Emergency Alert System
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The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via
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,
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and
broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
television and AM, FM and
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
radio. Informally, ''Emergency Alert System'' is sometimes conflated with its mobile phone counterpart Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), a different but related system. However, both the EAS and WEA, among other systems, are coordinated under the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The EAS, and more broadly IPAWS, allows federal, state, and local authorities to efficiently broadcast emergency alert and warning messages across multiple channels. The EAS became operational on January 1, 1997, after being approved by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) in November 1994, replacing the
Emergency Broadcast System The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an Emergency population warning, emergency warning system used in the United States. It was the most commonly used, along with the Local ...
(EBS), and largely supplanted Local Access Alert systems, though Local Access Alert systems are still used from time to time. Its main improvement over the EBS, and perhaps its most distinctive feature, is its application of a digitally encoded audio signal known as
Specific Area Message Encoding Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a Communications protocol, protocol used for framing and classification of broadcasting Emergency population warning, emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Serv ...
(SAME), which is responsible for the characteristic "screeching" or "chirping" sounds at the start and end of each message. The first signal is the "header" which encodes, among other information, the alert type and locations, or the ''specific area'' that should receive the message. The last short burst marks the end-of-message. These signals are read by specialized encoder-decoder equipment. This design allows for automated station-to-station relay of alerts to only the area the alert was intended for. Like the Emergency Broadcast System, the system is primarily designed to allow the
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
to address the country via all radio and television stations in the event of a national emergency. Despite this, neither the system nor its predecessors have been used in this manner. The ubiquity of news coverage in these situations, such as during the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, has been credited to making usage of the system unnecessary or redundant. In practice, it is used at a regional scale to distribute information regarding imminent threats to public safety, such as severe weather situations (including
flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...
s and
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
es), AMBER Alerts, and other civil emergencies. It is jointly coordinated by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
(FEMA), the FCC, and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA). The EAS regulations and standards are governed by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the FCC. All broadcast television, broadcast and
satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a '' broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than te ...
stations, as well as
multichannel video programming distributor A multichannel television service, also known as simply a television provider, is a type of service provider who distributes television programming to its customers for a subscription fee. Subscription television providers distribute televisio ...
s (MVPDs), are required to participate in the system.


Technical concept

Messages in the EAS are composed of four parts: a digitally encoded
Specific Area Message Encoding Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a Communications protocol, protocol used for framing and classification of broadcasting Emergency population warning, emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Serv ...
(SAME) header, an attention signal, an audio announcement, and a digitally encoded end-of-message marker. The is the most critical part of the EAS design. It contains information about who originated the alert (the president, state or local authorities, the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NOAA/NWS), or the broadcaster), a short, general description of the event (tornado, flood, severe thunderstorm), the areas affected (up to 32 counties or states), the expected duration of the event (in minutes), the date and time it was issued (in UTC), and an identification of the originating station. There are 79 radio stations designated as National Primary Stations in the Primary Entry Point (PEP) System to distribute presidential messages to other broadcast stations and cable systems. The National Emergency Message (formerly known as the Emergency Action Notification) is the notice to broadcasters that the president of the United States or their designee will deliver a message over the EAS via the PEP system. The government has stated that the system would allow a president to speak during a national emergency within 10 minutes.


Primary Entry Point stations

The National Public Warning System, also known as the Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations, is a network of 77 radio stations that are, in coordination with FEMA, used to originate emergency alert and warning information to the public before, during, and after incidents and disasters. PEP stations are equipped with additional and backup communications equipment and power generators designed to enable them to continue broadcasting information to the public during and after an event. Beginning with WJR Detroit and
WLW WLW (700 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial news/talk radio station city of license, licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as "The Big One". Its studios ...
Cincinnati in 2016, FEMA began the process of constructing transportable studio shelters at the transmitters of 33 PEP stations, which feature broadcasting equipment, emergency provisions, a rest area, and an air filtration system. NPWS project manager Manny Centeno explained that these shelters were designed to " xpandthe survivability of these stations to include an all hazards platform, which means chemical, biological, radiological air protection and protection from electromagnetic pulse."


