The Grinch is Stealing Christmas

[davideduardo]

Once again, cell phones work for a limited number of people or a limited geographic area, with limited messaging capabilities. They can hardly replace broadcasting as a means of disseminating information in an emergency situation.

Whatever system replaces EAS will have a time lag to allow equipment and facilities to be converted and installed. Since the lifespan of cellphones is relatively short, having some kind of emergency texting ability on all new phones might make more sense as the base of a system.

At most, radio can reach 12% to 13% of all people via live EAS and at no time do even a quarter of the people have their radio on. A true emergency system needs to be able to reach as close to everyone as possible. That means a multimedia system, and it must include cellphones.

 

[bossbill]

We mustn't forget that Conelrad, EBS, and EAS were not designed for local emergencies. Broadcasters are mandated to have the system in place so that the President can go on the air when the Soviets attack us.

Everything else is optional.

In today's world, texting is probably the best bet to reach large numbers of people in a short time, with instructions to tune to the radio stations, assuming that the radio stations elect to have emergency information on the air.

 

[flashback]

The time required to dial a large number of cell phones is considerably greater than getting a message out using radio, particularly if EAS is activated. And, the detail and immediacy of the message necessarily suffers. Less than 50% of subscribers have data-capable phones. Cell phones may work for a relatively small area, but their effectiveness declines as the area and/or number of recipients rises.

Radio still has greater potential to reach the masses with timely information. Cell phone's best use would be to advise people to turn on the radio for further information.

Again, if we look into the immense urban legend that is the Minot chemical spill incident, we see a semi-rural community with no manufacturing base where very few people are up after 11 PM or Midnight. So an EAS activation goes into the category of "if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, is there a sound?"

Radio listening in that sort of market is likely below 1% at 2 AM which is, IIRC, about the time that local authorities wanted to activate EAS without knowing how. If we expect that 1% or less to get out of bed and, like Paul Revere, alert all their neighbors, the amount of time needed to get dressed and get out far exceeds the time needed to do landline and cell calls.

At the peak times of the day, radio does NOT reach 87% of the population. At the low points, it does NOT reach 99% or more. For certain emergencies, it is a very poor system even when combined with TV and cable. That is why, as I mentioned, phone contact (both cellular and landline) was used in recent Los Angeles fires to alert residents living near burn areas.

Also keep in mind that about 25% of American homes are cell phone only, and in the under-35 group the percentage approaches 40%.

if one life is saved isn`t it worth while?

 

[flashback]

My post was intended to be a counter-example to your claim, just so you know. If you can send 30,000 text messages in five minutes, to students at a major university, you can surely send 15,000 text messages for every household in Minot, ND for a chemical spill.

Will you miss some people? Of course. Will you send alerts to people who aren't in Minot? Probably. But you can say pretty definitely that the EAS box at KIZZ/Minot would miss more people (who aren't plugged in at that particular moment) and alert more people who are listening outside of Minot.

what is wrong with both text messages and radio broadcasts used?it should be about saving everyone involved.despite what some people think not everyone has a cell phone.in fact there is a part of the cellphone users who don`t text and block text messages.

 

[flashback]

Now radio 2.0 is dying. Young people don't listen (so it has no future). It's no longer local. Most personalities people can relate to are gone. Everything is available on TV. Radio no longer has much of an identifiable inch. This radio is doing absolutely nothing to reinvent itself or to make itself relevant to today's audience.

It's interesting that some on these boards make that statement, when it's clear they have no actual data to back up the claim. So radio is dying? Maybe to you personally perhaps, but the fact is that radio listening is at an all time high. Granted AM listening is aging-out, but FM in particular is seeing a huge increase in listenership. Some would argue that with the new ratings methods, we can accurrately track actual listening habits, while others see the increase caused because of economic reasons.

Regarding your statement about "personalities", I disagree there too. Maybe your local "Uncle Wally in the morning" you supposedly remember as a child, or whomever are gone, they've been replaced with other more relevant talent that give todays listeners what they've been asking for over many years..more music, less talk. It's called giving the public what they want.

pretty much personality radio with music played is gone either an anouncer has not got time to say anything witty or the station won`t let them or they do a philibuster show either political like limbaugh or the other political talk show hosts or entertanment shows where the peple involved talk on and on without playing music at all like howard stern and bob and tom.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Here's a thought. Mandate FM receivers in cell phones. Then you don't have the issue of overloaded cell systems in emergency situations, and you reach cell phone users. And I, for one, would welcome FM capability on my cell phone.

 

[davideduardo]

if one life is saved isn`t it worth while?

But if lives are lost because those people never knew there was an emergency situation, and those in charge don't take action to reach them by alternate methods, then the system fails.

As Bill says, the current systems were based on letting us know when the Soviet nukes were inbound so we could kiss our ass goodbye...

Even though we use the system for alerts for all manner of storm, abduction and the like, it's nowhere near 100% effective because its reach is limited. I'm a radio diehard, but I am also quick to admit that radio alone can not alert everyone who needs to know today.

 

[K6JHU]

Many municipalities have what is called a "Reverse 911" system. That is the system dials all the numbers in the city and plays the emergency message. If you have a cell phone, you can tell the system via a web site to dial the cell phone as well. The message can even be targeted by neighborhood or down to specific streets. And it does this over multiple phone lines as well so it doesn't take all that long.

 

[MattParker]

Here's a thought. Mandate FM receivers in cell phones. Then you don't have the issue of overloaded cell systems in emergency situations, and you reach cell phone users. And I, for one, would welcome FM capability on my cell phone.

Fine. My phones have them. Go get one, if that's what you want. The question is: should manufacturers before to include and I forced to pay for it?

Besides, I'm using a Bluetooth headset, so the FM receiver doesn't work any way. FM receivers need an antenna and ear pod wires are used as the antenna. Oh, wait. Are you saying we should all before to use wired headsets, too? Or should the government mandate whip antennas on all cell phones.

Emergency messages can be programmed to get past any voice or text blocks. They wouldn't overload the system since they would reach every user with one blast.

Yes, some people are not using cell phones. And some people don't have a radio on. Or a TV. Whatever you do, not everybody gets reached. I was working on something and I did not have radio, TV, or the Internet on until over three hours after the World Trade Center collapsed. I also had may land line and cell phone turned off.

 

[flashback]

i think my point was missunderstood.i think there should be radio us to warn people.text messages used to warn people on phones and other means to warn people.

i wasn`t just advocating one way.