Mar 21 '06 - 1022 W, 1 I - Vote Good + 13 :: Bad - 11 Local Shock Jock Wants To Make Cyclist a Hood Ornament
Published March 22nd by C.I.C.L.E.
By Patricia Benetar: USA
New Update as of April 3rd Regarding Farmers...it's good news!
A few years ago several shock jocks for Clear Channel stations tried to drum up ratings by advocating violence against cyclists on the roadway. The ratings may have been boosted for a while, but this programming also lead to on-air apologies, suspensions, terminations, and FCC inquiries. Now a local shock jock in San Diego seems to think he can play it up as well.
Rick Roberts Morning show Monday through Friday from 6am to 10 am on 760 KFMB AM San Diego, says that cyclists are responsible for 90% of all accidents that occur between a cyclist and a car. His main beef seems to be with lawless cyclists that ride two or more abreast on the roadway, and also takes issue with their clothing. He refers to cyclist shorts as 'panties', mocks cyclists as being Lance Wannabes, and hurls various other insults -- some having to do with sexual identity. When confronted with a letter from a listener who happens to be a cyclist, he had this to say repeatedly...
"I want you...I want you as my hood ornament."
We support Mr. Roberts right to free speech, even if we may disagree with some or much of what he has to say. We don't support commentary that promotes violence against any person, even if it's in supposed jest...no matter how much they may irritate someone.
Mr. Roberts may not be going as far as other shock jocks in the past, but he is beginning to push the boundaries -- possibly encouraging violence and/or intimidation against cyclists. Mr. Roberts is a public personality with a large and supportive audience. We don't want any one of his audience members being influenced to harass, threaten or intimidate cyclists as a result of his commentary.
Here's another comment by Rick
"That little lane over there, that “scootchy one” that’s yours, the other one’s mine and I’m going to use every bit of it Jack, so stay in yours and I’ll stay in mine. Y’know you never want to run into a bicyclist, number one it’ll dent your car, crack your windshield, you never know. You may get home and find one of these little bumblebees is hanging onto your bumper then you gotta take them all the way back to their bicycle. Y’know I hate it when that happens."
Slow Twitch Forums as well as Bike Forums have been teaming with comments about the show, and it looks like some heat is being generated towards the stations sponsors and management. Check out the forums, some are suggesting to target Farmers Insurance, Pearson Ford and a few other key sponsors.
We will continue to monitor the show and put links to podcasts that relate to this subject.
Also here are the podcast links to his other dimwitted broadcasts following his initial foray into the anti-cycling rants for ratings gain on March 17th.
March 20th
Second Hour Podcast
Third Hour Podcast
Fouth Hour Podcast
March 21st
First Hour Podcasts
Fourth Hour Podcast
March 22nd
Fourth Hour Podcast
March 23rd
Third Hour Podcast >>2 thirds down the bar
Forth Hour Podcast
March 24th
Rick's off the topic today.
March 27th
No mention...Looks like the station is keeping him hushed up
Here are some suggestions if you want to get involved.
1) For starters make sure to listen to all of the broadcasts listed above to inform yourself (Mr. Roberts has threatened to sue one cyclist for slander for stating that Mr. Roberts advocated violence against cyclists).
2) Write the stations involved and let them know that you do not approve of the broadcast content. Let them know that you will inform their advertisers as well. (Contact information is provided at the end of this article.) You can also demand a public apology from Mr. Roberts to be read on air during his broadcast.
3) You can also write the FCC and tell them that when the station renews its license, that you expect the FCC to actually review the station's conduct, rather than fast-track the licensing renewal process like it usually does.
Make sure and tell the station's management that you are planning on contacting the FCC.
Tracy Johnson
Vice President / Gen. Mgr.
760 KFMB AM
7677 Engineer Road
San Diego, California 92111
(858) 495-7525
Rick Roberts
1-800-760-5362
rickroberts@kfmb.com
FCC
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Complaints
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Email: the FCC
General Complaint Form
Here are a few of the shows sponsors, if you would like to contact them and tell them how you feel about their advertising on his show as well as a complete list of the stations advertisers.
Full List of Advertisers
Some of the advertisers that use Rick as a spoksperson.
