Lars trashing bicycles/cyclists

In addition to calling in, perhaps people should write down the names of the businesses who sponsor Lars' little show. Especially the ones which are local. People will have the option of not buying their products, and contacting them to let them know exactly why. Multi-national corporations are a lot harder to affect, but we've got the potential to wipe out Lars' local business base.

love you guys. you help me build ratings. send more love soon please
Lars

Lars,

None of us really care that you "build ratings" among your already brainwashed constituency - those in the trailer-parks and barn-yards of Oregon. Those mindless people are beyond help.

Our single-minded purpose is to put you out of business.

All our best!

BilBo

PS: You constantly talk about your weight problem. Getting your fat @ss on a bike evey once in a while might help. Plus, shutting down you gas-guzzling Dodge Durango will help keep us out of wars-of-oil in the future.

Hates bicycles and cyclist and evrything they stand for.

There's a reason they call them "Shock Jocks". And all you're doing is making his money for him by calling in and jamming his lines.

If you want to hurt him, hit him were it counts; his wallet. Go after his sponsors, his stations and whatever products he does support. Let these companies know why you're not purchasing their products.

It's not a speedy solution, but it will put the crunch on.

Also, don't just post it on here. Alert the regular media as well, contact bike shops and cyclists. Get everyone involved.

"None of us really care that you 'build ratings' among your already brainwashed constituency - those in the trailer-parks and barn-yards of Oregon. Those mindless people are beyond help. "

bilbo, sounds like you're a little bit of an elitist, huh? spend too much time in graduate school?

Include most of the business owners and executives in the Northwest. That would be the folks that provide jobs. You unwashed, unemployed anarchists wouldn't be familiar with that concept. Since the combined buying power of all your Oregon Trail cards and beer can returns doesn't amount to squat, I really don't think your economic boycott is going to hurt Lars or his sponsors.

Who is Oregon's adamant voice of hatred? Who is our loud and belligerent shout of racism, of ignorance, of war and imperialism? Who speaks articulately of no-nothing governance and lovingly describes corporate crime - five days a week at 50,000 watts?

You bet - it's Lars Larson. On billionaire Paul Allen's KXL radio, via something called Rose City Radio Corporation, owned by Charter Communications, owned by Vulcan Spectrum.

Progressives typically ignore a bully. Just don't play with the bully and he'll get lonely for attention and mend his ways. That's what Momma said. Meanwhile you got pounded on the playground. Well, she was wrong. Terribly wrong. You knew she was wrong at the time. She's still wrong and if you think that by ignoring bullies - even if they're just on old AM radio and you can just drift back down the dial to country bluegrass on KBOO - they'll get lonely and change their ways - you're not progressive. You're just dumb. And dumb is almost never progressive.

We tolerated Lyndon Johnson because we knew he was a bully. And he was our bully. We loved Bill Clinton because we knew he could stick the knife in AND twist it. It's our great disappointment (whattya call it? Lost opportunity?) that he didn't act like a bully more often. It's not that we don't have and tolerate and enjoy bullies - it's just that we don't have enough of them. Jesse Jackson? A self marginalized man. Mario Cuomo? He's out of the game. Very out. James Carville? A Demo operative. Ralph Nadar? Our hero who very all very very angry with and not talking to right now. Locally? There is no one. And no one is stepping up. Total Awareness Network is, without actually lifting a finger, completely successful and forcing anonymity into the left's political process. Craig Rosenthal is the luckiest man in America. Tre Arrow is on the run.

Lars is a bully with a pulpit. KXL radio, is owned by Charter Communications, owned by Vulcan Spectrum, owned by billionaire Paul Allen. Allen also owns those paragons of youthful virtue, the Portland Trailblazers, and his radio station proudly broadcasts racist hatemonger Michael Savage, dishonest, derisive and dull Laura Ingraham, and model bully Bill O'Reilly in a chorus of no-nothing politic. 50,000 watts and, if managed like the Blazers, an unlimited budget, makes for a loud loud voice in our democratic community. To be fair - KBOO has a handful of transmitters spread all over the state that provides them with similar wattage. Other radio alternatives in Oregon, such as college radio, or public broadcasting, are pathetic.

Get a little more informed about this tool of the right by reading Al Franken's book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." That about sums it up.

