Last night at my bike club's board meeting we had a guest presenter. I think he was the public relations person for 96rock (96.1 FM), one of the Clear Channel stations in Atlanta.
He said that his radio station, in conjuction with Guiness Beer, would be sponsering a ride in mid-March called the St. Practice Day ride and wanted us to help promote it in the cycling community.
He said all of the money raised (ride proceeds and a silent auction for LA autographed stuff, jerseys, a "green" Trek bike, etc.) would go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

He said his station would broadcast several public service announcements, 30 seconds each, promoting the event and saying positive things about cycling.


It sounds like Clear Channel got the message from all the people who wrote letters, sent emails, and telephoned about the comments made by some of the DJs last year about running down cyclists.

I hope this trend continues. There are too many negative things being said and printed about cyclists.


Anything like this happening in other parts of the country?

Not a peep here in Chicago- but I don't listen to every Clear Channel station either...

Koffee

https://www.forbes.com/work/newswire/...tr1139386.html - Clear Channel vows to work with cyclists in apology

Although I'm guessing that link (or a similar one has already been posted on this site somewhere). I haven't been around here lately and y'all rock about keeping up with issues.

Side note :: Hi Ron!

It is nice to see that they are being earnest about doing some good for cycling and making up for past wrongs. I'll have to give them credit for that.

I guess I'll have to promote them from Malevolent to Simply Evil, based on their recent good deeds. I still am very unhappy about the homogenization of American radio, and these folks are mostly to blame.

Dan

Here in Sioux City CCC is going to be the sole commercial radio station company that is promoting the bike in May that the Siouxland Trails Foundation is hosting. They will start the promorions March 1st and stop April 24th. We are getting about $10.000 worht of free promoting advertising.

The foundation & the ride wil be promoted on all 5 clear channel stations. Of the over 103,000 + people that live in the greater siouxland area 60,000 to 70,000 listen to one of the 5 CCC stations.

This would appear (to the cynical, like me!) to be nothing but damage control that's being done purely for fiscal reasons. I'm not impressed.

To my knowledge, just about everything done in business is purely for fiscal reasons. Thats it - the bottom line. Sometimes this is from a long-term perspective, sometimes a short-term view. But money is always THE consideration.

It is nice when fiscal reasons also seem to parallel the common good. Sometimes that happens!

I don't blame clear channel, their goal is to make as much money as possible, so they are doing their job. The real problem is deregulation of federal communications laws, and the poor taste of the average radio consumer.

And if they thought they could make more money bashing cyclists than promoting some cyling events, they would$$$$$$$$.

Yup, there is no question about that. However, giving Clearchannel credit for this parallel is my objection. C/C made a financial decision to do some damage control. This does not relieve them from the responsibility of allowing (and thus promoting) their DJs to advocate striking cyclists down with 3,000 pound automobiles.

The real credit goes to the cyclists who complained, and brought this issue to the front page. Without that, there would be no damage control, and there would be no bike ride to benefit the LAF.

Clearchannel has to do one heck of a lot more before I will forgive them, and listen to any of their stations again.

(hey, I said I was cynical!)

I could care less if they gave me a new Litespeed and sponsored by trip across the United States and paid for sag and steak and lobster every night.
I despise the network. I read the reviews of their music playlist. They are destroying American music with their censorship based on some kind of marketing strategy.
Tom Petty did not write the song 'Last DJ."which you will not hear on Clear Channel.. Some kind of marketing strategy lead their p++ poor dj's to say such inflamatory remarks and when they see they have some kind of rebellion on their hands, they need practice damage control...

Yes CC sins go much deeper than the cycling issue until I see that change maybe I 'll listen to their stations. But then again they make it easy here all their stations in this market are cr@p i

Cyclezealot, the CCC rock station here in Sioux City plays Tom Petty's song The Last DJ almost every day. It's a favorite among the listeners here.

The anti-cycling broadcasts were not the only ones that caused them trouble:

https://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,109644,00.html

Interesting ... c/c can do broadcasts enciting the killing of cyclists, and walk with no more consequence than having a few cyclists mad @ them. However, if they produce a show that (in the FCC's own words):

The segments included graphic discussions about sex and drugs that were "designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners."

they get $755k fine imposed. I mean, which is worse**********

NC...There a web sites dedicated to CCC...Our San Diego stations do not play Last DJ...Like to sit down and talk to Petty about CCC..Bet he receives satelite radio in his car...

