Covering all bases. [Updated 10/05/05]

"Free radio" is waking up to the threat of new technologies. And what are they doing? Running to the government for help:

Clear Channel says they need more deregulation, so they can own more "channels" in their markets, because those nasty satellite radio companies have hundreds of them in every market.

"If XM is allowed to have 150 channels in each market, it is a competitive disadvantage for us to have only eight," [CC CEO Mark] Mays told a luncheon audience in Washington sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation, an anti-regulatory think tank. [MediaWeek via MediaBistro]

UPDATE 10/05 4:00PM PT: OK, I read Mr. Mays speech. He wants to be able to buy more stations in the biggest markets. Here's how he put it:

In these mega-media markets – like NY, LA and Chicago – there is room for free radio companies to own more than 8 stations.

Free radio broadcasters should be given the option to pool more resources in these markets so that the rollout of hi-def digital radio can be accelerated. So that more entertainment choice can be offered to listeners. So that real-time traffic and weather and sports information can be distributed by new vehicles and new players.

… Free radio is not asking for much more room. In markets with 60 stations or more, there is room to raise the local ownership cap from 8 to 10 stations. In markets with 75 stations or more, there is room to raise the local ownership cap from 8 to 12 stations.

Because the realities of mega-media markets like NY and LA are very different from the realities in markets like Memphis, Tennessee.

…. These changes will give free radio broadcasters some financial and competitive breathing room to compete – especially with satellite companies offering more than 120 stations in every market in the continental United States. It will give free radio broadcasters the room to experiment with new and more diverse formats. And it will give free radio broadcasters the room to develop innovative technologies and competitive services.

And most importantly, it will preserve free radio as a choice for Americans who can afford to pay every month for their news, information and entertainment … and as a lifeline for those who can’t.

[The elipsis periods (...) in the above quote don't indicate deleted material--they're in the speech transcript--they're radio-guy pauses. Here's a link to the whole speech--careful, it's a PDF.]

Pretty heart-tugging stuff. Yeah, I believe CC is in business to provide lifelines to the poor. In the first half of the speech, Mr. Mays talked about all the good stuff CC has done, like all those news people in their radio stations, and all the great work their stations did during the hurricanes...and that all this new competition for ears -- Ipods, satellite and Internet radio -- is totally unregulated. Fair enough...you fire the ammunition you've got.

But tower radio's interest--and CCs in particular--in news reporting and emergency service, is fairly recent, it seems to me. Only a few years a go they were stripping stations down and centralizing voicetracked production. Remember the big Red River flood, when nobody answered the phones at CC stations because they were automated?

Well, I guess it's good that attitude seems to have turned around. But it's hard to see how giving the biggest radio station companies more radio stations in big markets makes radio any healthier, or the listener better served. I think Mark Mays just wants more major market inventory.

Of course, you know, CC owns a nice chunk of XM stock. Just in case.