EAS and untrained part timers.

[The Beave]

I know in the larger markets usually a News Talk is the state and local EAS primary. I'm bringing up a topic that I hope all operators are educated on.

Some of you have board ops to worry about that but this last weekend in Roseau, MN, the EAS was not activated on the wake of an anhydrous leak which the fire whistle/CD Sirens blasted.

It appears that there was no activation nor any broadcast interruption in this city of approximately 2,800 people in an area of 2.4 square miles. The market has 2 stations both on syndication at the time.

Several residents were quoted on various news outlets across the midwest saying they thought there was an approaching tornado. (another good reason to activate or go into live local news)

Questions...
Were the operators on duty or County Emergency Services relaying information on this dangerous situation?
A: it appears not.

In a small town where the volunteer fire department relies on a siren to call everyone to the station when now most can get a mass dispatch to cells and pagers, Why is an outdated system being used that does create confusion in the public interest?
A: ( )

Was (or is) the 2 stations staff trained from top to bottom in the uses of the EAS equipment and how to properly activate it? And does EAS tests take place in all shifts?
A: ( )

Does this happen in your markets???


Thanks for reading this.. the difference between knowing you may go off the air because of weather or if there is a chemical leak is a big one.

 

[jimwalsh2001]

For any station that doesn't have its EAS ducks in a row, I have just three words...


Minot...North...Dakota...

 

[The Beave]

Jim,

I did radio In Grand Forks in 1990-1991, and Fargo in 1998.

I fully concur I think it's a regional thing...because apparently like in Northwood, ND last year

Primary stations didn't activate until it was way too late. (I was in Thompson that evening chasing)

Cities like Albuquerque, NM are 100% on the ball. (most stations)

 

[WTUX]

Since the FCC stopped giving tests to would-be dj's and board ops, requiring knowledge of basic rules, regulations and basic radio theory (3rd Class LIcense with Broadcast Endorsement), its almost impossible to find a board op who knows what a legal station id is, let alone how to operate EAS.

In medium and smaller markets there is generally no one at the station except from 6am to 6pm Monday through Friday. If EAS is set up properly in automation, you may be okay. But in many of these markets, EAS is viewed as a "pain in the neck" and not as an obligation to the community you are supposed to be serving.

 

[The Beave]

WTUX,
You do make many valid points. Thank you.

I will let everyone in on that I still have my restricted, but I have been around 19 years in broadcast. Maybe it's important to point out that there still exists a mandatory requirement for EAS, in the CFR. (Code of Federal Regulations) Many broadcast associations make it mandatory by their assoc. and state rules to do activations, and tests at the request of a emergency authority. (Local & State EOC, NOAA, President of the USA)

There is an ongoing discussion in many different forum sites at this time that completely have my attention about this topic.

Did commercial radio drop the ball on the public interest? TV has no issue with this, or very little at all.
I'll be honest last week I was in Omaha, NE. (Tues-Thurs) come of the radio coverage was horrinle. meanwhile the few that did long form information did it ok, or silmucasted, info from a contracting TV station from their HD-2. (local 24/7 live news/WX)

When I was employed at KKOB in Albuquerque - It was a requirement to have a restricted license, you HAD to be proficient in EAS, (sending and receiving) as well as procedures to handle anything that should crop up. (Xmtr failure, power outage, etc.)

Too bad all the stations across country don't do that.

9/11 was a big example of how well the EAS works.

I have been told there are videos and airchecks on You Tube - from the 9/11 EAS activation.

I have not seen them myself.

 

[The Beave]

In addendum, I found a real interesting article in Radio World about the likely hood of the FCC requiring 24/7 staffing of stations, Due to the EAS failure issue.

http://radioworld.com/pages/s.0046/t.10470.html

 

[KFodor]

At our cluster in Dayton, Ohio, our operational control point is the studio for our combined AM/FM Newstalk operation.

Before they are allowed anywhere near the transmitters, all employees, fulltime or parttime must pass a written test administered by the programming department. This test is based on the old Third Phone/Element Nine FCC exam. The test covers transmitter operation, power level limitations, tower icing procedures, tower lights and FAA notification if they go out, EAS operation and logging, pattern change and readings for our AM station, etc.

As I've said on these boards countless numbers of times: not all companies are alike.

 

[HisRoyalFlyness]

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to add that not only are all companies not alike, but even the people who are training employees are not alike. I am lucky enough to have as a mentor someone who has been in the radio industry for almost 20 years now and has given me valuable knowledge about proper operating procedures during and emergency (EAS operation, reporting light outages to the tower, etc.).

 

[The Beave]

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I wanted to add that not only are all companies not alike, but even the people who are training employees are not alike. I am lucky enough to have as a mentor someone who has been in the radio industry for almost 20 years now and has given me valuable knowledge about proper operating procedures during and emergency (EAS operation, reporting light outages to the tower, etc.).

Absolutely awesome...
I have been in the industry about as long as your mentor.. exactly 20 years... At this new group - which was a start up N/T am with an existing FM pruchaced from a cross town LMA. I had to take the reigns on EAS, and transmitter issues til the Programmer could find time to do it. I still do the weekly audits of the EAS The nice deal is that right now I'm here from sunset to sunrise. (or just about that) and occasionally drop a note to our programmer and ops if there is something wrong and how I took care of it. I guess that is why I was hired as the utility player on this team.

The case is not always that the part timers are untrained.. It's some are too damn lazy to lift a finger outside to handle things that happen outside of the control room windows or they don't care.

Thanks for playing...

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

About the original story:

A quick look at the map shows me that Roseau is right on the border with Canada, up from International Falls.