Lars has enormous community support. You don't think so? A major blindness for progressives is their inability to count. Joe Uris has been slaving away at KBOO for over a decade with marginal results. Lars has both the moxie and the listeners.

Do I listen to Lars? Rarely. I listened a couple of times in order to write this primer. Why don't I? There so much better material to listen to. But mostly I am concerned that somehow, by associating with a dog with fleas, I might in more pleasant company use one of Lars' examples or arguments and be revealed as a shallow fool. My pride would suffer.

The internet is a beautiful thing. One of it's most beautiful qualities is it enables you to not have to listen to Portland radio any longer. At the bottom of this article are a half a dozen URLs for excellent, high-quality talk and issues radio. Tune in and don't miss a beat.

Here they are:

· Amy Goodman should be considered for a Peabody for her valiant work as a broadcast and internet radio host of Democracy Now! Five days a week at  http://www.democracynow.org/

· Through WebActive -  http://www.webactive.com/body.html - you can listen to Amy, and also to Pacifica's Peacewatch, Working Assets Radio with Laura Flanders, Free Speech Radio News, and FAIR's CounterSpin.

· AM talk giant KGO from San Francisco broadcasts Bernie Ward from 10 - 12 weeknights, and leftside rant-artist Ray Tallifero from 12 to 5 AM. Both are smart smart smart. (You can hear a bit of Ray on Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life In The Bush of Ghosts "America is Waiting").

I'll type about monkeywrenching a little later.

General advice whispered in round-eyed politicos is to stay away from opportunities to act like, or with, an idiot. If you've been invited to appear on the Lars Larson show - think twice. Who is advantaged by this event?

You think you are. You'll get the message out. Lars' producer has talked to you. He explained you'd have twenty minutes, take a few calls with Lars, and potentially reach a million people through the immense power of those 50,000 watts. The potential of your message being finally heard by all those people! You can't say no to potential! You're in the headlights. Damn.

Frankly, Lars isn't thinking about you. He's thinking about creating just one thing - good radio. Good radio means conflict. Good radio means confrontation. Good radio means just what we wanted from Johnson and Clinton - an overt display of bullying. Guess who he is planning to bully?

Not little old me, you say, my message is pure and righteous. Ha ha.

But sometimes you understanding your fate, you have insight for some reason, know what is happening to you - you're no media fool. But fate or your Board or your sponsor or someone who pulls your strings is saying those foolish words - don't say no to potential! You do it! Okay sometime that happens and you've got to go on Lars Larson. I am writing for you. If you think this will never happen to you, please please clip out this article for later. It might.

So now what? There's a crisis and you care mightily about it. You care so much you're willing to be an advocate, to be a voice in the darkness, willing to educate, willing to put in the long hours and manage the frustrations. How does it go? How will you manage this encounter?

Quite well you think to yourself. You're smart. You were on the high school debate team. You went to law school and read Plato. Your mother, who was so wrong, loves you. Whatever. Guess what. These are good indicators you're willing and therefore a sucker. It's okay. You have company. But you're enlightened. It's good to be aware of your circumstance. Just keep this mantra, "I am a sucker. I am a sucker. I am a sucker."

You've made a mistake. You're acting on the impression that Laws is, A) fair, B) reasonable, C) human. Actually he's none of the above - not fair, not reasonable, and not human.

I won't recite Lars the human's history. This was recently listed in WW. I am more interested in tactics.

Remember the debate team? Okay, here we go.

In a forensic debate there is a judge, or judges, a timekeeper, a rulebook, and two debaters. Both debaters are equally unprepared. They know the rules, but not the subject, which is given to them by a judge prior to the time beginning. The Lars Larson show is the same but much different.

1. High school debate team was a game. Not for some geeks, but for most of us it was a game, a challenge, but surrounded with glee and pep and all that other good stifled hormone stuff. Lars will provide the same jiggling hormone, same athematics, same goofy grin and bear it. But very much - it's not a game. You're in the land of the geeks who don't tell the difference. YOUR DISADVANTAGE.

