Bicyclists take on KLOL-FM, other stations (Clear Channel)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2196469

Bicyclists are demanding that the nation's largest radio group be punished because 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.

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

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, owns roughly 1,200 radio stations in the United States.

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.

[PartyPooper]

1. A horrific story about these cyclists was posted a couple of weeks ago.

One proud woman actually boasted that her father "hit / ran a cyclist off the road on the way to church."

Gee, I wonder what church they attended. Per chance, was it an affiliate of Phelps' congregation?

I don't think Jesus would condone this sort of behavior. But, hell, what do I know? I stopped attending church regularly a long time ago.

O8)

[kodi]

2. somebody ought to punch those DJs right in their mouths

these guys were assholes who incited violence and laughed about it.

[Voltaire99]

3. How the GOP is preparing the US for fascism

Yes, yes, I know. It's just a couple of assholes who got carried away...

Like the First Lady of Maryland getting carried away a couple of weeks ago with her Let-Me-Kill-Britney fantasy.

Like Pat Robertson with his Nuke-the-State Dept. fantasy.

Like Falwell with his God-Hates-Gays fantasies.

Like Coulter with her charges of "treason," O'Reilly with his screaming and threats, Boykin with his beach-bully God ready to kick sand in the face of Moslems...

Violence. Violence is the heart and soul of the US right wing. And they keep teasing, daring, going further, getting us used to it. Of such threads and filaments is social change made.

[kodi]

4. very, very well said

like the frog that boils and doesn't feel it.

[RandomKoolzip]

15. The frog that doesn't feel being boiled is an urban legend...

I believe snopes.com has debunked this "scientific" fact. Frogs realize that the water is getting hotter. Why wouldn't they?

[kodi]

18. apparently, you are ignorant of the use of such metaphorical imagry.

its a useful shorthand for failing to act as things get progressively worse.

[Fovea]

5. It started for us in the early 80's

With Youth for Christ's "PAGAN INVASION" series,
and the Helm's amendment.

Before they turned the witch hunt on everyone else, they started
with the Witches.

Of course, if you are a Witch who rides a bicycle (and is not Margret Hamilton) you are doubly screwed...

[DUreader]

6. And Radio Spawned Rwandan Genocide Never Forget

There is Real Danger Here

[paradisiac]

7. the DJs should be fired

They advocated and encouraged actions that could seriously injure or kill people. Fire them.

[RapidCreek]

8. They advocated MURDER

PERIOD. They should be put into prison.

RC

[R Hickey]

9. The Clear Channel Conspiracy/Monopoly

America needs to bring back the fairness clause in radio broadcasts. It is not free speech when public airwaves are monopolized by violent political extremists of only one political party.

Clear Channel's monopolized message is as un-American as the propaganda of Tokyo Rose and the Nazi's hate radio. The company should be broken-up and their nine hundred stations seized. Their broadcasting licenses should be confiscated.

The justice department or FBI needs to make a list of all the major owners and employees of this subversive broadcasting monoply.

These fascist hate promoter's names and addresses should be made public, so that, should they pursue their extreme agenda and cause carnage with their radio harrangs, that they can be held accountable, and hunted down, tried, and brought to justice, one way or another.

[dbt]

10. With Clear Channel, there seems to be NO bad publicity

Sure, they gave $10K and some air time to promote safety. On a corporate-wide level (which is how they figure EVERYTHING), this would maybe have been a minute's worth of income!

Compare that with the word-of mouth that the incidents generated for the DJ's on the stations in question. You couldn't BUY that much advertising, positive or not.

This is roughly analogous to the Dixie Chicks hoo-ha of a few months back. Clear Channel banned the Chicks from airplay at the same time it was promoting Chicks concerts. The Pinhead "Country Music" listeners got a rallying point for their mindless, flag-wrapped nationalism and Clear Channel reaped who knows HOW much more in ticket sales.

With too few corporations owning too many stations, this is what we get. One tentacle of the beast can seemingly get cut away and nine others will see some benefit from the apparent loss.

:argh:
dbt

[pippin]

11. if you ride a bicycle

you're probably, in the minds of fundies, either a communist or tree hugger. Real Amurricans ride Hummers and any other great big gas guzzlers. So run 'em over! :grr:

[farmbo]

12. Yeah right...Lard-assed, loudmouthed DJs making fun of cyclists

Have some more doughnuts guys...and crank up the Clear channel volume...those cyclists will be dancing on your graves.

:evilgrin:

[NashVegas]

13. They Should Organize

Find some lawyers within their ranks who are or who have ties to FCC lawyers. Get some financial backers, and go after the offending stations by challenging their license renewals.

[Jane Eyre]

16. They are! Report from the FCC hearing

I attended a public FCC hearing in Charlotte recently. It was the first of six scheduled around the country to study "localism" in media.

The first person to speak during the time allotted for any citizen to provide public comment in a three-minute speech was a prominent local citizen who spoke as a representative of a bicycle club. There were perhaps a dozen bicylcists in all who spoke during the course of the evening. One person flew in from Ohio. Apparently, there were four Clear Channel stations who promoted harrassment of bicyclists, including a station in Houston and one in Ohio. Another speaker stated that Clear Channel's actions were felonious and the FCC needed to investigate and prosecute.

Interestingly, not only were the bicyclists well-organized, but Clear Channel had organized a bevy of social activists who periodically extolled Clear Channel's virtues raising money for sick children through the Children's Miracle Network and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their speeches appeared to be cookie-cutter PR things straight from Clear Channels' corporate offices. As one citizen put it, there is nothing that Clear Channel has done through its charitable activities that could not have been done by locally owned stations.

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Why pick on bicyclists???

Whattayaknow? Clear Channel engaging in hate radio again. Why not pull their licenses for such comments?

[schultzee]

17. Clear channel is made up of brown shirts.....like HItler's hatemongers

Bicyclists are environmentilists and clear channel considers these people a threat.