Posted on 10/01/2003 6:49:41 AM PDT by Hatteras
Radio host infuriates cyclists
By BRUCE SICELOFF, Staff Writer
G105 radio host Bob Dumas told listeners last week that he just hated to see bicycle riders on the road. He laughed at stories about running cyclists down, and he talked up the idea of throwing bottles at bikers. It wasn't funny to cycling enthusiasts across the Triangle. This week they are lobbying government officials and local advertisers in a campaign to punish radio station WDCG and its corporate owner, Clear Channel of San Antonio, and to promote bicycle safety."One caller said her dad had purposely hit a biker on the road on the way to church one Sunday and kept on going," said G105 listener Holly N. Proctor of Cary on Tuesday of the Sept. 21 and 22 broadcasts. "That got laughs. Bob thought that was funny.
"And Bob said he'd love to be on a motorcycle and driving it down a bike lane. Because he didn't think bikers should be allowed on the road. He said they should ride on the sidewalk," she said.
Proctor, a photo technician at N.C. State University, joined two dozen fellow cyclists at a 5 p.m. protest outside the radio station's offices in North Raleigh.
Tom Norman , director of the N.C. Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation , said that reports about the broadcasts revealed dangerous ignorance of state law.
"I have talked to the G105 manager, who was not aware that it is legal to ride bicycles on the public roadways of North Carolina, that cycles are legally recognized as vehicles in North Carolina," Norman said. "Where do you draw the line? What is the distinction between humor and actually inciting or encouraging listeners to harass a group of people?"
Kenneth C. Spitzer, the station manager, declined to provide tapes or transcripts of the broadcasts to Norman or to a Capital Area transportation planning committee that discussed the controversy Tuesday.
In e-mail responses to several Triangle area residents who complained to the station, Spitzer said the "Bob and Madison " show aims to entertain listeners with "animated banter ... that can be both humorous and caustic." But he said some comments last week "went too far, and for that we sincerely apologize.
"Be assured that G105 does not advocate harm to cyclists," he wrote.
G105 is the third Clear Channel station to draw fire in the past four months for on-air comments perceived as advocating violence or animosity toward bicycle riders. Officials at WMJI in Cleveland and KLOL in Houston apologized in July and September for similar remarks. They agreed to broadcast "share the road" messages and to finance bicycle safety campaigns.
Leaders of the N.C. Bicycle Club outlined requests they said would help Clear Channel "mend relations with Triangle bicyclists," including similar public safety campaigns and a detailed apology.
Spitzer declined to comment. A corporate spokeswoman to whom inquiries were directed Tuesday did not return calls.
Members of area cycling clubs have shared copies over the past week of protest letters to the Federal Communications Commission, to state and local prosecutors and to G105 sponsors. Several critics noted that G105 radio hosts have sparked controversy in the past with crude stunts.
"It's one thing to drive around with a naked man on the radio station's van," said Raleigh lawyer Kimberly Bryan. "To encourage citizens to harm cyclists, that has crossed a different line. It's irresponsible. It's not caustic, it's not banter, it's not funny."
David Smith , 38, a software developer at UNC-Chapel Hill, took it personally. His right forearm still bears the scar of an attack by an Orange County motorist who found Smith cycling down a rural road one afternoon in April 2001.
"How are people going to take this, what was mentioned on G105?" Smith asked. "Are people going to say, 'You know, I'm tired of these cyclists?' Is that situation going to exacerbate what happened to me, with somebody else coming down a back road?"
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.
Staff writer Bruce Siceloff can be reached at 829-4527 or bsicelof@newsobserver.com.
Just curious, what is significant about this week?
There are bad drivers and cyclists both. We could do dueling attrocities of the road here, but the bottom line is, cyclists are not the cannon fodder of the roadway. We have the right to be in the traffic mix.
Automobiles are not the only vehicles out there. And I'm here to tell you, if someone want to do someone like me in with roadway Nazism, they better be sneaky, and they better be quick. I'm no victim, nor an easy target. If someone seriously tried to kill me with their car and corners me into the realm of emminent harm, they will discover the beauty of allowing citizens concealed weapons permits. And I like nice firearms almost as much as I like expensive bicycles and am a damn fine shot, especially under pressure.
Using a car as a weapon is a felony. Harassment of cyclists is a crime as well.
So the fact there are too damn meny autos on the road is frustrating for people like you. Scapegoat cyclists at your own risk.
Some years ago I remember riding my bicycle in the middle of nowhere. A pickup truck veered in and I got drenched in beer, and it drove off with laughter of cowards fleeing in the wind.
Seems the were heading off to a rodeo. Right along my way back to the main route to head back to the city. I found their pickup truck and left them a note, thanking them for the beer, and four value cores I unscrewed from their fancy tires. They were lucky I took pity and merely did that.
This guy at the Clear Channel station should be fired. Guess I am going to be busier then I thought today doing some calls and writing some E mail letters.
Bulls**t. I never advocated it. I stated that to point out that it is a possibility, with less responsible and more criminally-minded people.
Don't put words in my mouth. I don't know where your hands have been.
I've seen people do exactly this in cars, too. Fortunately the Phoenix urban area has several hundred miles of off-road paved trails.
I skate with a club group that includes some cyclists (small children being pulled in a bike trailer, etc.) Cyclists, having much larger wheels, can take some trails skaters can't, but there is one major problem - their wheels are inflated with air. When we do a long skate with cyclists, there is usually at least one flat-tire hold somewhere along the way. On one memorable run recently, three of our four cyclists blew tires.
Bicycles have been around for two hundred years. Can't they come up with a better system?
Fair enough. But over the course of this thread I've come to understand that you are not a militant bike freak who purposely slows down traffic.
If you were, I'd not be having this civil conversation with you.
You give them a little love-tap on their bumper to get 'em loose and when they put down the cell phone and glare into the mirror, you give them a little wave as you accelerate past.
Don't you know that bicyclists obey all traffic laws? How dare you post something like this?
NOT
We see this every day in Austin. I used to have a Chevy full sized pickup with the HUGH mirrors. Pulled as close to the curb as possible. Electric windows and cold water also tend to stop the bikers from passing on the right.
Bicycle Weenies are not at all interested in exercize.
Their sole interest is in disrupting others and looking sweet.
In fact, they spend thousands on the lightest, most effecient bikes and the slickest clothing, and the cutest pointy helmets, to reduce the effort they put out to as near zero as possible.
Exercize?
Bullshit.
I ride a bike for exercize.
It is an old 35 pound baloon tired "Paperboy Special". It has one speed.
When I ride I wear jeans and Doc Martins and a sweatchirt.
I am there to burn calories, not look sweet.
I ride on wide residential streets with low speed limits and little traffic.
Like possesion of spandex by men, riding on streets that actually go somewhere should be outlawed.
So9
I got some pathetic turds right here:
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