Communication links

The FEMA National Radio System (FNARS) "Provides Primary Entry Point service to the Emergency Alert System", and acts as an emergency presidential link into the EAS. The FNARS net control station is located at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center. Once an EAN is received by an EAS participant from a PEP station (or any other participant) the message then "daisy chains through the network of participants. "Daisy chains" form when one station receives a message from multiple other stations and the station then forwards that message to multiple other stations. This process creates many redundant paths through which the message may flow, increasing the likelihood that the message will be received by all participants and adding to the survivability of the system. Each EAS participant is required to monitor at least two other participants.


EAS header

Because the header lacks error detection codes, it is repeated three times for redundancy. EAS decoders compare the received headers against one another, looking for an exact match between any two, eliminating most errors that can cause an activation to fail. The decoder then decides whether to ignore the message or to relay it on the air if the message applies to the local area served by the station (following parameters set by the broadcaster). The SAME header bursts are followed by an EAS attention tone, which lasts between 8 and 25 seconds, depending on the originating station. The tone is on a
NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of Very high frequency, VHF Frequency modulation, FM weather radio stations in the United States which broadcast weather information direct ...
station. On commercial broadcast stations, a attention signal of 853  Hz and 960 Hz
sine wave A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or sinusoid (symbol: ∿) is a periodic function, periodic wave whose waveform (shape) is the trigonometric function, trigonometric sine, sine function. In mechanics, as a linear motion over time, this is ''simple ...
s is used instead, the same signal used by the older
Emergency Broadcast System The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an Emergency population warning, emergency warning system used in the United States. It was the most commonly used, along with the Local ...
. These tones have become infamous, and can be considered both frightening and annoying by listeners; in fact, the two tones, which form approximately the interval of a just
major second In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more de ...
at an unusually high pitch, were chosen specifically for their ability to draw attention, due to their unpleasantness on the human ear. The SAME header is equally known for its shrillness, which many have found to be startling. The "two-tone" system is no longer required as of 1998, and is to be used only for audio alerts before EAS messages. Like the EBS, the attention signal is followed by a voice message describing the details of the alert. The message ends with 3 bursts of the
AFSK Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is encoded on a carrier signal by periodically shifting the frequency of the carrier between several discrete frequencies. The technology is used for c ...
"EOM", or End of Message, which is the text NNNN, preceded each time by the binary 10101011 calibration.


IPAWS

Under a 2006 executive order issued by
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
, the U.S. government was instructed to create "an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive" public warning system. This was accomplished via expansions to the aforementioned PEP network, and the development of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)—a national aggregator and distributor of alert information using the
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...
-based
Common Alerting Protocol The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to m ...
(CAP) and an internet network. IPAWS can be used to distribute alert information to EAS participants, supported mobile phones ( Wireless Emergency Alerts), and other platforms. IPAWS also allows the audio portion of an EAS message to utilize higher quality
digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...
, rather than needing to carry the audio off-air from the originating station. Under an FCC report and order issued in 2007, EAS participants would be required to migrate to digital equipment supporting CAP within 180 days of the specification's adoption by FEMA. This was originally scheduled for September 30, 2010, but the deadline was later delayed to June 30, 2012 at the request of broadcasters. The FCC has established that IPAWS is not a full substitute for the SAME protocol, as it is vulnerable to situations that may make internet connectivity unavailable. Therefore, as a backup distribution path, broadcasters must also convert CAP messages to SAME headers to enable
backwards compatibility In telecommunications and computing, backward compatibility (or backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, software, real-world product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with Input ...
with the existing "daisy chain" method of EAS distribution. In December 2021, the FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to prioritize the display of alert audio and text from CAP messages, in order to provide higher quality alert audio, improve parity between the visual display and audio for the benefit of the hearing impaired, and to reduce the amount of technical
jargon Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...
contained within the visual display. The rules were enacted in September 2022, with a deadline of December 12, 2023, for compliance; the FCC later granted an extension to some broadcasters due to a delay in the release of associated software updates by EAS decoder vendor Sage.


