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Does anyone hate those EAS tests?

T

TheTiger

Gosh! I hate those EAS tests...they are very annoying! Hearing or seeing those words "Emergency Alert System" got me freaked out already. I wish the FCC gets rid of the system and replace it with a new one similiar to the old EBS system, which I can get away with. Plus the tones totally bother my ears.

On the TV side, the EAS test used on my local NBC station had the crawl running too fast. This is another way the EAS system is a constant annoyance. It also made me nervous when the stations runs into "dead air" because it could be a precursor to a possible EAS test.

Today, I hear two weekly EAS tests ran on the broadcast stations in my area on Valentine's Day. Although those tests are shorter than the old EBS, they are still annoying, but not as annoying as its predecessor.
 
> Gosh! I hate those EAS tests...they are very annoying!
> Hearing or seeing those words "Emergency Alert System" got
> me freaked out already. I wish the FCC gets rid of the
> system and replace it with a new one similiar to the old EBS
> system, which I can get away with. Plus the tones totally
> bother my ears.

I too hope the FCC develops or causes to be developed a better system. But no country of the world has a better system at present, so, irritating as it is, I welcome the EAS tests because they indicate the existence of something of immense value.

And I like the multi-frequency tones better than the "test tone" of the EBS. And much better than the old CONELRAD tests, where every station shut down for a half hour!
 
> Gosh! I hate those EAS tests...they are very annoying!
> Hearing or seeing those words "Emergency Alert System" got
> me freaked out already. I wish the FCC gets rid of the
> system and replace it with a new one similiar to the old EBS
> system, which I can get away with. Plus the tones totally
> bother my ears.


The tone is supposed to be annoying, its meant to get your attention! Yes, during the weekly tests, it can be bother some, but, in an actual emergency, if it fails to get your attention, then it is no good. As for the local tv station you mentioned with the message scrolling too fast, that is probably a configuration issue, and not a fault of the system itself.
<P ID="signature">______________
Bob Colon
www.bobs-world.net
"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today"-James Dean</P>
 
For some reason, I imagine if some imaginative technopop wiz built a "song" around the EAS tone, he may be hearing from Reichsfuehrer Chertoff post haste IYKWIM. ;-)

ixnay
 
> For some reason, I imagine if some imaginative technopop wiz
> built a "song" around the EAS tone, he may be hearing from
> Reichsfuehrer Chertoff post haste IYKWIM. ;-)

In the 70's I was notified of a violation of the FCC rules for doing a singing version of the EBS test on 11-Q, WQII, where our jocks, accompnaied by a kazoo, sang the text of the test and the kazoo segued into a perfect match of the tone. "Against the spirit of the rules" was the reasoning for the notice. It was fun to listen to, though.
 
> Gosh! I hate those EAS tests...they are very annoying!
> Hearing or seeing those words "Emergency Alert System" got
> me freaked out already. I wish the FCC gets rid of the
> system and replace it with a new one similiar to the old EBS
> system, which I can get away with. Plus the tones totally
> bother my ears.
>
> On the TV side, the EAS test used on my local NBC station
> had the crawl running too fast. This is another way the EAS
> system is a constant annoyance. It also made me nervous when
> the stations runs into "dead air" because it could be a
> precursor to a possible EAS test.
>
> Today, I hear two weekly EAS tests ran on the broadcast
> stations in my area on Valentine's Day. Although those tests
> are shorter than the old EBS, they are still annoying, but
> not as annoying as its predecessor.
>
Personally, I like EAS. For a period of time when I was about 10 or 11 (around the time EBS converted to EAS) I was obsessed with it. And let's just say it works VERY well.

I'll never forget the time I first heard EAS. Summer of 1997. We were at a Zion, IL gas station getting gas with WLTQ Milwaukee playing. All the music was stopped and some strange chirps came on followed by the familiar EBS tone. Then info on a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Waukesha County. Because of the fact that I was afraid of severe thunderstorms back then, I was scared to death the whole way home.

The SCARIEST EAS activations are the ones where the station goes off the air during it. An example would be WSM Nashville back in 1999 when that tornado went through.

