My wife say this on the Carolina Hurricanes’ forum.
Karma is a beautiful thing, it just takes a while sometimes…
Jim
Radio show, ads pulled after bicycle brouhaha
By BRUCE SICELOFF, Staff Writer
Two Raleigh businesses said Thursday that they were pulling their advertising dollars from radio station WDCG-FM, G105, and morning listeners were told that the “Bob and Madison Show” had been suspended.
The station drew criticism from bicycling enthusiasts across the Triangle for broadcasts last week in which host Bob Dumas found humor in stories about motorists who assault cyclists or run them down with their automobiles.
Station officials said they would produce a series of bicycle-safety messages to help make amends. Critics complained again Wednesday after the program aired a spoof on such messages instead.
Capital Ford said it had ended its sponsorship of the station’s morning show and weather updates until further notice. In a brief statement on its Web site, the auto dealer said it “values all members of our community, including cyclists, and we do not support any form of such discussed violence.”
Tom F. Valone, owner of Great Outdoor Provision Co., said he terminated a three-day ad campaign promoting a weekend sale after learning from cyclists that the station had aired “nasty comments made toward cyclists.” He said station manager Kenneth Spitzer had apologized and had told him he hoped something positive eventually would come from the controversy.
“My thought is that we should never get to the point of getting things done by being offensive and advocating bodily harm to innocent people,” Valone said. He said the cancellation involved probably “a couple thousand dollars” in advertising.
“I have never canceled ads before” in the 30-year history of the seven-store chain, Valone said. “I did ask our media buyer to G105 about two years ago because they were making really obscene, in my mind, sexist and racist comments, and I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
Dumas, Spitzer and representatives of G105’s corporate owner, Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, did not respond to requests for comment.
Emily S. Parks, Capital Ford’s marketing director, said she was waiting to see how G105 would respond to the controversy. “We put a high priority on the safety of people in our community,” Parks said. She declined to characterize the value of Capital Ford’s canceled ads.
A G105 station official told listeners Thursday morning that the “Bob and Madison Show” had been suspended after the cyclist comments, “intended to be humorous,” offended “many in the cycling community.”
“To anyone who found these comments offensive, G105 is truly sorry, and we apologize,” the statement said. It added that the station planned a campaign “to educate the public on cycling safety and road rules.”
No information was offered about actions against employees, but a G105 receptionist said Dumas “has been suspended indefinitely.”
A news release spoke only in terms of the program itself. Without explanation, it cited “actions taken that were in direct violation of instructions from the station’s management.”
Steven G. Goodridge of Cary, an electrical engineer who is vice president of the N.C. Bicycle Club, said Wednesday’s broadcast was a setback in negotiations between cyclists and the radio station. Spitzer had begun talking about producing and broadcasting a series of cycling-safety messages, Goodridge said.
“The trouble was, he sort of promised this on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday the radio show in the morning aired a fake or a mockery of a public service announcement,” Goodridge said. “As far as the timing goes, that was very insulting.”