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EAS Question

R

rzeis

WCIN/WDJO have broadcast the EAS tones twice today with no announcement as they have done many times over the months.
I called them and asked how are you supposed to know if it is a test or some type of watch or warning or do I need to turn on WLW to see what was really going on. The person that answered the phone said that it was a test and if there was a real problem that there would be a voice announcement. So is that how things are supposed to work? I always thought that some type of voice announcement was supposed to be made like they do on the weather radio as to why the EAS tone was set off especially on a day when there have been flood watches issued in the area.
 
That was true under the old EBS rules, and you were even given a script by the government and told that you were sending this EBS test "in voluntary cooperation with local, state, and federal authorities."

The EAS system, which came out in 1997, dropped all that. It was literally designed to be run in the middle of a song if the station so chooses.

But most PDs like to have some kind of announcement that "this is a test", so you usually hear something like that.

And running EAS tests on a bad weather day is in really bad form!
 
It depends on the PD's outlook as well. Some PD's want to be sure the audience understands what's airing while some figure that adding an announcement doubles the amount of air time (and therefore "tune out" time) dedicated to the test.

Then there are the stations that have no PD and very little staff, in which case, the EAS unit selects a random time, interrupts whatever is on the air (including paid spots) & airs the test. In the latter example, it's not practical to include an announcement.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
It depends on the PD's outlook as well. Some PD's want to be sure the audience understands what's airing while some figure that adding an announcement doubles the amount of air time (and therefore "tune out" time) dedicated to the test.

Then there are the stations that have no PD and very little staff, in which case, the EAS unit selects a random time, interrupts whatever is on the air (including paid spots) & airs the test. In the latter example, it's not practical to include an announcement.
Click to expand...

If you have a smart engineer, he can hook the EAS box into the automation system that will prevent tests from running over spots.
 
Thanks to all for the replies. And I am not doubting anyones answers. I do not work in radio so I would not know. It just seems that a station that would take the time to send the tones out would take the time to let the listener know what is really going on. They always get tune out time from me because I will tune in WLW to see if something is really going on.
Thanks again.
 
I NEED SAX said:
Thanks to all for the replies. And I am not doubting anyones answers. I do not work in radio so I would not know. It just seems that a station that would take the time to send the tones out would take the time to let the listener know what is really going on. They always get tune out time from me because I will tune in WLW to see if something is really going on.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Every answer so far has been correct, but I would point out that some automation systems don't have the capability of remotely doing the EAS test.

And it's not a matter of "taking the time," as much as it's something the government makes you do. Some stations just want to get in and out as quickly as possible.

And there is another possibility. I know of a station that has the EAS encoder mounted in a rack, probably 150' or more from the studio. It's literally from one end of a long hallway to the other, turn the corner, and go to the end of the NEXT hallway to the EAS encoder. There just isn't a way to do it other than right over whatever happens to be playing. (They don't do it during spots.) They COULD hook up a remote start for that, or better yet, they could move the box to the studio. But nobody ever has.
 
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