Getting Howard Stern off NPR (FM Re-transmitters cause problems)

Boston Globe ^ | 12/22/06 | Carolyn Johnson

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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.

At the center of the controversy are FM modulators -- low-power transmitters that broadcast the audio from portable devices onto airwaves that can be picked up by a car's stereo system. The devices are required by the Federal Communications Commission to operate at low power so that the radio signal tapers down to a low level within a few yards, to avoid interfering with licensed stations.

But that is exactly what 88.1 WMBR Cambridge listeners began to notice at the beginning of this year, as Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite Radio would "bleed" into the music line up on shows like "The Breakfast of Champions" when they were stopped in traffic.

[raccoonradio]

Some of these FM re-transmitters only go between 88 and 92 on the FM dial while others go all the way up to 88.

[raccoonradio]

Once while on I-91 near Holyoke MA: suddenly started hearing Opie and Anthony on my car stereo (they're on XM and also some local broadcast stations but at the time were only on XM). A big truck was near me and for a minute I slowed down and let it go past me. Sure enough, signal started to fade..he was using one of these gizmos.