They probably bought a police radio. That's what the media here in Birmingham was allowed to do. They purchased "receive only" radios for monitoring the police and fire departments new digital system.
The funny thing about it, Motorola charged the TV stations double the price the city paid. They paid $7,000 per radio when they could listen to the same traffic with a $500 scanner. One station bought 6 radios!
The Birmingham News did their homework first and went with the scanners.