Continuing to worry that many people don’t understand the transition from analog to digital television, staff members of the FCC are going to be spending time in retail stores today to educate the public as to what it’s all about. This education is going to be taking place in North Carolina, a state that’s only one hundred days away from pre-transition testing. The staff members will be at stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack to do DTV demonstrations and to sign people up for converter box coupons.

People are hoping that there will be analog pass-through boxes on site but there’s been no confirmation of this. These boxes are designed to allow analog signals to continue to be picked up without having to unplug the box, a feature that had been recommended by the Community Broadcasters Association (CBA) because it will allow people to receive signals from low-power stations. However, these boxes are in short supply and the CBA is now advising people to get any DTV converter box, not just one with an analog pass-through, as the latter may not be available before the transition.