A quick check of Radio-Locator shows me there are three local signals there - two big class C FMs that cover much of northern Minnesota, and a small AM that appears to shoot much of its signal into Canada. I presume there are two operations, and the AM is paired with one of the FMs.

There are also a handful of translators originated elsewhere.

But Roseau's location leads me to wonder - what about people in small cities near the Canadian border, who may well be listening to either the commercial news/talker or the CBC outlet in Winnipeg?

They're distant signals, but get there, I presume.

Obviously, Canadian stations carry no obligation to even carry news about a small town gas leak in a U.S. border town 90-some miles away, and are not able to participate (nor would they want to do so) in the U.S. EAS system.

But consider...if you're a news/talk radio listener in Roseau, where is your radio tuned? Probably either on the Canadian stations (particularly if the commercial station in Winnipeg carries any syndicated U.S. content), or getting distant signals out of Minneapolis, etc. at night.

As in the oft-cited (even in this thread) Minot case, local authorities can not just try to get a message out via the local radio stations and give up, particularly in tiny towns where - as suggested - the residents might be better alerted by a loud siren instead of hoping the local automated country FM can originate or relay an EAS alert.

 

[KFodor]

Since the FCC stopped giving tests to would-be dj's and board ops, requiring knowledge of basic rules, regulations and basic radio theory (3rd Class LIcense with Broadcast Endorsement), its almost impossible to find a board op who knows what a legal station id is, let alone how to operate EAS.

In medium and smaller markets there is generally no one at the station except from 6am to 6pm Monday through Friday. If EAS is set up properly in automation, you may be okay. But in many of these markets, EAS is viewed as a "pain in the neck" and not as an obligation to the community you are supposed to be serving.

All true, all true.

However, in the college broadcasting program in which I teach, we have decided to teach the SBE Radio Operator Certification course as part of our third semester program. For those of you not aware of it, it's basically the old "third phone/element nine" course.

As of this time, we have not yet gotten permission from SBE (though some day, we'd like to) to be a testing facility for the course, (I don't know too much about the local SBE chapter yet) we will be teaching from their course book and, for now, requiring the students to pass a "sample test" based upon the sample test in the course book, with passage accounting for 25% of the semester grade.

I know that some broadcast owners don't seem to take stuff like EAS too seriously, just be aware that some of us are...

And last but not least: any broadcast manager in any sized market, but especially in the smaller ones where there are, inarguably, fewer staffers, should have at his or her station, an "emergency plan" of staff that would be on-call, day or night, to respond to a night-time or weekend emergency. That's what a "Program Director" and/or "News Director" are supposed to be in a small-town situation. Even the GM, if the station is so short-staffed should be willing to get his or her butt out bed, if necessary, to protect the investment and the station's reputation with the audience and the advertisers.

If any of these people don't "get" this, they are the wrong people for the job. And if they are owners and don't get this, they should not be permitted a license.

 

[Fornax]

I'm aware of some stations making passage of the SBE exam a condition of employment for a board operator. Something also to consider: include in your training the proper operation of a digital delay.

When I started you pretty much had to have a first phone, especially if you were working overnights. Most jocks took courses and memorized the answers. And that, of course, was the problem. A lot of folks were clueless because they never had to actually perform the work they were licensed to do.

The most important thing is to have operators actually performing these tasks on a regular basis.

 

[radioguybroadcasting]

I was working at one station in North Dakota where a red lightbulb would go off in the AM studio when something came off the EAS. (The FM was down the hall, which is where i was)

The afternoon jock was ignoring it, so I politely mentioned it to him and he said, "I see it!!" in a very rude tone, to which I replied, "I was just making sure, because it COULD be important".. he was grumbling something, but it obviously wasn't a positive response.


The PD (our Mid Day guy on the AM) came in and fired it off.. we all stood there and it turned out to be nothing but a statewide test.

When the Afternoon guy heard that it was nothing but a test, he went balistic saying "This is stupid and a waste of time" and several other things including the fact "We don't need to be doing this s*^t".

And he was a guy who'd been in the business 30 years. Me, on the other hand. .I'd only been in the business 2 1/2 years at that time.. and I KNEW how important the EAS *COULD* be.

 

[One Who Knows]

I was working at one station in North Dakota where a red lightbulb would go off in the AM studio when something came off the EAS. (The FM was down the hall, which is where i was)

The afternoon jock was ignoring it, so I politely mentioned it to him and he said, "I see it!!" in a very rude tone, to which I replied, "I was just making sure, because it COULD be important".. he was grumbling something, but it obviously wasn't a positive response.


The PD (our Mid Day guy on the AM) came in and fired it off.. we all stood there and it turned out to be nothing but a statewide test.

When the Afternoon guy heard that it was nothing but a test, he went balistic saying "This is stupid and a waste of time" and several other things including the fact "We don't need to be doing this s*^t".

And he was a guy who'd been in the business 30 years. Me, on the other hand. .I'd only been in the business 2 1/2 years at that time.. and I KNEW how important the EAS *COULD* be.

All of which proves just how poorly some radio stations have "trained" their operators on EAS Procedures since the FCC put the onus on them to do it. Had the aforementioned prima donna DJ's learned from the beginning why these things are required by making them take a written test on rules and regs before they could proceed to actually working in a radio station, things might be different.

Of course, it's also fair to question EAS, too...it hasn't proven yet to be a "better idea" in my book.

 

[wyattcox]

IMNSHO EAS is no better than the stations above you in the chain.

When I got here to our little stations in Northern Nevada, it took me weeks to make sure that local authorities had my personal cell number so that if there was any kind of emergency, I could interrupt programming and relay their message immediately.

"You can do that?"

It appears that a more powerful FM station (that used to be the LP-1) blew them off more times than not...