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EAS TEST DURING A'S GAME

D

djj

Funny...I have never heard an EAS/EBS test abruptly performed in the middle of a ballgame
on radio. That is, until 1:38 this afternoon, when that occurred on KTRB 860's Rangers/A's
broadcast, interrupting 4th-inning action...

It didn't phase PBP-man Vince Cotroneo any; they probably don't use KTRB as an air monitor...

Sort of reminds me: the A's/Giants World Series memories of October 17, 1989 is beckoning...
--jay
 
Welcome to the "New" world of radio. Nobody cares anymore.
 
djj said:
Funny...I have never heard an EAS/EBS test abruptly performed in the middle of a ballgame
on radio. That is, until 1:38 this afternoon, when that occurred on KTRB 860's Rangers/A's
broadcast, interrupting 4th-inning action...

It didn't phase PBP-man Vince Cotroneo any; they probably don't use KTRB as an air monitor...

Sort of reminds me: the A's/Giants World Series memories of October 17, 1989 is beckoning...
--jay
Click to expand...

Heads up: an emergency can and has happened during a baseball game. It might, OMG, even happen during American Idol.

In any case, was this a station originated test, or a required relay of the primary test?
 
DavidEduardo said:
Heads up: an emergency can and has happened during a baseball game. It might, OMG, even happen during American Idol.
In any case, was this a station originated test, or a required relay of the primary test?
Click to expand...

Unsure, David - the EAS tones just popped-up unannounced (no verbal forewarning), so I'll
assume it was station-originated, as the EAS tones overrode Vince's play-by-play before the
end of the inning...

You are right about how emergencies can happen. Ironically, though, on October 17, 1989,
EBS was a total failure around 5:04 p.m. during you-know-what (Loma Prieta)...

10/17/89 was one of the reasons the EAS system was brought on: to (supposedly) perform
better than EBS in an emergency...
--jay
 
djj said:
You are right about how emergencies can happen. Ironically, though, on October 17, 1989,
EBS was a total failure around 5:04 p.m. during you-know-what (Loma Prieta)...

10/17/89 was one of the reasons the EAS system was brought on: to (supposedly) perform
better than EBS in an emergency...
--jay
Click to expand...

What do you mean that EBS was a "total failure"? It worked. KNBR was feeding EBS and several stations such as KALW relayed it just fine. In fact KALW and some other stations kept carrying the KNBR feed until KNBR began doing station IDs and commercials.

But more to the point, the Loma Prieta quake really wasn't the kind of thing EBS/EAS were designed for anyway. We already knew there was a disaster, so an emergency activation was pointless. EAS is really only suitable for potential or impending disasters such as spreading wildfires or floods where people need to be warned to take action. There's no action that can be taken once a quake happens, except to get clear of buildings, which people already know to do.

From what I remember, the EBS activation that KNBR ran was mostly a recounting of what happened (duh) and reading of lists of places people could get food and shelter that night.
 
Really? As I scanned across the dial, the ONLY thing on the first few minutes was KKIS-AM in Concord, KNBR was not on the air. I talked to Bob Agnew years ago about this...he was PD there at the time, and recounted what they had to go through to get back on the air. No one but KKIS was on the air for the 1st 45 minutes following the quake, as I recall.
 
I would prefer to hear an EAS over Ken and Vince's voice..they put me to sleep.
 
djj said:
Unsure, David - the EAS tones just popped-up unannounced (no verbal forewarning), so I'll
assume it was station-originated, as the EAS tones overrode Vince's play-by-play before the
end of the inning...
Click to expand...

Most likely KTRB has their EAS machine set to auto-interrupt, auto-relay, and auto-log. No operator intervention necessary, the test is transmitted, and somewhere or other a little piece of paper logs it. As someone earlier in this thread said, welcome to the world of "nobody cares".

Dave B.
 
SFStatic said:
Really? As I scanned across the dial, the ONLY thing on the first few minutes was KKIS-AM in Concord, KNBR was not on the air. I talked to Bob Agnew years ago about this...he was PD there at the time, and recounted what they had to go through to get back on the air. No one but KKIS was on the air for the 1st 45 minutes following the quake, as I recall.
Click to expand...

What I know about KALW's relay of KNBR's EBS program comes from a recounting by the late Dave Evans, then the CE of KALW, and the de facto operations manager that day. I do remember at least one or two local AM stations being on the air because I was on Geary Blvd across the street from Mel's Drive-In and walked over there as people were clutching radios and sitting in their cars listening. That's how we learned that a panel on the Bay Bridge had collapsed only moments after it had happened. So, obviously some station was on and giving out info.

If KNBR wasn't on then at some point they did come on because Dave Evans told me specifically that KNBR ran the EBS sounder and KALW and another station (which call I don't remember) heard it and patched into KNBR and ran their programming.
 
All of which brings up another question ... since KNBR has no news department anymore, shouldn't the designation go to KCBS or KGO? Not that sportstalk hosts couldn't do the job, but some jobs are better left to professionals.
 
KCBS is and has been the EBS primary. KQED is the secondary. All stations get tests from them both every week, and have to log them.
 
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