Station requirements

The FCC requires all broadcast stations and
multichannel video programming distributor A multichannel television service, also known as simply a television provider, is a type of service provider who distributes television programming to its customers for a subscription fee. Subscription television providers distribute televisio ...
s (MVPD), hereafter "EAS participants", to install and maintain FCC-certified EAS decoders and encoders at their control points or headends. These decoders continuously monitor the signals from other nearby broadcast stations for EAS messages. For reliability, at least two source stations must be monitored, one of which must be a designated ''local primary''. Participants are to retain the latest version of the EAS handbook. EAS participants are required by federal law to relay National Emergency Messages (EAN, formerly Emergency Action Notification) immediately (47 CFR Part 11.54). Broadcasters traditionally have been allowed to opt out of relaying other alerts such as
severe weather Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. These vary depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmospheric conditions. High ...
, and
child abduction Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a Minor (law), minor (a child under the age of Age of majority, legal adulthood) from the Child custody, custody of the child's Parent, natural parents or Legal guardian, legally appoi ...
emergencies ( AMBER Alerts) if they so choose. In practice, many television stations usually interrupt regularly-scheduled programming during newsworthy situations (such as severe weather) to provide extended coverage from their
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departments. If possible, EAS participants must transmit the audio, and (where applicable) a visual display containing the extended text, from the associated CAP message. EAS participants are required to keep logs of all received messages. Logs may be kept by hand but are usually kept automatically by a small receipt printer in the encoder/decoder unit. Logs may also be kept electronically inside the unit as long as there is access to an external printer or method to transfer them to a
computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
.


System tests

All EAS equipment must be tested on a weekly basis. The required weekly test (RWT) consists, at a minimum, of the header and end-of-message tones. Though an RWT does not need an audio or graphic message announcing the test, many stations provide them as a courtesy to the public. In addition, television stations are not required to transmit a video message for weekly tests. RWTs are scheduled by the station on random days and times, though quite often during late night or early afternoon hours, and are generally not relayed. Required monthly tests (RMTs) are generally originated by the local or state primary station, a state emergency management agency, or by the National Weather Service and are then relayed by broadcast stations and cable channels. RMTs must be performed between 8:30 a.m. and local sunset during odd numbered months, and between local sunset and 8:30 a.m. during even-numbered months. Received monthly tests must be retransmitted within 60 minutes of receipt. Additionally, an RMT should not be scheduled or conducted during an event of great importance such as a pre-announced presidential speech, coverage of a national/local election, major local or national news coverage outside regularly scheduled newscast hours or a major national sporting event such as the
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or
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, with other events such as the
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and
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mentioned in individual EAS state plans. An RWT is not required during a calendar week in which an RMT is scheduled. No testing has to be done during a calendar week in which all parts of the EAS (header burst, attention signal, audio message, and end of message burst) have been legitimately activated. In July 2018, in response to the aftermath of the false missile alert in Hawaii earlier in the year (which was caused by operator error during an internal drill protocol), the FCC announced that it would take steps to promote public awareness and improve efficiency of the system, including requiring safeguards to prevent distribution of false alarms, the ability to authorize "live code" tests—which would simulate the process and response to an actual emergency, and authorizations to use the EAS tones in public service announcements that promote awareness of the system.


Nationwide tests

On February 3, 2011, the FCC announced plans and procedures for national EAS tests, which involve all television and radio stations connected to the EAS, as well as all cable and satellite services in the United States. They are not relayed on the
NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of Very high frequency, VHF Frequency modulation, FM weather radio stations in the United States which broadcast weather information direct ...
(NOAA/NWS) network as it is an initiation-only network and does not receive messages from the PEP network. The national test would transmit and relay an Emergency Action Notification on November 9, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
found that only half of the participants received the message via Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and some "failed to receive or retransmit alerts due to erroneous equipment configuration, equipment readiness and upkeep issues, and confusion regarding EAS rules and technical requirements", and that participation among low-power broadcasters was low. Many reported visuals or audio missing, and in the case of
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
, hearing
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music instead. To reduce viewer confusion, the FCC stated that future national tests would be delivered under the new event code "National Periodic Test" ("NPT"), and list "United States" as its location. A second national test, the first classified as an NPT, occurred on September 28, 2016 as part of National Preparedness Month. A third national periodic test occurred on September 27, 2017. The fourth NPT occurred on October 3, 2018 (delayed from September 20, 2018, due to Hurricane Florence). It was preceded by the first mandatory wireless emergency alert test. The fifth NPT occurred on August 7, 2019, and moved up from past years to prevent it from occurring during the heart of the
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. The test focused exclusively on distribution to broadcast outlets and television providers via the primary entry point network to gauge the efficiency of alert distribution in the event the internet cannot be used. The sixth NPT was postponed to 2021 amid the ongoing
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"out of consideration for the unusual circumstances and working conditions for those in the broadcast and cable industry." The sixth test occurred on August 11, 2021, at 2:20 pm EDT. This test involved the WEA system alongside television and radio. As of 2022, as part of a clarification and streamlining of terminology used in messages, further NPTs will now be referred to in the test message as a "Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System" issued by the
United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
. On May 3, 2022, it was announced that the seventh NPT would not take place during 2022, and instead occur in early 2023. On August 3, 2023, FEMA and the FCC announced that the seventh NPT would occur October 4, 2023 with a backup date of October 11, 2023. The test commenced just before 2:20 pm ET, and consisted of an alert on TV/radio as well as a WEA on all cell phones.


