- WASHINGTON - An Ohio businessman
has filed a complaint against radio giant Clear Channel Communications,
claiming it is secretly controlling radio stations in a number of cities
to get around federal limits on station ownership.
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- Clear Channel, the nation's largest chain, owns six mid-Hudson
stations.
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- Ohio carpet dealer and radio advertiser David Ringer
wants the Federal Communications Commission to deny Clear Channel permission
to buy WKKJ-FM, a station in Chillicothe, Ohio, from Secret Communications
II because he fears advertising rates for all stations in the southern
Ohio city of 22,000 will rise. He also urged the FCC and Department of
Justice to investigate.
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- Clear Channel's purchase of WKKJ, the petition says,
''will eliminate all radio competition in the Chillicothe market'' because
the company already owns the other three local stations. Ringer also alleges
Clear Channel already controls WKKJ through a shell company.
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- Clear Channel and Secret deny Ringer's allegations.
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- San Antonio-based Clear Channel is by far the biggest
radio broadcaster in the country, owning more than 1,200 stations.
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- ''Clear Channel radio division's dominance of the market
allows our stations to share winning ideas that paint a clear picture of
success for our clients,'' its 2000 report to shareholders says. Radio
revenues approached $4 billion in 2000.
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- Ringer's petition, written by Washington lawyer Arthur
Belendiuk, contends Clear Channel bolsters its size illegally through secret
arrangements with Concord Media Group in markets such as Chillicothe and
the Catskill-Hudson region of New York. Secret had hired Concord to run
some operations such as advertising sales for WKKJ. The petition alleges
Clear Channel uses shell companies to park, or warehouse, radio stations
it wants to buy until it can complete the deal.
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- Part of the filing says the FCC has two reports from
Concord Media that list its address as 200 E. Basse Road, San Antonio --
Clear Channel's address. Those reports are signed by Rick Wolf, ''VP, Corporate
Counsel,'' also listed in Clear Channel's annual report as vice president
and corporate counsel.
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- Odessa, Fla.-based Concord Media said it never filed
those documents and is not a Clear Channel puppet.
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- In his response for Concord Media, lawyer Lee Shubert
said Concord does have business dealings with Clear Channel, but legitimate
ones.
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- AT A GLANCE
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- COMPLAINT TO FCC
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- Ohio radio advertiser David Ringer's complaint to the
FCC says, in part: ''In situations where Clear Channel cannot operate a
station in a particular market, or chooses not to, it substitutes Concord
Media or some other entity as its alter ego.'
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- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.
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