Pearson Ford
(800) 608-2657
pearsonford@earthlink.net
Cingular
888-333-6651
Purina
1-888-606-BARK
ONLINE advertisers on Rick's Page
Arthur Bradly Design
Phone: 619-640-1410
Fax: 619-640-1406
Email: info@arthurbradleydesign.com
Point Loma Credit Union
(858) 495-3400
Toll-Free: (888) 495-3400
Fax Number: (858) 495-3416
Email: infocntr@plcu.com
RCP Block & Brick
8240 Broadway
Lemon Grove, CA 91945
Ph: (619) 460-7250
Fx: (619) 460-3926
Email: sales@rcpblock.com
ZeroRez
Corporate Toll Free: 1-866-667-6277
Corporate email (Kristy): kbarlow@zeroresidue.com
Local Toll free: 1-866-937-6739
Hi-Tech Termite Control
Los Angeles County: 1-888-269-9992
Orange County: 1-800-291-3019
San Diego County: 1-888-869-9992
E-mail: sales@hi-techtermitecontrol.com
CarSoup
1401 American Blvd. E. #6
Bloomington, MN 55425
Email: help@carsoup.com
Phone: 952-487-9904
Toll Free: 1-866-768-7411
Fax: 952-707-1295
Would you like to contribute to C.I.C.L.E.? Do you a have bike-related article, news story, event, idea, suggestion, etc...? Check out our submissions page.
Reply written by Kathy Keehan, the Executive Director of San Diego County Bicycle Coalition can be found at:
http://www.bikeleague.org/news/pdfs/0324..
Hi Rick, I got a chance to listen to a podcast of the 3/20 show. I have to say some of it drove me crazy, and some of it made sense. First, thanks for quoting the ChainGuard. Any press is good press, right? Too bad you didn’t give me a call during the show – I would have loved to bring a cyclist perspective to the discussion. In the future, if you have any questions about bicycling, I’d be happy to try to answer them. Even the ones about why folks shave their legs or wear those funny clothes.
There were a couple of things that you got right. We should all be ‘anti-idiot’. Bicyclists who demand the same rights to the road have to follow the same rules. That means stopping at stop signs and red lights. It means riding on the right side of the road, yielding when you’re supposed to, paying attention, and following traffic laws. You’re right that the laws are for everyone and we should all be following them. The trick is that most people don’t know very much about laws regarding cycling. For example, it turns out that riding on the sidewalk is also against the law in many areas. And that even roads without bike lanes are open for bicyclist use. And we’re supposed to turn left from the left hand side of the road or the left turn pocket, just like motor traffic. Sometimes where there isn’t enough room in the lane to share and there’s no bike lane, we have to ride in the middle until there’s room ahead to pull over so motorists can pass safely instead of squeezing us off the road. I think the biggest thing to remember is that the people out there riding and driving are just that – people. One third of the people in San Diego County rode a bike in the last six months. The people out there on bikes are people you know. Your co-workers. Your dentist. Your kids’ teacher. Your neighbors. Maybe even people you like. 
It isn’t a good idea to encourage your listeners to use them as hood ornaments. At the Coalition we teach classes for bicyclists (and motorists) about how to ride safely and comfortably in traffic and share the road with cars. We can’t reach everyone, but we’re giving it a shot. I’d be happy to save a spot for you if you’re interested in learning more. One thing I did want to mention is that one of the callers stated that bicyclists ‘don’t pay a cent’ for road maintenance. Turns out we pay quite a few cents to maintain the roads here in San Diego and elsewhere. In San Diego, at least, everyone pays 1/2 a cent in sales tax to take care of old roads and build new ones. So even if you don’t drive, you pay. The story is the same at the state and federal level – gas taxes pay for part of the road system, but regular sales taxes and income taxes pay for a big chunk of the road building and maintenance, too. And, of course, most cyclists also own cars, so we pay gas tax too. I wish I knew what to tell you about big groups of cyclists. Our member clubs do their best to teach responsible riding. And I think they do apretty good job of it most of the time. Of course, just like the AAA can’t get every single automobile driver to drive responsibly, the Bike Coalition can’t get every single bicyclist to ride responsibly. But we’ll keep trying. Kathy—————————————————- Kathy Keehan Executive Director San Diego County Bicycle Coalition P.O. Box 34544 San Diego, CA 92163 858.487.6063 execdir@sdcbc.org
bikeleague.org (Email) (URL) - March 24 '06 - 23:25
Well said! Thank you.Liz (Email) (URL) - March 27 '06 - 12:38
Excellent! I hope Kathy gets on the show! We need both perspectives! Kudos to Kathy!Keep Cycling,
Jeff
Jeff (Email) - March 30 '06 - 15:15