyclists in this country, most of whom
NEVER venture out on the roadways because of a fear of being injured
by a NEGLIGENT motorist. To have a huge media giant advocating
INTENTIONAL misconduct toward cyclists is incredibly stupid, careless
and potentially catastrophically damaging for the cyclist and
financially damaging to Clear Channel. I hope Clear Channel will, at
a national level, take legitimate steps to curb this behavior and
encourage cycling safety.

I have represented more than 60 cyclists in "bike cases" ranging from
$50 traffic tickets to seven figure brain damage and death cases. I
can tell you this... Cyclists lose EVERY battle with motor vehicles.
I have never had a case where a motorist was injured in an encounter
with a cyclist, but close to 1000 cyclists die each year from injuries
sustained while riding their bikes...

Steve Magas
Steven M. Magas


Olivas & Magas
Attorneys At Law
6926 Main Street
PO Box 44268
Cincinnati, OH 45244-0268

Dennis wrote:
....
FLOOD THEIR ADVERTIZERS WITH LETTERS THREATENING A BOYCOTT, AND
MAKE YOUR CRUSADE PUBLIC. Issue press releases announcing your
boycott, naming the advertisers that support this illegal and
criminal behavior.

WRITE TO THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES IN CHARGE OF THE FCC.
Especially, write to Senator John McCain, who is already ****ed
as hell at Clear Channel about the way they treated the Dixie
Chicks.

Don't bother complaining to the station unless you're a big
advertiser.

'Nuther letter from bikelawyer, this one to Capital Ford, who withdrew
their radio station sponsorship thanks to this incident.
--Karen M.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I want to thank you for your brave, and very public stance against the
behavior
of the DJ's on your local Clear Channel station
[http://www.capitalford.com/news.html].
You may well be aware that this is the third Clear Channel station to
broadcast
programming that, humorously or not, encouraged motorists to take
violent actions against cyclists. During the past few months Clear
Channel radio stations in Cleveland and Houston also engaged in
similar antics.

By law, bicycle operators are legally permitted to ride on virtually
any road in the country. Despite the fact that there are probably 100
million bicycle operators in the country, relatively few venture out
onto the roadways due to fears about negligent motorists. When a
public media giant takes to the airwaves encouraging INTENTIONAL and
criminal misconduct against cyclists, we tend to get upset!
Approximately one third of my practice consists of representing
injured cyclists, and I can assure you a cyclist loses EVERY battle
with a motor vehicle!

I am forwarding this email to the League of American Bicyclists, Clear
Channel, and other supporters of cycling to let them know that at
least one major player has agreed to take a financial and ethical
stand against this misuse of the public airwaves.

It may seem odd for an Ohio lawyer to be involved in a local NC
matter, but cyclists all over the country are outraged at the
misbehavior of these Clear Channel stations. The Cleveland situation
generated responses from thousands of cyclists and the Houston
situation continued to cause many many cyclists to take action. The NC
station's antics are identical - suggesting that it would appropriate
to injure or run over bicycle operators in order to get them off the
road. Pulling your advertising from the show is an appropriate way to
say "I Won't Support This Misbehavior."

Again, I thank you for supporting transporation cycling and am,

Very truly yours,


Steven M. Magas
Attorney At Law


513-484-BIKE - cell
513-624-7744 - office
513-624-7795 - fax

"Fighting For The Rights of Cyclists..."