For the critics of the Clear Channel responses, I ask, "what do you want from them?"

I think that the bicycle community accomplished it's aim of convincing a major communications corporation to be sensitive to bicycle issues and to stop promoting violence against bicyclists.

They made public apologies.

They are donating money, air time, and resources to promoting bicycling.

If you expect the folks at Clear Channels to slit their wrists over this, forget it.

I think that the bicycling community and Clear Channel have made progress together on this issue.

when they sell off about 900 of their monopolistic stations, re-staff their studios with live, talented dj's, not centralize musical offerings, allow diverse music and news offerings, re-hire the thousands they have laid off, tone down the boisterous shouting that passes for dj's; then I will consider listening.
Anyone see Michael Powell visited their centralized offices in Memphis, is it.?
Talk about conflict of interest..Golden plum there...
The taste less attack on cyclists is only a part of my hatred of CCC. Soon, they will find their next victim to sensationalize.
Lots of information on the web about how they limit our access to news, music,entertainment..We need all be informed about their operation.

I never ever listen to the tripe that passes for entertainment on any of the CCC stations in my area. It helps that I like talented musicians who generally write at least some of their own music, and sound good even if they do an acoustic set. Since CCC never plays that kind of music it's easy not to listen. I won't even talk about the DJs with their sophmoric potty humor. Used to be that people recognized highly produced, highly marketed bands for what they were, marketing exercises (think Monkees). I'm not saying that every once in a while a catchy tune didn't accidentally come out of the mix, but let's face it; Without a marketing whiz behind them, you would never hear from many of the biggest musical acts of today. CCC is just a symptom of a greater ill. It goes hand in hand with Star Search and American Idol and Next Model of whatever the heck they call that show. Not only have the marketers figured out how to manufacture stars, they've now figured out how to make the whole process of picking the lucky ones a money maker as well. True talent will rise to the top without all these clowns. Public radio offers a valid choice, and I urge you to check your station out. Usually there are shows for any particular genre, so just about everyone should be able to find something that pleases them.

I hail from South East Michigan..Last Fall I was there.I tried finding adult alternative station..Was there one at 98.8? ANy good.? Rest of dial was crap.
Remember the old days of Baby! on the Riff. Detroit used to have innovative radio..No more? Hope WDET is still an option? Detroit used to be in the running for the home of the Rock and Roll museum...
I doubt CCC would even make room for Motown. God, at least we can hope we can pin music such as 'boy bands' on some force such as CCC, instead of thinking such crap is American music.!

CZ, there was, for a while, a Canadian channel around 96 on the dial who had a DJ named Ann DeLisi who did a fantastic show with a lot of great adult contemporary music on that you never heard anywhere else. Half my music collection was purchased due to music I heard there. WDET is still a great option, I listen through the work day to the wide variety they play. They also have some great shows during the weekends. Yeah, I remember WRIF, and the D.R.E.A.D. card I used to carry, along with the big comb in my back pocket. The rock and roll I used to listen to exclusively is still played on 94.7, the classic rock station, which I still tune into now and then...

Ann DeLisi is still on 96.3. She has a show on at 9-11am on Sunday mornings called New Adventures in Hi-Fi. It is one of the bright spots on the dial. I listen to it when I am running sometimes.

Now if I could just find Peter Werbe ....

Dan

For starters, I would want all the DJs involved fired. The sad fact is that it's too late for this move now. If CC management were really interested in fixing this problem, they would have sent a REAL message out. That message would have been swift, and obvious. Firing all involved would have been a good first step in getting that message across.

You're joking, right? CC has not been convinced of anything short of the fact that some damage control must be done in order to shut up a few vocal cyclists. This sort of thing can and will happen again unless REAL measures are taken. Instead, CC does a few token moves in order to placate us. It’s simply a case of TO LITTLE – TOO LATE.

Mike,

I am not as harsh as some of the people here I am happy with the DJ's be reprimanded. However CC's actions run much deeper than this issue and have stirred up many other problems in many different areas. There response to the cycling issue only came about not because we put pressure on them that didn't work. It only came about when we put pressure on their sponsors. And s far as I have seen there actions are just what bac said, token and until I see a more responsible management of the company I will continue to not listen to their stations.

They made number 5 on the list:

https://www.business2.com/b2/web/dumbest/1

Support community radio--we're near Portland, OR, and are thoroughly spoiled by classical 89.9 and eclectic 90.7. 90.7 aka KBOO even has a bicycling show once a month. Yes, we support both.