Getting Howard Stern off NPR; Regulators, device makers try to fix other signals 'bleeding' into FM
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | December 21, 2006
After last Christmas, public radio stations across the country were inundated with complaints from listeners who were shocked to hear Howard Stern interrupt "Morning Edition" or their classical music lineup.
The portable satellite radios, iPods, and DVD players that people had received as gifts were playing on FM frequencies that interrupted broadcasts at the left end of the radio dial, in violation of federal regulations.
After a year of wrangling among broadcasters, regulators, and device manufacturers, public radio listeners and officials are in a holding pattern, waiting to see whether the problems the new media created for old radio have been corrected before deciding whether to take further action.