Additions and proposals

The number of event types in the national system has grown to eighty. At first, all but three of the events (civil emergency message, immediate evacuation, and emergency action notification ational emergency were weather-related (such as a tornado warning). Since then, several classes of non-weather emergencies have been added, including, in most states, the AMBER Alert System for child abduction emergencies. In 2016, three additional weather alert codes were authorized for use in relation to hurricane events, including Extreme Wind Warning (EWW), Storm Surge Warning (SSW) and Storm Surge Watch (SSA). In 2004, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) seeking comment on whether EAS in its present form is the most effective mechanism for warning the American public of an emergency and, if not, on how EAS can be improved, such as mandatory text messages to cellphones, regardless of subscription. As noted above, rules implemented by the FCC on July 12, 2007 provisionally endorse incorporating CAP with the SAME protocol. In November 2020, Congress passed the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act. First sponsored by Hawaii Senator
Brian Schatz Brian Emanuel Schatz ( ; born October 20, 1972) is an American educator and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii, a seat he has held since 2012. A member ...
in response to the Hawaii false missile alert, it amends the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act to require distribution of wireless alerts issued by the administrator of FEMA, and commands the FCC to establish a means of reporting false alerts, encourage the establishment of State Emergency Communications Committees (SECC) that would meet annually to evaluate their EAS plans, require the repetition of alerts surrounding "emergencies of national significance", and open an inquiry into the feasibility of implementing the EAS on internet-related services.


Limitations

The EAS can only be used to relay audio messages that preempt all programming; as the intent of an Emergency Action Notification is to serve as a "last-ditch effort to get a message out if the president cannot get to the media", it can easily be made redundant by the immediate and constant coverage that major weather events and other newsworthy situations—such as, most prominently, the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001—receive from television broadcasters and
news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...
s. Following the attacks, then-FCC chairman Michael K. Powell cited "the ubiquitous media environment" as justification for not using the EAS in their immediate aftermath. Glenn Collins of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' acknowledged these limitations, noting that "no president has ever used the current ASsystem or its technical predecessors in the last 50 years, despite the Soviet missile crisis, a presidential assassination, the
Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...
, major earthquakes and three recent high-alert terrorist warnings", and that using it would have actually hindered the availability of live coverage from media outlets. Following the tornado outbreak of March 3, 2019, Birmingham, Alabama NWS meteorologist Kevin Laws told
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
that he, personally, wished that alerts could be updated in real-time in order to reflect the unpredictable nature of weather events, noting that the storm system's unexpected change in trajectory towards Lee County resulted in only a nine-minute warning (the resulting tornado would kill 23 people). The trend of
cord cutting In broadcast television, cord-cutting refers to the pattern of viewers, referred to as cord-cutters, cancelling their subscriptions to multichannel television services available over cable or satellite, dropping pay television channels or reducing ...
has led to concerns that viewers' lessened use of broadcast media in favor of streaming video services would inhibit their ability to receive emergency information (notwithstanding availability of alerts on mobile phones). The READI Act called for an inquiry into the distribution of alerts via internet platforms.