After that I have gone as far as immitating that noise with my voice on tape (to make fake warnings), airchecking stations just to get the EAS activations on tape, etc.

Yesterday (2-13-06):

My sister leaves her TV across the hall on all night long. At night, I don't notice it. Yesterday morning at around 5AM there was an Amber alert for a county about 80 miles north of here. My cable company runs the EAS for all the counties within this part of the state (and a few outside of this part of the state)

When the EAS went off, I was thrown out of bed instantly.

Back in the 90s the cable company didn't have EAS nor did they have graphics for severe weather/etc. When there was a tornado warning every channel would go to static with a siren sound effect. Then the sound of someone making a phone call, then a lady on the phone saying what was happening.

Now they have a blue screen with a red scroll box on the analog channels. The digital cable boxes have their own EAS.

So those tones do a GREAT job at scaring the crap out of me enough to gain my attention.



<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> If you have a dusty copy of the L.A. Air Force discs, you
> can find a singing EBS there.

But not in Spanish! Only two stations were fined or notified to stop... I had one of them.
>
 
> And much better than the old CONELRAD tests,
> where every station shut down for a half hour!

1960s Bill Cosby album...

He's dozing in front of the TV at 1:30am,
with a test pattern/tone on.

(Yes, stations once signed off overnight!)

Wife comes in to turn it off, Bill says
"Hey leave it on, that's Conelrad--
he's a heck of a detective."
 
Am I missing something? You're not required to announce weekly tests, transmit the EBS tone or relay a message. Just header and EOM transmissions...which take like 10 seconds. Monthly tests, yes...and actual emergencies yes...but 10 seconds of a couple bursts of a modem noise is hardly an inconvenience.

I'm a HUGE fan of the current implementation of the EAS...and am an even bigger fan of how PA uses EMnet (satellite/email based relaying). When RMT or actual emergencies come down emnet, we're already sending the EOM before the LP1/LP2 even airs the header.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
Back when I did CHR, I always played the Frasier bit after the tests where he says: "this has been a test of the emergency broadcast system. Had this been an actual emergency, your radio would be melting in your hands."<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> Back when I did CHR, I always played the Frasier bit after
> the tests where he says: "this has been a test of the
> emergency broadcast system. Had this been an actual
> emergency, your radio would be melting in your hands."
>
I heard a rock station run "If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been screwed"

forgot which one.<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
I never did like those EAS alerts...WFLS (10 Miles) in Fredericksburg, VA area never
has done anyone Broadcasters or otherwise any favors...Like in 2004 we had several tornados touch down in our county, they were always 20 mins or more behind...So we dumped relying on them and shacked up with a TV station 60 miles away that had the info 15 mins before they did...The system is broken please get it fixed!!!

> Gosh! I hate those EAS tests...they are very annoying!
> Hearing or seeing those words "Emergency Alert System" got
> me freaked out already. I wish the FCC gets rid of the
> system and replace it with a new one similiar to the old EBS
> system, which I can get away with. Plus the tones totally
> bother my ears.
>
> On the TV side, the EAS test used on my local NBC station
> had the crawl running too fast. This is another way the EAS
> system is a constant annoyance. It also made me nervous when
> the stations runs into "dead air" because it could be a
> precursor to a possible EAS test.
>
> Today, I hear two weekly EAS tests ran on the broadcast
> stations in my area on Valentine's Day. Although those tests
> are shorter than the old EBS, they are still annoying, but
> not as annoying as its predecessor.
>
 
> Am I missing something? You're not required to announce
> weekly tests, transmit the EBS tone or relay a message.
> Just header and EOM transmissions...which take like 10
> seconds. Monthly tests, yes...and actual emergencies
> yes...but 10 seconds of a couple bursts of a modem noise is
> hardly an inconvenience.
>
> I'm a HUGE fan of the current implementation of the
> EAS...and am an even bigger fan of how PA uses EMnet
> (satellite/email based relaying). When RMT or actual
> emergencies come down emnet, we're already sending the EOM
> before the LP1/LP2 even airs the header.
>

I can tolerate the EAS signal when it's done right, as in between ads or songs. What really irritates me though is when a station will drop it in anywhere, even right in the middle of a song. The times I've heard this happen is usually when the station is on a satellite feed and the local station makes no effort to put it in at a good time.
 
