Secret Communications owner Frank E. Wood denies that his Cincinnati-based firm is a shell for radio giant Clear Channel Communications.

Wood

        He wants a proposed sale of a Chillicothe radio station from Secret to Clear Channel to proceed despite allegations in a recent Federal Communications Commission filing that his firm was a front for the San Antonio radio giant.

        Mr. Wood, owner of Secret and a lifelong Cincinnati radio executive, wants to sell WKKJ, a Chillicothe country music station.

        “I'm a businessman — not a front group,” Mr. Wood said. “Clear Channel came up with an amount and structure that was attractive, and I said sure. When somebody offers enough money, that's what you do.”

        In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, carpet dealer David Ringer said Clear Channel will have a tight grip on radio advertising rates if the sale is permitted.

        Mr. Ringer could not be reached for comment Friday, but his lawyer, Arthur V. Belendiuk, partner at Smithwick & Belendiuk, based in Washington D.C., contended that station employees also work for Clear Channel.

        “Secret has admitted that it always has had the station leased out to someone else,” Mr. Belendiuk said. “The full-time manager works for another station in Chillicothe owned by Clear Channel. Who is running the station?”

        Mr. Belendiuk said he has had a long relationship with Mr. Ringer, dating to when Mr. Ringer owned a radio station himself.

        Clear Channel, which controls 1,170 radio stations in 47 of the top 50 markets in the nation, owns five stations in Columbus and three in Chillicothe.

        Secret bought the station in August 1998 from the former Jacor Communications when that company was forced to divest itself of stations in order to merge with Clear Channel.

        “I figured, at worst, I would have a little moneymaker in Columbus,” Mr. Wood said. Plans to move the station's antenna closer to Columbus failed because Circleville zoning authorities would not approve the measure.

        Mr. Wood said there are new plans to move the antenna. “It could be a good signal if all goes well, but you never know if all will go well and there's the risk of the deal,” he said.

        Secret, which once owned 18 stations in seven cities, last year sold an Austin, Texas, station for $22.5 million after it was bought a year before for $15 million, Mr. Wood said.

        WKKJ is the last radio station owned by Secret. A Clear Channel Communications spokesman could not be reached for comment.

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