RE: Local radio station slams bikes being on the road

Jonathan C. Puskas

2006-02-02



Here's the response I received (I was called "foolish"

because I responded to a story I hadn't heard):



Actually, I think anyone making a judgement without

all the facts is

foolish. But I will respect your opinion and thank

you for taking the

time to write.



   "Puskas, Jonathan C" <jonathan.-@intel.com>

02/02/06 3:15 PM

   

Mr. McHugh,



No.



I was riding my bike to work during the morning

commute (from Lake

Oswego to Hillsboro).



I consider Steve to be a reasonable person (I'm his

personal cycling

coach) so I'll take his word at face value.



I responded in unity with my fellow cyclists. These

types of

occurrences have become all-too-frequent from radio

"personalities" so

it doesn't surprise me.



Regardless of whether I heard it live or not, it IS

unacceptable

behavior.



You can call it besmirched, but candidly, the average

morning show has

done that to themselves enough times that you don't

exactly hold the

moral high ground.



Cheers,

Jonathan C. Puskas







-----Original Message-----

From: Jeff McHugh [mailto:jmch-@entercom.com]

Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 3:04 PM

To: Puskas, Jonathan C

Subject: Re: Unacceptable behavior on the air



Mr. Puskas,



Thank you for your note. I am concerned that our

station has been

besmirched in a very reactionary and irresponsible

way. Let me tell

you

our side of the story;



I recieved precisely one complaint call about this

supposedly aired

segment. By the time I had the opportunity to respond

to this

person's

call, they had already posted a negative about our

morning show on a

bicycling discussion board. Then, when I talked to

him, this person

admitted that he had not heard the comments himself,

but had been told

about them second hand, and could not tell me when the

comments aired.



This person said that they would try to find out when

the segment

aired, so I could investigate further and respond

appropriately, as I

do

with all complaints about our programming. But up to

now, I have not

been given that opportunity.



Did you hear these comments yourself? Can you tell me

when they were

aired?



Jeff McHugh

Program Director

1051 The Buzz





   "Puskas, Jonathan C" <jonathan.-@intel.com>

02/02/06 1:51

PM

   

Dear M. McHugh, M. Clarke, and M. Hubert:



The comments and behavior of at least two of your

employees (Terry and

Nelson) is unacceptable.



As public figures, they have recently used their

positions to support

negative stereotypes of cyclists as well as implicitly

supporting

hostile behaviors by motorists toward cyclists. This

is irresponsible

and cannot be tolerated.



In a nation where more than 60% of our citizens are

overweight or

obese,

it is a National imperative that we provide positive

support for

healthy

choices which are also environmentally sound (you'll

note the

President

Bush made references to Environmental and Health Care

needs in his

State

of the Union earlier this week).



I find it hard to believe that Entercom Communications

and its

advertisers would want to be branded as anti-health

and

anti-environment

in the Portland Metropolitan area at a time when these

are clearly

National priorities.



Cheers,

Jonathan C. Puskas







Jonathan C. Puskas



Strategic Platform Planner



Digital Health Group



Personal Health Platforms



Office: (503) 456-5267

Cell: (503) 706-3598



Home: (503) 635-7013

Email: jonathan.-@intel.com

<mailto:jonathan.-@intel.com>









The man who can drive himself further once the effort

gets painful is

the man who will win.

Roger Bannister

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rogerbanni140368.html>











--- "Long, Steve" <Steve-@clark.wa.gov> wrote:



 I'm waiting to see what the station mananger, Jeff

McHugh, comes up

with. He's going to try and dig up the segment in

which this happened

(and listen to it) so we can discuss it further. He

finally returned my

phone call today. So this is good right?



-----Original Message-----

From: Joe Cipale [mailto:jo-@aracnet.com]

Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:26 PM

To: Long, Steve

Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Local radio station slams

bikes being on the

road



Steve,



Might I suggest you contact the following as well:

Stephanie Strickland/Reporter KGW (A former next

door neighbor and good

friends with Matt Zafino and Dave Zalesky: Both avid

cyclists)



Go to the KGW website and you can find her email

address. She can put

the story in the hands of its rightful owner. They

went after the

dumb-asses who made fun of the mental-handicapped

that these ignominous

clusters ridiculed in the name of 'good fun'.



Isnt it funny how people like this are the ones who

are looked up to?



Joe



Long, Steve wrote:



 Hello gang,

I'm sorry to say that yesterday morning, 105.1 The

Buzz, joined in

 with a caller that was complaining about bicycles

being on any road

 without a bike lane. Our good buddy, Nelson, seems

to think that

 anything without a motor in it has no place on the

road and that

 cyclists should be forced to take a taxi to their

place of riding,

 indoors, and take a taxi back home again. And,

good old Terry had to

 agree with the caller too because, once when he

was pulling his boat

 out of the water with his Ford Excursion, and

there was a bike in the



 way and it slowed him down a little.



I called them to discuss it a little this morning

and they were so

 rude that I couldn't believe it. Josh answered the

phone and he was

 just about as rude as could be, not even wanting

to give me the time

of day.

 

Yesterday, I called the Program Director of The

Buzz, Jeff McHugh and

 he never even returned my call.



In this day and age, in this City of Portland, and

its Metropolitan

 region, that has been labeled the friendliest

cycling city in America,



 and when on this very day, there's a front page

article in the

 Oregonian discussing a, nearly 2 million dollar,

add campaign targeted



 at reducing the Portland Metropolitan Area's

traffic congestion, it

 seems, whole heartedly, irresponsible and bad

citizenship for a public



 entity as popular as the Buzz to behave in this

manner.

 

If any of you cares to join me in letting the Buzz

and Entercom, for

 that matter, know much the Metropolitan region

disapproves of this

 behavior, here are some helpful names and e-mail

addresses:

 Program director for the Buzz:

Jeff Mchugh

jmch-@entercom.com



Sales Manager:

Brian Lee

bl-@entercom.com



Above these two on the food chain are:

Jeff Clarke

jcla-@entercom.com

And

Erin Hubert

ehub-@entercom.com



Some of the companies that advertise with the Buzz

are Wells Fargo The



 Shane Company Safeway Allstate Les Schwab

PureRomance.com KATU

 Mattress World



Perhaps we could also let their advertisers know

how much we

 disapprove of this behavior and that we take

notice of companies that

support it.

 Just a thought gang. I hope some of you join me.



Steve Long

NRR



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Jonathan C. Puskas

159 Fifth Street

Lake Oswego, OR 97034

impu-@yahoo.com



"If you're gonna charge...charge hard!"



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