Noisy power poles are a longtime nemesis for ham radio operators whose sensitive receivers try to pull weak signals from the ether. An arcing insulator on the 12KV lines atop most residential and rural neighborhood power poles can spew RFI across hundreds of Mhz.
Depending on what mode you listen in (AM, FM, SSB) it sounds like a grinding buzz, or your basic 60-cycle hum. There's a pole 2-300 yards from our house that has been causing me no end of grief, and the local power company doesn't give a rat's ass about it. Last year I complained formally and after 7-months they dispatched a truck to "rebuild" the entire top of the pole. The parts all looked the same when I got home from work that day, and of course, the noise was still there.
Use a portable AM radio tuned to an empty spot on the AM band. Walk down your street from power pole to power pole noting if static/hum increases as you approach/depart each pole. If a pole has guy wires, twang the wires and listen for noise (it shouldn't cause any). Bring a pad of paper and pen as you'll need to note the pole ID numbers to lodge your formal complaint. Some utilities are pretty good about fixing these things; others, like PG&E here in NorCal, are not.
If you end up finding a noisy pole and file a formal complaint, I strongly recommend you log each and every contact you make with your utility as you may need it later when the issue has dragged on longer than you ever imagined possible.
I have a hum problem on my newly assembled high-end system and I'm hoping it's something *inside* my house and not something *outside* in PG&E's domain.