EAS Monitoring... MA EOPS has no clue

[Deleted User]

the following emails speak for themselves.

According to what I got from EOPS today, we are all supposed to be monitoring WBZ AM as the primary!

When did this happen?

Emails below:My reply to the BZ AM message


that goes against everything on the EOPS website, and is NOT what we in the stations have been told.

Please confirm this is correct, and notify EVERY radio station in MA, because we are all monitoring 98.5 WBZ FM (note the emphisis on FM) as the primary, and WBZ AM as the secondary. WBZ-FM did send a test Sunday morning.

If you are correct I was not notified of the change, Please send me the documentation that made WBZ AM 1030 the primary statewide notification. I also need to know the effective date.








----- Original Message -----
From: Thompson, Lisa (EPS)
To:
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 10:22 AM
Subject: EAS monitoring








WBZ-AM is the primary EAS station.



Peter W. Judge

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

400 Worcester Road

Framingham, MA 01702-5399



Phone: 508-820-2002

24-hour: 508-820-2000

Fax: 508-820-2030

[email protected]








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From:
Sent: Sunday, August 09, 2009 6:40 PM
To: Eopsinfo, (EPS)
Cc:
Subject: EAS monitoring



the website still lists WBMX as the statewide primary station to monitor for the Emergency Alert System.http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eopster...ncy_alert_system_for_massachusetts&csid=Eeops





As of this moment, WBMX does not exist in the Boston market, they are parked on an AM station in South Carolina, pending transfer to 104.1 this week.



So the 64 dollar question. Is 98.5 still going to be the main monitoring frequency, or do we all retune our monitors to 104.1 where WBMX is going to end up this week when CBS Radio kills off WBCN and sends those calls to South Carolina to live.



Thanks




TNS Associates

Consulting Broadcast Engineers

 

[chris560]

WBZ-AM is the NATIONAL PRIMARY (NP) station for "entering Presidential and National programming into EAS and also serves the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the State Primary (SP)" according to the State EAS Plan. WBMX also serves as the State Primary. It also states that "ALL stations and cable television systems in the Greater Boston Operational Area are to monitor WBZ-AM and WBMX-FM".

I'm not sure exactly where you are in the State however if you'd like to drop me a line via radio-info's message service I'll probably be able to help you decipher just exactly WHAT your monitoring assignments are.

As for what your currently monitoring; you're right, WBMX-FM in its original state no longer exists, however the frequency does. I would continue monitoring that FREQUENCY unless otherwise instructed.

Hope this helps.

 

[necrat123]

It goes by FACILITY and not call sign.

If it went by call sign, then everyone who monitors 93.7 in Lawrence (a LP1), would be scrambling to find another station to pick up after they changed call signs.

1030 and 98.5 are both the LP1s. You must monitor BOTH if your station is assigned to do so.

If CBS radio wanted to change it so that 104.1 was the LP1, they would have to send a letter to all the stations in the state regarding such.

The state broadcast EAS coordination, last I knew was done through Mark Manuellean at CBS Boston. He would be your best bet for information.

 

[aerie]

Speaking of Lawrence, the state site lists "WQRS Radio Lawrence" as the Northeastern local primary. It used to be WQSX (whispered 10-15 minutes before the top of the hour) but I don't think it was ever WQRS.

 

[Deleted User]

If you look at the EOPS website, it says:

State Primary Facility: WBMX Radio, Boston
State Alternate Facility – WBZ Radio, Boston


WBMX at this moment does not exist in Boston. Any second now it is going to appear on 104.1

Note the lines above, copied and pasted direct from the EOPS website do not mention frequency

So my gripe is A) at this moment WBMX doesn't exist and is listed as the Primary
Facility, and B) in a matter of hours WBMX's calls are going to show up on 104.1.

So we are supposed to monitor a station that only exists on high band AM in South Carolina for the moment because that's where WBMX is, and in 2 days when I assume the WBMX calls will move legally to 104.1, are we supposed to guess whether they want us on 104.1 where WBMX is, or on 98.5 where the State PRIMARY facility is designated.

And I also have a gripe that the EOPS can't get the calls of 93.7 correct, or bother to mention the frequency.

Now you and I both know it is going to stay on 98.5, where it has been as long as I have been doing radio, close to 35 year now. But you'd think the people who are supposed to be in charge of this "voluntary" participation, would be able to get call signs and frequencies correct.

Am I asking all that much for the I's do be dotted and the T's to be crossed?

Then there is EOPS giving out questionable responses to simple questions. WBZ 1030 is the Statewide primary?
Since when? According to the information I have, it is the alternate. I have never logged an EAS test from WBZ AM and I am the person who was most likely to encounter the roll of thermal paper spit out of the EAS monitor in the middle of the night from 2 separate monitors, one for each AM I am currently affiliated with.

Oh well I'll let you know if EOPS responds again.

 

[Deleted User]

got a call bright and early today, 8:15 AM from someone at EOPS, and he was clueless about EAS.

I told him they have calls that didn't exist, calls that moved, conflicting information about primary monitoring, and I'd really like the correct information because the FCC doesn't take kindly to EAS monitors not being properly formatted if they walk in to do an unannounced inspection. I mentioned that broadcasters have been heavily fined for failure to have EAS monitors working. He was clueless!

He is going to "look into it" and maybe correct the website... I won't hold my breath.

 

[manuelian]

Actually the change in primary and alternate is very minor, but it doesn't impact monitoring assignments. It really only has to do with who the State Agency(s) is going to call to activate first.

The reason WBZ is now considered the primary is because our board ops can and do originate EAS activations and of course WBZ is a National primary.

If you check the ancient state plan you should see it requires stations in the Boston area to monitor both WBZ and WBMZ-FM (note the order!).
For the Merrimac Valley, Central and SouthEast regions the assignment is for the appropriate local primary and either WBZ or WBMX-FM.
So I would have to say MEMA has it right.

As for the recent change, format and call letter changes happen all the time. The monitoring assignment goes with the facility, not the call letters. But if the assignemnt was for 1901 and 25444 most people would not know what it means. Generally plans are not re-written for call letter changes, which is what happened here.

Mark Manuelian
Engineering Manager, WBZ
Massachusetts SECC Chair