Concord Media is ‘nothing more than a shell company’ used by Clea...
Concord Media is “nothing more than a shell company” used by Clear Channel Communications (CCC) in certain instances to keep from disclosing number of stations it actually owns in certain markets, David Ringer charged in asking FCC to deny…
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CCC’s pending purchase of WKKJ(FM) Chillicothe, O. As listener and radio advertiser (of his carpet store) in Chillicothe and Columbus (40 miles apart), Ringer said he was party of interest to transaction. CCC already owns other 3 radio stations in Chillicothe, he told FCC, and it owns or time brokers 11 stations in Columbus- Chillicothe market. Also, Bender claimed, CCC had failed to disclose in its filing 2 other stations it owned within Columbus-Chillicothe coverage area -- WFXJ(FM) Hillard and WRSW(AM) Hillsboro. Bender said that to avoid antitrust prosecution, CCC “has been playing an elaborate shell game with its radio station assets,” using Concord Media in some instances: “The FCC and the Justice Department should seek to uncover and remedy the anticompetitive actions of Clear Channel… The evidence indicates that Concord Media’s only real function is to purchase and hold radio stations for the benefit of Clear Channel.”