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.
This whole thing is a bunch of BS. There are good and bad car drivers, truck drivers, bike riders, motorcyclists, pedestrians and joggers.
Jerks usually get what's coming to them. Everyone needs to take a deep breath and start to practice defensive driving, walking, jogging, biking etc and if it costs a few minutes, Oh well.
Why should I suffer the inflation and economic hardship from all the money going out to buy oil keeping import/export balance of trade deficits in rosey red ink?
Oil addiction has dep denial to it, as you show here. We should have a twelve step program for folks like you. Get help, it's not too late to stop feeding dollars to Arabs making America weaker.
If there were less tootsieroll pops on the road - macho hard auto steel on the outside, soft swishy out of shape fatty on the inside behind the wheel - health care costs would be lower.
Get a clue - or at least buy a vowel - about the real trgedy of dollars and capital regarding cars and bikes.
Then you owe me either an apology, or satisfaction, because you have gone way too far.
So9
So, are you supporting Arianna and Dean?
After all, you just spouted their party line.
So9
Oh, c'mon. Give him satisfaction!
I never said I hit them, just a little bump.
Best stay in Minisooota where men will put up with anything bubba, cause in the South, giving the lie direct will still get ya killed.
So9
It reminded me of this.
I had done nothing and didn't know him. At the yell I got out of the saddle and reflexively sprinted. I could feel the itch of the presence of his fingers reaching for my back as my classic Raleigh International and I pulled away.
He was in the envelope of trashing your average cyclist on a Schwinn Varsi-tank, (Heavy Chicago made Varsity model, the model-T of Schwinns) but not of someone in shape on a decent ride.
He trew a 'smiley' at me that whistled by my brain housing group. (Smiley - A mock wallet made up of weights used as a sap by punkers).
He was new to town, and suddenly found life in Eugene hard to deal with. When he got his rancid butt fleeing, he had police and some other formitable cyclists making life "fun" for him for his trouble.
I hadn't been the only cyclist he had used as a scapegoat for his frustrations, but I was the best one at marshalling action against him.
And I am very proud about it too.
I can see that your testicles have joined Lance Armstrongs in a jar of formalin. That's what cycle seats will do for ya.
SO9
Did I get banned for telling the truth?
Yes.
That is something you will never have to worry about.
So9
1000 in the morning: the streets fill with enormous cadillacs with no apparent driver creeping along from crossroad to intersection.
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