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This Is Just a Test…
I’m sure everyone’s familar with the Emergency Alert System. “This is a test of the Emergency Alert System… This is only a test.” And then a loud noise. Back in the day, it was a loud constant noise, but in the past few years, it’s turned into a series of short noises or just silence.
In 1951, President Harry Truman established CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) as the first national alert system. Under CONELRAD, radio stations were required to broadcast only on certain frequencies during an emergency alert. This prevented an enemy from attacking by using transmissions from broadcast stations as a guide for its target.
CONELRAD later became the “Emergency Broadcast System” (EBS). The EBS was designed to provide the president with a means to address the American people in the event of a national emergency. Through the EBS, the president had access to thousands of broadcast stations to send an emergency message to the public.
In 1994, to overcome some of the limitations of the older EBS system, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) replaced the EBS with the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The major difference between EBS and EAS is the method used to alert broadcast stations about an incoming message.
The EAS is designed to provide the president with a means to address the American people in the event of a national emergency. Beginning in 1963, the president permitted state and local level emergency information to be transmitted using the system. Since then, local emergency management personnel have used the EAS structure to relay local emergency messages via broadcast stations, cable, and wireless cable systems. In October, 2005, the FCC expanded its rules to require EAS participation by digital television (DTV) broadcasters, digital cable television providers, digital broadcast radio, Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS), and DBS systems. These rules go into effect December 31, 2006, except for the DBS rules, which take effect on May 31, 2007. While participation in national EAS alerts is mandatory for these providers, state and local area EAS participation is currently voluntary.
The reason I even bring this up is because they’ve been playing the last few weeks, due to the number of storms we’ve been having. Anything that produces snow in the Bay Area is certainly going to get the Emergency Alert System sounding. As well, there tends to be a lot of flooding whenever a good amount of rain falls, simply because it’s NOT raining the majority of the year.
I just heard one a few moments ago warning of flooding near rivers, lakes, etc. I don’t live near any of those, so I’m good. And it’d take a LOT of water to make the ocean flood anything—hurricanes and typhoons aside.
Other than local news and information, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used for anything else… like, say 9/11 when everyone thought the world was ending.
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