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FCC lets radio DJs lead public to violence
Regardless of what we think of Aunt Jemima or pancakes, what Stern said was likely less to be a public disservice than the comments last month of several radio personalities working at three Clear Channel Communications radio stations.
Clear Channel's resident morons in Cleveland, Raleigh, N.C., and Houston repeatedly have urged their listeners to harass and try to injure bicyclists during their daily commutes. This is a dangerously irresponsible line of so-called humor, considering the hard time bicyclists have negotiating traffic.
This nonsense started in June, after DJs at Raleigh's G105 FM asked listeners to call in with tales of harassing bicyclists. Five months later, the FCC has yet to impose a fine -- or, more appropriately, yank the licenses of the offending stations.
Pat McCormick isn't surprised. He's the spokesman for the League of American Bicyclists, which has 7,000 members. The 120-year-old organization has been busy sending letters and e-mails to FCC officials, Congress and to Clear Channel's bigwigs in hopes of reining in their on-air jokesters.
McCormick said after an Oct. 24 hearing near Raleigh, the FCC made it clear that what the Clear Channel DJs said did not result in a "clear and present danger." The DJs didn't incite violence against bicyclists, the FCC said, even though they asked for listener tales of tripping up cyclists with glass bottles and even running them down and not stopping.
The FCC wouldn't comment on the situation. That's too bad. Who wouldn't like to discuss logic with an organization that finds pancake jokes more of a threat to the American public than urging motorists to hurt defenseless bicyclists?
The feds hate potty talk, but they respect money -- something Clear Channel, the nation's biggest radio station owner, has plenty of. Bicyclists wield little influence.
McCormick will discuss the issue with Clear Channel officials. "We'd like to see a new policy that would control broadcasts, and we hope they'll teach DJs not to incite violence or harassment and not just for bicyclists, but all other members of the population," he said.
