As I mentioned last week, P.K.—the embattled radio personality for KXJM whose recent on-air comments got him into some hot water—went for a bike ride with a local reporter.
Yesterday, a commenter tipped me off that he talked about this ride on his show last Thursday. I just finished listening to the show via iTunes.
P.K. said they went on a three-hour ride that included a cruise on SW Broadway Blvd., in the heart of downtown Portland.
After the ride, it was clear he had a renewed sense of just how dangerous the streets are for bicyclists. He said he understands why cyclists get aggravated with motorists…and vice versa.
Overall he sounded like an open-minded, level-headed guy, far from the macho and inciteful “shock-jock” tone he had on previous shows.
I could tell P.K. was taking care to make this segment light-hearted and humorous (he joked about his butt being sore and how he was afraid of how the photos would turn out).
He said the ride was “interesting” and “fun” and even expressed how much he liked the slower pace of being on a bike downtown:
“The thing that’s different when you’re riding a bike is that you get to slow down and really see some stuff.”
He then added:
“When we did the show last Thursday I was a little on the mad side, and I think that this ride definitely brought me back to see the other side.”
He then made a direct reference to his comments from that fateful (and now mysterious) July 13th broadcast:
“It was a bad attempt of a joke, it angered some people and I’m willing to ‘fess up.”
Towards the end of the segment P.K. said he’s now “in the middle of the road” and that he “understands the aggravation from both sides.”
I think it’s cool P.K. is now intimately aware of the dangerous riff on our roadways between cyclists and motorists and that it’s a problem that needs to be solved. The question now is, how do we solve the problem and to what extent will P.K. and KXJM be a part of the solution?
Kudos to Willamette Week reporter Jason Simms for doing the ride and I’m looking forward to reading his story (and to seeing the photos of P.K. on a bike) in tomorrow’s paper.