RADIO

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has charged that a new method of FM broadcasting, intended to improve reception, actually worsens it, and has warned radio stations and consumers that it would be “a big mistake” to buy equipment based on the technology. Engineering and computer science professor Amar B. Bose told the New York Times that he based his contentions on a study of MIT student radio station’s broadcasts with the technology, called FMX. Emil L. Torick, one of the system’s developers, called Bose’s findings “flawed and misleading” because the receiver and transmission equipment used did not employ state-of-the-art electronics. FMX, which is designed to eliminate most of the static present in standard FM stereo for listeners who purchase special receivers, is already being used by about 50 stations, and another 50 are committed to altering their transmitters for it, the newspaper said.