> I can tolerate the EAS signal when it's done right, as in
> between ads or songs. What really irritates me though is
> when a station will drop it in anywhere, even right in the
> middle of a song. The times I've heard this happen is
> usually when the station is on a satellite feed and the
> local station makes no effort to put it in at a good time.
>
Living within 10 miles of a nuke plant, I can say I'm glad that EAS is there. I work for the local LP-1 and we always throw the weekly at the end of a stopset. The monthly can be somewhat tricky if you don't know what you're doing...I've done some VERY creative backtiming to get the monthly to run at the end of a song with a VERY cold ending (EAS box isn't in the air studio for added difficulty)...this was before I learned you can run the monthly before the timer runs down... I don't know what the EAS would do for me if there was an actual emergency, since I never listen to local radio outside of work...I guess that's why the state EM agency provides me with a pager...which I almost never have with me. Are we glowing yet?

Peace,
User 11648
 
> > Back when I did CHR, I always played the Frasier bit after
>
> > the tests where he says: "this has been a test of the
> > emergency broadcast system. Had this been an actual
> > emergency, your radio would be melting in your hands."
> >
> I heard a rock station run "If this had been an actual
> emergency, you would have been screwed"
>
> forgot which one.
>

WXRX Belvidere does that. I doubt that's who you heard though as WDDW would wipe them off the map... It may have been WIIL.

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> On the TV side, the EAS test used on my local NBC station
> had the crawl running too fast.

Has to be a setting on the station's CG... It takes about 20 or so seconds for our crawl to finish. (We allot 30 seconds for the EAS test)

> Today, I hear two weekly EAS tests ran on the broadcast
> stations in my area on Valentine's Day. Although those tests
> are shorter than the old EBS, they are still annoying, but
> not as annoying as its predecessor.

A radio test should take no more than 10 or so seconds.. It's just the chips of the header and EOM. That's it. (Unless it's the monthly test, in which case they have to send the whole alert tone & message)

-A<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> Now they have a blue screen with a red scroll box on the
> analog channels. The digital cable boxes have their own EAS.

What really annoys me is when I'm playing something back on the DVR, and the EAS test cuts in over it. Or, when the alert is for a county so far away that it doesn't even remotely concern me.

> So those tones do a GREAT job at scaring the crap out of me
> enough to gain my attention.

That's why I run 'em during the infomercials. I figure nobody's listening anyway... (hmm... should I be confessing that on the internet?)<P ID="signature">______________
narniabanner.jpg
</P>
 
How about this?

"Had this been an actual emergency, this alert would have been followed by running and screaming."

Somehow, I don't think that would go over well with my audience...<P ID="signature">______________
narniabanner.jpg
</P>
 
EAS tests?

Agreed- and a TON better than the old EBS. It's understandable radio DJs hate EAS/EBS- heck, it interrupts "our show" LOL. I've never worked with anybody who LIKED them. But the way they're done today (as described below) are a major improvement.

What I also like about the current setup is that it incorporates Amber Alerts in most areas- there are a number of cases (for instance) in Florida where Amber Alerts over EAS actually helped abductions come to a happy ending. Gotta be all for that.

> Am I missing something? You're not required to announce
> weekly tests, transmit the EBS tone or relay a message.
> Just header and EOM transmissions...which take like 10
> seconds. Monthly tests, yes...and actual emergencies
> yes...but 10 seconds of a couple bursts of a modem noise is
> hardly an inconvenience.
>
> I'm a HUGE fan of the current implementation of the
> EAS...and am an even bigger fan of how PA uses EMnet
> (satellite/email based relaying). When RMT or actual
> emergencies come down emnet, we're already sending the EOM
> before the LP1/LP2 even airs the header.
>
 
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