I did not count the times that Randy Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, used the term "level playing field," but he recited it so often it became a mantra. Mays was in DC on Oct. 4 to address the Progress & Freedom Foundation lunch, well attended by staff of the Federal Communications Commission and even some Congressional aides.

Clear Channel is a media behemoth that even those who support media consolidation concede is a problem. And yet with a straight face, Mays pleaded that the limits on how many stations he could own in one market be increased - from eight stations in the largest markets to 12, so Clear Channel could grow from its domination of 1,200 stations throughout the country.

Clear Channel needs "a level playing field" with subscription stations like XM and Sirius, Mays insisted. Since they can offer 150 channels to subscribers across the country, Clear Channel's being able to own a paltry eight stations per market put the company at a competitive disadvantage. "Give Free Radio broadcasters the potential to compete," Mays intoned. He also said that "nobody is more invested in local communities than we are." In contrast, Mays said, satellite radio is run by people who aren't from the community and don't live in it.

The fact that Mays can spout such nonsense and not get hooted off the stage is amazing. Clear Channel deeply committed to its local communities? Tell that to citizens all over the country who deeply resent Clear Channel's takeover of their locally owned stations, shrinking or elimination of local news, and homogenization of playlists.

Tell that to local activists in Delaware, who, led by Common Cause Delaware, have organized a media monitoring project in large part because of a decrease in local talk shows and increase in syndicated programming after Clear Channel took over independently owned WILM in Wilmington. Indeed, recently WILM anchor and reporter and program manager Allan Loudell, widely respected for his 18-year record of comprehensively covering local and national news, quit over a "difference of opinion on some things" with the station's new owners. Of course, WILM has gotten something in return from Clear Channel: Rush Limbaugh.

Mays said all the fuss about media ownership was just a mistake. "Diversity of programming is what America wants, not diversity of ownership."

No, Randy. If one owner produces 50 or 150 channels of programming, that owner still controls what viewers get to see and hear. Ownership or the lack of it determines diversity of viewpoints, and also determines the amount of news and public affairs programming people in a community are able to receive. If McDonald's owned most of the restaurants in America, it would still be serving McDonald's, even if the menu reflected a bit more variety.

Like size, ownership matters. The last thing the American public needs is for Clear Channel to get bigger.