At 2 PM Eastern time on November 9, 2011 the national emergency alert system or EAS was tested at the national level for the first time ever. As many people around the country tuned in to witness this event, they were met with various different messages and alerts including the song "Paparazzi" as sung by Lady Gaga. While some viewers saw the normal alert message and audio, others did not.
In the New York area, Fox TV on channel 5 seem to be somewhat of a normal test, although the graphic displayed with no audio for what seemed to be nearly a minute. Although the alert was supposed to take place on all channels and all radio stations simultaneously, what viewers actually saw was only the test graphic and no audio alert message, the audio alert message but no graphic, the test graphic and garbled audio, or nothing at all.
So how can this be a great success?
Byron Grandy, vice president and general manager of KMGH-TV in Denver was quoted as saying, "The purpose of this national test was to find out what the issues were." From that perspective, you could say that the test was actually successful in identifying problematic configurations and processes. So although the EAS experienced failures, the test clearly identified those errors in systems so they can be corrected and re-tested. At this time, another test is expected in the Spring of 2012.
Grady noted that at his station, he was "currently looking into the issue and will make necessary changes to ensure success in the future."
Problems elsewhere were reported in Washington DC where WJLA-TV was stuck on the EAS slate for nearly 4 min. and WMAL-FM experienced nearly 2 min. of dead air before the test actually ran.
To prevent panic, many stations ran a text crawl at the bottom of the screen reminding viewers of the upcoming test. When the test never occurred, it sparked an increase in calls to 911 from concerned viewers trying to report the failure.
The Emergency Broadcast System was originally designed in the 1950s and was later re-branded as the Emergency Alert System in the late 90s and is currently run by FEMA and the FCC. The intention of this "top-down" test was to ensure that the system could be activated nationally by the President of the United States in the event of a national emergency.
What was different about this test from the other tests that you see during the overnight hours on many TV stations?
Those are regionally activated tests in a specific area activated locally and manually. The national EAS test, although manually activated at the top level, was to cascade the event downstream automatically.
So what's next?
I would expect to see many stories both congratulating and criticizing the current mechanisms and procedures. But at the end of the day we now have the data required to interpret the failures, correct the problems, and establish a more stable environment for the future. Personally, I consider the "Nationwide EAS Test" a great success. We may not have passed the test with flying colors, but in my eyes, the test did it's job in pointing out deficiencies.
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Comments
Great information! Thanks for filling us in on this important topic. Too many people take this stuff for granted. You can be sure the next tst will have better results!
Posted 15 Nov 2011 at 02:27 AMGood to see that the test actualy provided some data, good or bad, it did provide a view of what is actually there.
If there are fixes and changes, so be it. At least we know now
Posted 2 Feb 2012 at 09:59 AMExcellent article.
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Posted 9 Feb 2012 at 05:08 AM