Incidents


False alarms

* On April 21, 1997, several television and radio stations in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, and
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
mistakenly received a false Emergency Action Notification. Early indications pointed to a human error at the National Emergency Coordination Center in Virginia that routed a test requested by a relay for the
Chicago Metropolitan Area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...
to test out one radio station's then-new EAS equipment as part of the EBS/EAS transition. * On February 1, 2005 in
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, an alert was mistakenly issued calling for the immediate evacuation of the entire state. The alert contained no specific detail on why it had been issued. The message was broadcast due to operator error while conducting an unannounced, but scheduled statewide test. A study conducted following the incident reported that at least 11% of residents actually saw the warning live, and that 63% of those surveyed were "a little or not at all concerned"—citing a suspicious lack of detail in the message, which a legitimate alert would include. Only 1% of those surveyed actually attempted to leave the state. Connecticut State Police did not receive any calls related to the incident. * On June 26, 2007 at 7:35 a.m. CDT, an EAN was accidentally issued in
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, when a new satellite receiver at the state's EOC was accidentally connected to a live system before final internal testing of the new delivery path had been completed. The alert was followed by
dead air Dead air, also known as unmodulated carrier, is an unintended period of silence that interrupts a broadcast during which no audio or video program material is transmitted. Radio and television Dead air occurs in radio broadcasting when no audio ...
, and then audio from designated station 720 WGN in Chicago being simulcast across almost every television and radio station in the Chicago area and throughout much of Illinois. A confused Spike O'Dell, host of the station's morning show at the time, was heard on-air wondering "what that beeping was all about". * On May 19, 2010,
NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of Very high frequency, VHF Frequency modulation, FM weather radio stations in the United States which broadcast weather information direct ...
and CSEPP tone alert radios in the Hermiston, Oregon area, near the Umatilla Chemical Depot, were activated with an EAS alert shortly after 5 p.m. The message transmitted was for a severe thunderstorm warning, issued by the National Weather Service in Pendleton, but the transmission broadcast instead was a long period of silence, followed by a few words in Spanish. Umatilla County Emergency Management has stressed there was no emergency at the depot. * On September 3, 2016, in the wake of Tropical Storm Hermine, an alert was displayed on television calling for the immediate evacuation of the entirety of Suffolk County, abruptly ending with the incomplete sentence "This is an emergency message from". About 15 minutes after the original message was sent, the alert was re-issued with an addendum clarifying that the alert was actually calling for a voluntary evacuation of
Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...
—a
barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...
of
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. Officials cited an error in the county's Code Red system; while the correct message was entered into the system, an error processing an abbreviated message for television resulted in the error. * On May 23, 2017, at around 8:55 p.m. EDT, a Nuclear Power Plant Warning was issued for the Hope Creek and Salem Nuclear Power Plants. The alert was issued for Salem and
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
counties in New Jersey. In a statement by the New Jersey State Police, it was a test message, intended for a small group of emergency management personnel who were participating in the test. Due to a coding error, the message was publicly broadcast. This would happen again in July 2022. * On August 15, 2017 at approximately 12:25 a.m. ChST,
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
stations KTWG and KSTO transmitted a civil danger warning for the island; Guam Homeland Security described the message, which interrupted programming on the stations, and was received on television by some viewers, as being an "unauthorized test" of the EAS. The incident's impact was strengthened, as
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
had threatened the launch of ballistic missiles towards Guam only a few days beforehand. Numerous calls to 911 operators and the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
were made following the broadcast. * On January 13, 2018 at approximately 8:07 a.m. HST, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) mistakenly issued an emergency alert warning of a ballistic missile inbound threatening the region, which was claimed to be not a drill. 38 minutes later, it was announced by HI-EMA and the
Honolulu Police Department The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the Honolulu County, Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu CDP. Officially re ...
that the alert was a false alarm. The incident came amidst heightened concern over the possibility that Hawaii could be targeted by North Korean missiles (in December 2017, Hawaii tested its missile sirens for the first time since the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
). HI-EMA administrator Vern Miyagi stated that the incident was a "mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift". * On August 31, 2022, amid
wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
, an immediate evacuation notice for the Castiac, California area, which was issued by the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management and transmitted over NOAA Weather Radio, was mistakenly sent out to include the Eastern North Pacific Ocean and Port Conception to Guadalupe; the alert text repeatedly listed "Eastern North Pacific Ocean" or "Eastern North Pacific" twelve different times. Although a real emergency had occurred, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office stated that the alert had been issued for those areas in error.


