Gifts, trips, and cash were used to pave the way for air time for certain songs at radio stations owned and operated by the nation’s fifth largest chain, according to a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The accusation was denied by the company, Entercom Communications Corporation of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., which owns and operates more than 105 radio stations.

“We have moved from the label side, those who put out the records and are forced to pay for air time, and switched to the radio conglomerates … that are extracting money,” Mr. Spitzer said yesterday.

For example, one memo from a programmer at WKSE in Buffalo to Columbia Records in 2003 stated: “Do you need help on Jessica (Simpson) this week? …. if you don’t need help I certainly don’t need to play it.”

Mr. Spitzer claims air time was sold for $1,000 or more for individual songs. He said the practice included providing a $2,500 laptop computer for a country station in exchange for playing artists Joe Nichols and the duo McHayes, for station concert appearances, for a personal appearance by country artist Blake Shelton, and for playing Liz Phair songs. “Don’t Tell Me” by Avril Lavigne aired 109 times in a week on Entercom’s Nashville station WQZQ. More than a third of the “spins” were paid for by Arista Records, the lawsuit claims.

Mr. Spitzer also accused the company of “falsely promoting records up the music charts” in reports to the magazines Billboard and Radio & Records about the play time of songs that was supposed to be based on popularity.

Mr. Spitzer said payola violates radio stations’ federal licenses and New York state civil law. He said the Federal Communications Commission, which he accused of being “asleep at the switch” on payola, should consider revoking the licenses.

“The decisions are being made as to what to put on the airwaves based on bribes to be paid and extracted, rather than on judgments based on artistic merit,” Mr. Spitzer said.

But a spokesman for Entercom, Adam Miller, said the company plays by the rules.

“We have firm policies prohibiting payola and requiring compliance with the federal sponsor identification rules and we enforce them,” he said. “We have cooperated fully with the attorney general’s office in this investigation.”