2. Lars is the timekeeper. Only Lars, and his producer, can see the clock that orders the progress of the show. They use this to their advantage because only they know when ads and news and bumpers will run. They can adjust the pace of the program as they like. You can't. If you suddenly need to pee or someone bardies into your office or the oxygen starts to slip out of your brain, you can't stop the clock and take a break. They play an ad just to light a cigar. YOUR DISADVANTAGE.

3. Lars is a tricky debater - not a smart one. Watch out for interruptions. If he interrupts you, or if he allows a caller to interrupt you, quickly say, "Lars, I appreciate your freedom of speech and you must appreciate and protect my freedom to speak by not interrupting me." Lars makes comparisons that are inadequate. He'll make them quickly, and often with some humor attached. If his comparison is invalid, say, "Lars, you've made an invalid comparison between X and Y. Can you think of a comparison which is more accurate?" Lars uses

Even though he's not smart, he's also not dumb. He'll challenge you to cite your facts. He'll push the dialogue in a direction you may not have expected it to go. Get your facts straight. Don't freelance it. Get ready.

4. Lars and his producer control the volume and the audio quality of the show - and importantly for your potential message - your audio quality. Lars always sounds clear and constant. You can sound as shitty as he likes, like a cell phone handed down from Stan Bunn, a tin can on a cord. YOUR DISADVANTAGE.

5. Lars is the judge of the debate in three important ways.

a. He selects the subject. Since this is you and you've been charmed so you're probably unconscious you've been selected.
b. He holds the mute button.

6. It's his crib. The show is fairly unlisteneable so imagine who's listening. It's a cultivated crowd of bored office workers, disaffected small business owners, political geeks and retirees. The usual mix of AM daytime talk radio listeners. Many of these folks just hang out waiting to see someone be made a fool of. By the way, that's you if you haven't been paying attention. Its very unusual callers bring any controversy to the program. They typically back Lars up and agree with everything he says. This makes for boring radio, and Lars hasn't been able to attract true conversation - which is often more interesting than hubris. But since listeners can be relied on the back Lars, they can also be relied on to give you a bad time. Here are a few rules which need breaking:
a. Don't belittle callers. The magic of radio relies on a convivial and respectful relationship between callers and whosever on the radio.
b. Don't ask the caller a personal question. They love anonymity and will be considerably put off if you ask for their last name and address.

7. Bombast. Lars is Lars all the time. He can throw with all his weight and might everyday. You probably have multiple audiences you are presenting to - and if you used the same language and tactics Lars uses, your appearance on the Lars Larson program would be out of character and perhaps even offensive to your allies.

8. Ask the producer to record the program for you and send you the tape. Follow up and make sure you get it.


Monkeywrenching

Now I believe in free speech and I don't think Lars is so effective at spreading lies and deceit that he merits censorship. No, in fact I think he posits considerable good striking fear into the spirits of public do-gooders. They need a fury watching over them. So I am providing this information half-heartedly -

1. DON'T BE GOOD RADIO. Be bland. Be boring. Be repetitive. This is a good idea. Get two or three points you want to say. Write them down. Keep repeating them over an over.

Ask Lars to define his terms. Ask his to illustrate his point with an example. Ask him for references and citations. If you need a break, tell him you have to take another, more important call. Then put him and KXL on hold. Don't rise to the bait.

2. If you get Lars off format most of his offensive weaponry evaporates. Invite him to take a tour of your facility. Invite him to meet with your Board - at a Board meeting with your Board's agenda and parliamentary procedure. Invite him to debate you in front of an audience of academics or students or anyone but his own audience.

Interesting - Peter Jennings spoke in Clackamas County a few months ago. Lars popped up at the mike and somehow forgot he wasn't in the protective cocoon of KXL. He got, according to news reports, a polite, "shut up and sit down."

3. Use a non-Lars structure. Break up his rhythm. Ask for an in-studio interview. This takes some of the audio alchemy away. Ask his producer to give you a copy of the show's script - with all the clock times for ads, news, bumpers and cutaways.

4. Organize your own callers. You'll need to prep them prior to the show. Get them to call in (get them the telephone number, the name of the host and the producer, and the exact time you want them to call in and the question you want them to ask. If you're going to stage-manage, you might as well be organized! Advise them to only give a first name, a phone number (don't try calling from a government phone line - 988, 753, etc. also, expect caller ID) and just say you want to talk to the guest. Typically in a twenty minute slot Lars will have only four or five callers. If you can get ten friends to call, you can turn the tables on this aspect of the program.