Cybersecurity breaches

EAS equipment has been the subject of various cyberattacks, caused primarily by participants using insecure or factory default passwords on their encoders and decoders, and outdated software containing unpatched
vulnerabilities Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." The understanding of social and environmental vulnerability, as a methodological approach, involves ...
. On multiple occasions, federal government departments have warned that failure to employ secure passwords and keep software updated made EAS equipment vulnerable to such attacks, which could result in disruptions such as false alerts. * In February 2013, the EAS equipment of several stations in
Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the List of cities and towns in Montana, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...
and
Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is the county seat of Marquette County, Michigan, Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port known primarily for shippin ...
were breached to play a false alert allegedly warning of a
zombie apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Usually, only a few individuals or small bands of human survivors are left living. There are many d ...
, using the lines "Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from the graves and attacking the living". It was identified that the attack had come from an "overseas" source. Furthermore, the broadcasters had neglected to change the factory default logins or passwords on their equipment. Because of this, the FCC, FEMA, equipment manufacturers, as well as trade groups, including the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, urged broadcasters to change their passwords and to recheck their security measures. ** In a related incident,
WIZM-FM WIZM-FM (93.3 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a contemporary hit radio format. Licensed to La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, the station serves the La Crosse area. The station is currently owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting. WIZM-FM ...
in
La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 202 ...
accidentally triggered the EAS on television station WKBT-DT by airing a recording of the false message during its morning show. The relayed audio included the hosts' reactions and laughter to the clip. * On February 28, 2017,
WZZY WZZY is a local radio station in Winchester, Indiana. The station is located on 98.3 on the FM dial and broadcasts at an effective radiated power of 3,000 watts. Studios and offices are located at the Whitewater Broadcasting complex on West Main ...
in
Winchester, Indiana Winchester is a city in White River Township, Randolph County, Indiana, United States. The city is the county seat of Randolph County. The population was 4,843 at the 2020 census. It is the home of Winchester Speedway. History Winchester was l ...
was hijacked in a nearly identical manner, playing the same "dead bodies" audio from the February 2013 incidents. The incident prompted a public response from the Randolph County Sheriff's Department clarifying that there was no actual emergency. * In January 2020, ''Security Ledger'' published an investigation finding that at least 50 EAS decoders by Digital Alert Systems had not been patched for a security vulnerability (use of a shared SSH key) found by IOActive in 2013. * On February 20, 2020, the EAS equipment of Washington-based provider
Wave Broadband WaveDivision Holdings, LLC, doing business as Wave Broadband, is an American provider of residential, business, and enterprise class cable TV, broadband Internet, and telephone services to around 455,000 customers in Washington, Oregon, and Ca ...
was hijacked, causing approximately 3,000 customers in Jefferson County to receive several false alerts (including a "Radiological Hazard Warning"), which contained irrelevant and comedic messages (including one suggesting that the provider change its passwords) and alert audio referencing
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s and Twitch streamer
Vinesauce Vinesauce is a collective of online content creators founded in 2010. The group primarily focuses on video game livestreaming and commentary videos. The group is most notable for content in which video games are corrupted to cause glitches, a ...
(who was unaffiliated with this breach). On March 2 and 3, 2020, a legitimate Required Monthly Test was displayed with a message ("AIGHT IM DONE U CAN REST NOW. MR GERDE WAS HERE") that had also appeared in the hijack: a company official stated that this was a remnant of the attack that had not yet been removed.


