Emergency Alert System fails again

[nd2023]

Around 12:30 Monday afternoon I got a text that said "Civil Emergency in this area until 1:24 PM take shelter - US Government". I turned on NJ 101.5 expecting to hear news about the supposed emergency, and heard nothing. Nothing on WCBS, WINS, and FM News 101.9 either. In fact, no radio stations had an EAS alert. It was a clear day so it wasn't a weather emergency. I immediately thought there was a terrorist attack and my first thought was that Fort Dix was bombed. Many tense minutes passed by and still nothing on the radio. The only big thing I heard about that happened today was Occupy Wall Street's plan to shut down the ports, but I doubt such a dire warning would be sent out for that.

Then I found out that it was just a test gone wrong. I wonder why I didn't get that alert on my phone when they did the national EAS test. Now that we know it works, perhaps they should send emergency alerts via text messages too.

Just a test, but Verizon's 'civil emergency' text message spells fear, confusion around N.J.

 

[Tom Wells]

Nothing shall be so certain as to permit confusion.

 

[tom]

Your subject line is very misleading and untrue. Whatever Verizon did had absolutely NOTHING to do with EAS.

 

[nd2023]

It has nothing to do with the broadcast EAS. However, to the common person, they'll assume it's the same Emergency Alert System that interrupts radio and TV.

This was Verizon's Emergency Alert System that failed. The broadcast and cellular Emergency Alert Systems should be linked and there should be a monthly test for the cellular system. I could imagine if there's a weekly test, people will get tired of being woken up in the middle of the night for a test.

 

[PhoenixPark]

Nick, I participated in a recent FEMA webinar about the 9 November nationwide "test" that flunked miserably. Imagine the wall of silence met by my insistence to bring warm bodies back into broadcast control rooms to monitor and ride gain on these "tests" instead of relying on Commodore 64-styled technology to interrupt programming with something badly garbled and inaudible that could cause confusion and a War of The Worlds - styled public panic - idiotic, and somebody should have been ashamed of the waste of taxpayers' money and radio listeners' time! Repeal the Comm Act of '96!

 

[tom]

Nick, I participated in a recent FEMA webinar about the 9 November nationwide "test" that flunked miserably. Imagine the wall of silence met by my insistence to bring warm bodies back into broadcast control rooms to monitor and ride gain on these "tests" instead of relying on Commodore 64-styled technology to interrupt programming with something badly garbled and inaudible that could cause confusion and a War of The Worlds - styled public panic - idiotic, and somebody should have been ashamed of the waste of taxpayers' money and radio listeners' time! Repeal the Comm Act of '96!

Well Mr. Park ... The reason the National EAS Test failed (and failures show where the problems are)
as because of a HUMAN BEING, or as you say "warm body" who had his audio feeding back into the
conference call style setup FEMA used to get the test out. Now think about this, if it were an
actual "emergency" the live person would have had time to correct his mistake, and the information
would have gotten out just fine, and it would have been sent out again until it was right.
If it was 100% automated by perfectly working equipment, like major radio stations have
working and test weekly and more thoroughly monthly, it would have worked just fine.

Your "warm bodies" are who made the mistake. Since the message was only 30 some seconds
long, even a genius wouldn't have had time to fix it. It was ONLY A TEST.

Everyone who says it was a "failure" and they are glad their lives didn't depend on it is
totally off-base. If it were the real thing, the message would have gotten out within minutes.

 

[TheBigA]

Repeal the Comm Act of '96!

Huh? Where in the TCA of 96 does it say anything about EAS? It also doesn't say anything about station staffing. So repealing the 96 TCA wouldn't change a thing having to do with "warm bodies" in control rooms.

The reason EAS is set up this way is because of a systemactic process of governmental control over emergency procedures, starting in the 50s and culminating in the Homeland Security Act. The system was designed to allow the government to commandeer the airwaves. So to have "warm bodies" in the radio station would mean absolutely nothing. Those bodies have no authority, nor are they properly trained in the execution of proper emergency procedure. They never were. There was nothing in the FCC 3rd Class License test that would have prepared them for informing the public. But that license requirement was eliminated long before 1996.

The government has a very different interpretation of "public interest, convenience, and necessity." Their view is that the broadcasters keep the stations on the air at their expense, so that the government can walk in and use the airwaves whenever they want. Radio's job is operating and maintaining the facility in accordance with the law. Not deputizing DJs into becoming emergency control officers.

By the way, if you go to the Dallas board, you'll see that warm bodies were in fact in the control rooms during the November 9th test, and they were powerless to do anything.