5. Start a web site to document Lars' outrageous misstatements and bullying. Use www.blogger.com or even Indymedia to track the man.

6. Attack the program and the station advertisers.

7. Attack Lars' allies - currently his love life revolves around Karen and John Minnis of the GOP. But his loves of the past are the pantheon of conservative idiots, Lon Mabon,

8. Be fearless. Use humor. Express your convictions.

What does Lars think of this article? What he may say on his program, what he may point out, are two keys points. The first is the inherent pathetic ness of this necessity of this article. Progressives are panty-waists (that is not to disparage all our fine big tent panty boys and girls - we love you all!) and deserve much of the bullying and derision they receive. The second point he will capitalize on is the numerous errors and misconceptions this article. Oh well.

Friends of Lars - from his web site -

· Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis (a Democrat if you can believe it)
· Oregon City Defense Attorney John Henry Hingson (defender of drunk drivers and others)
· Deschutes County District Attorney Mike Dugan (another Dem on the Lars show)
· Nationally Syndicated Political Cartoonist Jack Ohman (gun owner but hated by NRA members)
· Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey (one of the few great Mayors in Oregon)
· State Rep. (and former state senator) Randy Leonard (running for Portland City Council) who works as a firefighter at station 17.
· Rosemary and Garth Harrington (the radio duo who hold down the fort mornings at Medford's KCMX)
· Tillamook's Mildred Davy (at 90, the head of talk show hosts with a regular daily show since 1962).
· Ted Nugent, conservative rocker and member of the NRA board of directors

 http://www.savagestupidity.com/media.html
 link to www.nwcn.com
 http://www.stophateradio.org/
 http://www.michaelsavagesucks.com/default.asp
 http://www.wweek.com/html/cover092497.html
 http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=50798
 http://www.wweek.com/html/newsbuzz111997.html
 http://www.rjwest.com/mtarchives/politics/001026.html
 http://www.portlandmercury.com/2002-07-25/ex17.html
 http://www.wweek.com/html/newsbuzz120298.html
 http://www.vulcan.com/chooser.asp
 http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/News3764.lasso

Hey folks!

I am unable to listen to this guys local radio show (Thank God) because I work during those times.
However; if anyone would be able to listen and post a list of his sponsors... I would LOVE to call them all up and tell them what I think.
(I'm sure I'm not the only one hear that would call)

Lars

hates

people.

You know, the fact that our "beloved" Paul Allen owns the radio station from which all this hate (Larson, O'Reilly, Savage, Ingram, etc) spews should say something. The quickest way to shut down these RNC dupes is to convince Paul to pull the plug on them. How about making signs like "Paul Allen Condones Hate Radio (KXL)" and take them to every televised Blazers game. Work to get them in front of a camera at every opportunity. Embarrass Fat Paul on national TV once, and I guarantee he'll make changes.

Who needs a trail card or can money when we have phones? You see there is this toll free 800 nuber listed, and while we don't pay, the station does. Find all the phones you can and call their 800 number. jam the lines, and if the line gets hung up, dial again. This can be done automatically with a modem and computer.... use terminal or the dialer in windows or linux. They usually pay a cheap per minute fee paid in blocks. It doesn't cost much per minute, but the bills add up. 24 hours of call time times X number of callers gets really expensive (and annoying) really fast.

Interesting ploy Bilbo to stifle speech you disagree with. Good to see the tolerance out in full force today.

Yea Paul, the hate that Lars Larson spews is so helpful and constuctive to greater mankind now isn't it...?

As I understand it, Heir Lars has based his entire career on Rush Limbaugh. Not an original thought in his entire little head. I wonder if the Larson is doing the oxy shuffle?

"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I defend to the death your right to say it."

"Liberty is the right for me to tell you what you do not want to hear."

And last but not least.

Fuck Lars, I get my news on Indy Media.

If you give him attention it will only encourage him. Ignore him.

