Nationwide EAS Test Early Results Show Few Difficulties
Early results of the third nationwide test of the emergency alert system Wednesday indicate few problems and a response in line with expectations, according to interviews with officials from broadcast and pay-TV EAS participants, state EAS representatives and the equipment industry. Roughly half the participants received the alert through the internet-based Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and half through the older, broadcast-based system, as expected (see 1708250053).
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Some who received the alert's broadcast-only version said it had poor audio quality. EAS experts said it was in line with expectations. “We haven’t seen any problems you wouldn’t also see in a monthly test,” said Harold Price, president of Sage Alerting Systems.
"The next step is for EAS participants – including broadcast television, radio, cable, satellite, and wireline video providers – to file post-test reports with the FCC," emailed FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes. "Our staff will review the data to assess how test participants performed. We will then work with FEMA and other stakeholders to identify whether any improvements are needed," Fowlkes said. "We appreciate the cooperation of all stakeholders in today’s test as we work to ensure that the Emergency Alert System remains an effective means of warning the public about emergencies."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency initiated the rest at 2:20 p.m. EDT as planned, though some stations didn’t air the alert until a few minutes later, EAS officials said. We heard the signal on WIHT(FM) Washington at about 2:22 p.m. EDT, the time we heard it on streams from FMs in the city's WETA and WTOP. It takes around 30 seconds for the alert to work its way through FEMA’s systems, Price said, and then downstream stations “poll” to receive the signal. Polling intervals aren’t standardized, though the industry recommendation is less than a minute, said Monroe Electronics Senior Director-Strategy and Government Affairs Ed Czarnecki. If a station polled just before the signal went out from FEMA, it wouldn’t receive the alert until a full polling interval had passed, Czarnecki said.
EAS participants that received the message's CAP version were able to provide clearer audio and slightly more information than those that polled the broadcast version of the alert first. Ohio cable operator MCTV received the broadcast version, and its customers’ screens went to a blue background with simple text announcing a “National Periodic Test,” MCTV Headend Technician Mike Ott told us. Alerts triggered by CAP included slightly more information about the national test and credited it as combined effort by FEMA and the FCC. The CAP version also allowed some broadcasters to provide the message in Spanish, while alerts triggered by the legacy system were limited to English, EAS officials told us.The legacy message may sometimes have passed through several stations, which can degrade its audio quality, said Roger Herring, director-operations at Sinclair’s KTUL Tulsa and Oklahoma SECC chair.
The test took a few minutes to work its way to Maine broadcasters, said National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations EAS Committee Chief Suzanne Goucher, the state's emergency communication committee chair. Some stations reported the legacy alert message as being muted and scratchy, Goucher said, and anecdotal complaints of bad EAS audio from the test were posted on Twitter. A short video on Twitter shows a car stereo broadcasting an apparently slowed down EAS message. Some Twitter users thought the national test was linked to recent tensions with North Korea. “#War with #NorthKorea is anyday,” said a tweet from video production specialist Robert Austin. “Ten minutes ago the #EAS (EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM) was briefly activated on our #TV. This WASN`T a usual test.”
A national FEMA conference call for EAS personnel Wednesday confirmed few problems with the test, participants recounted. Most but not all participants reported smooth sailing, Goucher and Herring said. Participants had until midnight Wednesday to file day-of-test reports, and a more substantive report is due in November. Though participation numbers weren’t available, Herring had the impression there was slight improvement in most areas from the last test in 2016. Price told us participation might suffer because of the many stations affected by recent hurricanes.
Some EAS participants had issues, experts said, while at least one told us all went fine. There were scattered reports of difficulties for some Charter Communications customers and some broadcasters in Alaska reported difficulty receiving the alert, industry officials said. The FCC and Charter didn't comment. Other companies we queried didn't comment right away, either.