Tone usage outside of alerts

To protect the integrity of the system, and prevent false activations, the FCC prohibits the use of actual or simulated EAS/WEA tones and attention signals outside of genuine alerts, tests, or authorized
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
s, especially when they are used "to capture audience attention during advertisements; dramatic, entertainment, and educational programs" (even if the footage is documentation of an event where an actual alert was issued). Broadcasters who misuse the tones may be sanctioned (including being required to partake in compliance measures) and fined. * Tones from the EAS were used in the trailer for the 2013 film ''
Olympus Has Fallen ''Olympus Has Fallen'' is a 2013 American political action thriller film directed and co-produced by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, and is the first installment in the ''Has Fallen'' fil ...
''; cable providers were fined $1.9 million by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 3, 2014, for misuse of EAS tones. An event similar to this previously occurred in November 2013, when TBS was fined $25,000 for the use of EAS tones in a '' Conan'' advertisement. * During the October 24, 2014 episode of the syndicated radio show '' The Bobby Bones Show'', host Bobby Bones played audio from the 2011 national test as part of a rant about a genuine test from Nashville's Fox affiliate,
WZTV WZTV (channel 17) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WUXP-TV (channel 30) as well as ...
, that interrupted Game 2 of the 2014 World Series on October 22. The errant Emergency Action Notification was relayed to some broadcasters and cable systems—particularly those not configured to reject EAN messages that did not match the current date. On May 19, 2015,
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
, who distributes the show and owns its flagship station WSIX-FM, was fined $1 million for the incident. The company was also ordered to implement a three-year compliance plan to avoid any further incidents, including removing all EAS tones or similar-sounding noises from its audio production libraries. * From August 4 to 6, 2016, Tegna, Inc.-owned
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate
WTLV WTLV (channel 12) is a television station in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Orange Park, Florida, Orange Park–licensed American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate WJXX (channel ...
in
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
aired an ad several times during NBC's primetime coverage of the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
produced by the marketing department of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
's
Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...
featuring out-of-sequence EAS tones over Jaguars training camp footage and a voiceover noting "this is not a test, this is an emergency broadcast transmission...seek shelter immediately", along with the on-screen text "the storm is coming". The ad aired four times before station compliance authorities pulled the advertisement after the
local news In journalism, local news refers to coverage of events, by the news, in a local context that would not be of interest to another locality, or otherwise be of national or international scope. Local news, in contrast to national or international new ...
industry blog FTVLive criticized the station for carrying it, especially during the peak of the
Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when Tropical cyclone, tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention ...
. FTVLive's piece would be noted by the FCC in their decision against WTLV rendered on May 30, 2017, when it was given a $55,000 fine for carrying the offending Jaguars ad. * The FCC issued several fines relating to EAS tone usage in August 2019, including ABC being fined $395,000 for using wireless emergency alert tones multiple times during a '' Jimmy Kimmel Live'' sketch,
AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American mass media and entertainment corporation headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York City. The company owns and operates the AMC cable channel, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and We TV. It also owns the art ho ...
being fined $104,000 for using the tones in '' The Walking Dead'' episode "
Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
", Discovery Inc. being fined $68,000 for including footage of an actual WEA activation during a '' Lone Star Law'' episode filmed during
Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...
, and Meruelo Group was fined $61,000 for including an EAS-like tone during a radio advertisement for
KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are locate ...
and
KDEY-FM KDEY-FM (93.5 MHz, "93.5 KDAY") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Ontario, California, and serves the Inland Empire area. The station is owned by Meruelo Radio Holdings Ltd. and broadcasts a classic hip hop format. The KDEY-FM ...
's morning show. * On September 9, 2019, the FCC proposed a $272,000 fine against CBS for using simulated EAS tones in the ''
Young Sheldon ''Young Sheldon'' is an American sitcom television series created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro which aired on CBS from September 25, 2017, to May 16, 2024. The series is a Spin-off (media), spin-off prequel to ''The Big Bang Theory'' that ...
'' episode, "A Mother, A Child, and a Blue Man's Backside". CBS defended the statement, saying that the tones' usage was a "dramatic portrayal", and that it was an "integral part of the storyline about a family's visceral reaction to a life-threatening emergency". The show's sound editors achieved the effect by downloading EAS tones from YouTube and modifying the volume of the tone. CBS passed the edited tone through three quality rooms equipped with EAS decoders and pre-screened the episode to make sure it did not trigger an actual alert. Also, the show's dialogue was used to obscure some elements of the alert. However, the FCC insisted that the modified tone still sounded like a normal EAS tone, despite the volume being lowered and the tone being cut short in duration. It also said that the pre-screening process did not excuse an unauthorized usage of the EAS tones. * On April 7, 2020, the FCC proposed a $20,000 fine against New York City radio station
WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM broadcasting, FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary-Radio format, formatted radio station, City of license, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy faci ...
, for using the attention signal during its morning show on October 3, 2018 as part of a skit discussing the National Periodic Test held later that day. * In January 2023, the FCC proposed a $504,000 fine against
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp or simply Fox) is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, with offices also in Burbank, Cali ...
for using EAS tones during a promo broadcast on ''
Fox NFL Sunday ''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL ...
'' in November 2021. * On October 17, 2024, the FCC proposed a $146,976 fine against
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
for misusing the EAS tones during a promotional segment for the start of the
2023–24 NBA season The 2023–24 NBA season was the 78th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 24, 2023, and ended on April 14, 2024. The NBA held their first-ever in-season tournament from November 3 to December ...
that aired during the week of October 20–24, 2023. In an opposite move, in 2013 the FCC granted a one-year waiver for a PSA pertaining to the Wireless Emergency Alerts system, with assurance that the tones used in the PSA contained a different set of codes designed not to activate EAS receivers.