Promote Community. Promote Unity. Promote Diversity. Promote Understanding. Promote Love. Promote Sex. Promote Drugs.

 http://www.kucinich.com

 http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

 http://www.RachelCorrie.com

 http://www.hereinreality.com

With Paul Allen, as with many others, it's all about money. Shit (whether the real thing or related programming) draws more flies and sensational broadcasting apparently draws more disempowered listeners looking to validate their warped views. I have nothing but contempt for the Trailblazers. They are not the team they used to be and it has become impossible to defend the repeatedly bad behavior of players when the topic comes up in conversation with friends from out of state. I'm sure Bill Walton and others don't recognize them anymore.

Lars on top - just something we all have stepped into, from time to time, if you ever get out. The fact that some vs. many listen to him defines what sort of 'people the locals are. There will always be, if you will permit me, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" as long as there is a empowered Right. The problem is, as to Boycott, anything sponsoring is already some trash I don't need.

You write: "Interesting ploy Bilbo to stifle speech you disagree with."

Let's be real. This is America. The Right Wing will tell you--if you don't have the fortitude to speak your mind then shut up. Any demonstrators with signs, and any boycotters, are simply showing the fortitude to speak their mind. If Paul happens to back down because he doesn't have the guts to keep on speaking his mind, then that's his problem. Maybe he should start to support things he's willing to publicly stand up for.

I'm all for bad entities being hit with huge numbers of 1-800 calls, costing them lots of money. However, I don't think it's a good idea to do this from your own phone line. The companies get a list of the origins of all their 1-800 calls, so you can be traced. It's illegal, so you might get in trouble. However, what's to stop lots of people from calling the 1-800 numbers from pay phones! It'd be traced to the pay phones. I've done this with companies that send me harrassing unsolicited spam. While waiting near a public pay phone, what better way to pass the time than calling the 1-800 number and going back and forth through the automated "Press 1 for the next menu, press 9 for the previous menu..." A few thousand people doing this many times a week can add up!

Lars has spewed in this manner several other times this year. It's good to hear that he is arousing the cycling public. After the last time he did this I finally did the right thing and joined BTA. Interesting to note that Michael Savage, who follows Lars LIARson in the next time slot, is a cyclist and often mentions his cycling during his own show--and Savage is further to the right than Lars. Let's ask this question--why do "conservatives," who often make an issue of other people controlling their appetites (sex, intoxication, etc.) believe that the appetite for automobile use be unrestricted. Why is it "conservative" to prefer the means of transportation whose overuse really is a result of sloth and lack of self-discipline and whose fueling funds governments and movements hostile to our country? Why is it "conservative" to favor sin and treason?

good points green redneck. conservatives on the radio seem to hate cyclists for some reason. another talk show host was "discussing" the cyclists who were in the oregonian that were helping their friend move his stuff by bicycle. he commented on how they were blocking traffic blah blah.. thing is, the picture showed them riding in one lane (allowed by law) and they moved on a saturday. it wasnt like they were slowing people from getting home from work (why they hate CM). they have to fill airtime and talking about bikes gets all the angry motorists to listen and call.

Not to belabor the point, but by their anti-cyclist, anti-mass transit stances, racio cretins Lars and 860's Victor Boc are the best friends that Islamofascist terrorists have--they want to keep US oil consumption up. Anybody in this year 2003 who opposes mass transit and human power is a traitor in encouraging Americans to give active financial aid to the nations that fund terrorism. Note--I'm not a right winger; when you follow the oil money this is what you get! I wish alt-trans types would stop being so chickenshit about doing a little Arab-bashing where and when it might aid our causes.

If an owner of one of the larger bike stores in Portland; Bike Gallery or River City Bicycles, for instance, were to buy air advertising time on Lars' show--he'd have to read it! Hey, LL is a professional broadcaster. He has an apparent pride in his work repellent as it may be to some of us. Wouldn't it burn his ass to have to read a bike store commercial a few times during each show? Bike riders come in all political beliefs after all.

I didn't catch the show, but, I guess that atleast some of you are up set at lars about bicycles. Well, about the only thing I have to say to any one that bashes bicycles is, take them away and see how the citys run after words. Just like big trucks; if they all were gone, how would we get all that we have in our stores? So, with every thing that we add to our towns, and citys, that is what makes us who we are. P.S. I don't like alot of the music that is out there, but if it was gone, so would be our right to choose. Thank you ,  scorpio97236@yahoo.com