NPR has asked the FCC to recall millions of FM modulators that enable drivers to play iPods and satellite radios through their car stereos, reports the Baltimore Sun. The network found that nearly 40 percent of the devices have signal strengths that exceed FCC limits, “enabling them to break into FM broadcasts in nearby cars with unwanted programming.” Non-commercial radio stations are especially vulnerable to interference because while newer modulators can be tuned to any FM frequency, older models still in use only offer consumers a choice from frequencies below 89 MHz. The FCC says NPR’s request is under review.

The membership of San Francisco’s KQED gave up their right to elect the station’s board of directors in a three-week mail balloting, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today. They voted two-to-one to end the board elections, which the station said were expensive ($250,000 was the cost cited) and delayed decision- making. Large majorities also voted to change the licensee’s name to Northern California Public Broadcasting and make five other changes to its legal documents, according to KQED’s announcement yesterday. KQED said it received about 30,000 ballots from its membership of 190,000, or about 15 percent of those eligible. Most stations have self-elected boards or are parts of larger nonprofits that do.

Iowa Public Radio has started a blog for communicating with its listeners as it morphs its three formerly disparate stations into a unified statewide network. “Iowans will be able to talk back to us, and they’ll be able to talk among themselves,” writes Todd Mundt, IPR’s director of content and media, on his blog. (Earlier coverage in Current of the network’s genesis.)

Yahoo made Remotely Connected, a PBS.org collaborative review blog, its website pick of the day for Oct. 26. The PBS project invites “a small, diverse group of bloggers” to comment “on major PBS programs airing in October and November, in an open forum.”

A new survey by the the Conference Board’s Consumer Internet Barometer says 1 in 10 online consumers now watches TV online, reports Multichannel Newswire. The most popular methods for viewing the broadcasts are streaming and free download, according to the survey: “Very few consumers are willing to pay per download or enroll in subscription services.”

NPR won’t carry sponsor credits for the British film, “Death of a President,” Reuters and others report. The movie is presented as a documentary following the investigation into President Bush’s murder in October 2007. NPR says the film is likely to generate controversy and news stories, and doesn’t want listeners to suspect that coverage is influenced by a sponsor relationship. CNN, which is also refusing ads for the film, is doing so because of “the extreme nature of the movie’s subject matter,” Reuters reports.

Boise Weekly profiles Peter Morrill, g.m. of Idaho PTV.

Harold Hacker, a founding director of WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., has died at the age of 90, reports the Associated Press.

Savor the vicarious thrills of a public radio pledge drive thanks to these photos from Spokane Public Radio. Mmmm mmmm, smell that bacon!

How does the widespread use of digital media affect young people and change the way they learn? The MacArthur Foundation will spend $50 million over five years to help answer this question. In addition to funding research and learning projects for its Digital Media and Learning Initiative, the foundation also launched Spotlight, a blog covering developments in in the field. PBS TeacherSource blogger Andy Carvin reports on the initiative in his latest column.

WFDD-FM in Winston-Salem, N.C., is considering creating a center for citizen journalism, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.

The Los Angeles Times reviews The World According to Sesame Street, a documentary examining Sesame Workshop’s international co-productions in three countries. The film launches the new season of Independent Lens.

Bill Buzenberg will join the Center for Public Integrity next year as its executive director. He is now senior v.p. of news for American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul and served as news v.p. at NPR in the ’90s. Based in Washington, D.C., CPI does investigative reporting and research on public policy issues.

  In the 1980s, Peter Gelb produced 25 Metropolitan Opera broadcasts for PBS. Now, as the Met’s general manager, he runs the red-carpeted center of the opera world. The first media guy to run the hallowed New York institution has begun an ambitious but carefully modulated makeover of the Met. He’s putting its operas on more media platforms than ever before but using electronic media to reproduce the gilded in-theater experience. He’s bringing in a new breed of directors for fresh staging but relying largely on the beloved music of the past.Hired two years ago, Gelb was off to a running start in August when he took charge.

After interviewing Wal-Mart Chief Executive H. Lee Scott in August about the company’s new environmental initiative, PBS’s Charlie Rose will co-host a private dinner tonight honoring Scott for his environmental work. Is there something wrong with this? PBS doesn’t think so, but PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler does.