Testing errors

* On October 19, 2008, KWVE-FM in
San Clemente, California San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the ...
accidentally initiated a Required Monthly Test when it meant to conduct a Required Weekly Test. Furthermore, an operator aborted the test mid-way through the broadcast (failing to broadcast the end-of-message tone), causing all area outlets to broadcast KWVE-FM's programming until those stations took their equipment offline. On September 15, 2009, the FCC fined the station's owner, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, $5,000. After the fine was levied, various state broadcast associations in the United States submitted joint letters to the FCC, protesting against the fine, saying that the commission could have handled the matter better. On November 13, 2009, the FCC rescinded its fine against KWVE-FM, but had still admonished the station for broadcasting an unauthorized RMT, as well as omitting the code to end the test. * On September 28, 2016, an emergency alert was broadcast by WKTV in
Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...
that contained a Hazardous Materials Warning for the entire United States. The message contained a non-sequitur quote from the Dr. Seuss book '' Green Eggs and Ham'', "Would you. Could you. On a train?" WKTV apologized and stated that the alert was "an automated test rom FEMAwhich was not intended for public display." A FEMA representative stated that its decoders had been mistakenly "configured to poll a test and development message aggregator instead of or in addition to the production message aggregator", with the test server having used the ''Green Eggs and Ham'' quote as placeholder text. The error was also connected to conspiracy theories surrounding a train crash in New Jersey that occurred the next day, which claimed that the alert was a forewarning of the incident. * On September 21, 2017, a technical glitch in another scheduled test by KWVE caused the end-of-message tone to be omitted, causing regional participants (particularly
Charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
and Cox Cable systems in Orange County) to simulcast a portion of Chuck Swindoll's ''Insight for Living'' program. Some viewers speculated that the system had been hijacked, as the portion of the program relayed (where Swindoll was discussing the Bible verse 2 Timothy 3:1, and stated, "Realize this, extremely violent times will come.") could be insinuated out of context as discussing an impending apocalypse.


See also

* Alert Ready (Canada) *
Cell Broadcast Cell Broadcast (CB) is a method of simultaneously sending Short Message Service, short messages to multiple mobile telephone users in a defined area. It is defined by the ETSI's GSM committee and 3GPP and is part of the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G standa ...
* Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS) *
Earthquake Early Warning (Japan) In Japan, the is an alert that is issued when an earthquake is detected by multiple seismometers. These warnings are primarily issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), with guidance on how to react to them. Introduction The JMA has t ...
*
Emergency population warning An emergency population warning, or public warning system is a method where by local, regional, or national authorities can contact or notify members of the public to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a numbe ...
* Emergency Public Warning System * Flash Flood Guidance Systems *
HANDEL George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
(UK's former National Attack Warning System) *
ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several dat ...
's TEAC (Transfer Emergency Action Contact) channel in cases of URL hijacking * J-Alert (Japan) * Local Access Alert * Mexican Seismic Alert System (Mexico's Earthquake Early Warning System, which also employs Specific Area Message Encoding technology) * National Severe Weather Warning Service * National Warning System *
NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of Very high frequency, VHF Frequency modulation, FM weather radio stations in the United States which broadcast weather information direct ...
* Nuclear football * Nuclear MASINT * Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service * ShakeAlert *
Specific Area Message Encoding Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a Communications protocol, protocol used for framing and classification of broadcasting Emergency population warning, emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Serv ...
* Standard Emergency Warning Signal (Australia) * Wartime Broadcasting Service * Weatheradio Canada * Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)


References


External links


Consumer facts page


{{Federal Communications Commission 1997 establishments in the United States Broadcasting in the United States Cold War history of the United States Disaster preparedness in the United States Emergency population warning systems Mass media companies established in 1997 Civil defense in the United States United States communications regulation United States warning systems Nuclear warfare Tornado outbreaks