The NAB is multi-faceted these days, with arms extending from education, research and technological innovation (NAB Labs) to advocacy (or legislative and regulatory affairs), from Standards Setting (and the Television Code – aka “The Seal of Good Practice”) to online events to workshops and conferences and everything in-between. Just entering their website overwhelms you with just how much they are connected and how much they have going on. But one of the facets of Nab is The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS).
The modern-day Emergency Alert System was ‘born’ as Conelrad (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) in 1951. Originally, it had a two-fold purpose: civil defense and to prevent soviet bombers from using our traditional (i.e., radio and TV) means of broadcasting as beacons to help locate and strike out at our major cities. Once ICBMs were developed, the system lost its tactical value. Those who grew-up in the 1950’s remember “Bert the Turtle” and “Duck and Cover” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5GZNJijWlQ). This came out during the Korean War, and readied children for a possible atomic bomb attack.
Conelrad morphed into the Emergency Broadcast System in 1963 during the Kennedy Administration, to allow the president to address the entire nation in an emergency. If you’d like to see one of the familiar EBS tests, a 1993 version can be viewed here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntxxxj69UxA.
This new incarnation lasted 34 years and incorporated state emergencies, as well. Although better than Conelrad, in 1971, the EBS had 
its first false alarm – but only a mere 20% of the TV and radio stations followed the guidelines for emergency broadcasting. This helped highlight some of the problems with the system. While it was the emergency broadcast system, it had 4 purposes: to deliver messages from the president, to deliver statewide emergency information, to deliver local emergency information, National programming and news, or a Zombie Apocalypse (Just kidding!).
According to www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/ebs.htm, these were the instructions for broadcast stations to follow:
1) DISCONTINUE NORMAL PROGRAM
2) BROADCAST THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
“This is a test. This station (optional — insert station call sign) is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.”
(TV stations shall display an appropriate EBS slide and transmit all announcements visually and aurally in the manner required by Section 73.1250(h) of the FCC rules. Stations which provide foreign language programming may transmit emergency announcements in the foreign language prior to broadcasting such announcements in English.)
3) TRANSMIT ATTENTION SIGNAL
Broadcast the two-tone Attention signal from the EBS encoder for 20 to 25 seconds (see Sections 73.906 and 73.940 of the Rules). The signal: the frequencies 853Hz and 960Hz played simultaneously.
4) BROADCAST ANNOUNCEMENT
“This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the Federal, State and local authorities have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency. If this had been an actual emergency, (optional — stations may mention the types of emergencies likely to occurr in their area) the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions. This station (optional — insert station call sign) serves the (operational area name) area. This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System.”
Finally, in 1997, it matured into the Emergency Alert System. On November 9th, 2011, at 2:00 PM Eastern time, the very first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test was conducted across the United States and territories. Its purpose now is to allow the president to address the nation within 10 minutes, and to warn of local emergencies (usually severe weather, it also has a national emergency function but that has never been used (even during 9/11). The emergency alert system is run by three government agencies: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Weather Service (NWS). The FCC explains it here: www.fcc.gov/guides/emergency-alert-system-eas.
How does all this work? Well I’m glad you asked! The EAS broadcasts via the nation’s TV and radio stations, but to get the message to them in the first place, the message is made from 4 parts: an attention signal, an audio announcement, a digital encoded end-of-message marker, and a digitally encoded S.A.M.E. Header (Specific Area Message Encoding header).
The SAME header is the most vital part of this system – it shows who sent the alert either local, state, national, or the president. It describes the event being reported (NWS severe weather alert, local emergency, presidential address, etc.). The signal also contains the area affected by the alert and the duration of that event, along with the date and time of the signals origination along with the ID of the originating broadcasting station.
The originating broadcasting station is any one of 77 radio stations that have been declared a National Primary Stations in the Primary
Entry Point. It’s called the PEP System for short. The emergency message is brought to any one of these stations for delivery thru the EAS. These PEP stations have been equipped by the federal government with additional broadcast equipment, and backup power generators. The system is currently being expanded for direct coverage of 90% of the US public.
But what happens if the Emergency Alert System activates, and nobody is near their televisions or radios? For example, when the Twin Towers fell in New York on that fateful day of September 11, 2001, cell service was also knocked out because the Trade Center held satellite antennas. If cell phones had had radio, the Emergency Broadcasting Network would have been able to send-out news and important information… instead, nobody really knew what was going on, except that their cells couldn’t get service. For more about IBOC technology, visit the FCC’s website at: www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/iboc-digital-radio-broadcasting-am-and-fm-radio-broadcast-stations.
So, what’s next, you ask? There will always be emergencies. The real trick will be how to get the message out to everyone, over the popular medium of the day. Perhaps a new way of doing things will be from a company called Digital alert Systems. Featuring its DASDEC(TM)-II Emergency Messaging Platform, DAS is poised to capture the emergency alert market with, what it hopes, will be the next spot-on alert. See: www.broadcastbeat.com/index.php/digital-alert-systems-2014-nab-show-preview. But for now, stay tuned – an emergency alert will probably be on its way shortly!
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