As you prepare your station for the EAS and Wireless Emergency Alert System (WEA) national test on Sept. 20, 2018, remember that the FCC forbids airing the audio attention signal or EAS tones for any reason other than a genuine alert, authorized test, or approved public service announcement. Remind your news and programming operations of this rule.
Any transmission, including broadcast, of the WEA or EAS attention signals or codes, or a simulation of them, under any circumstances other than a genuine alert, authorized test, or approved public service announcement violates the Commission’s rules and undermines the important public safety precautions that WEA and EAS provide. See 47 CFR §§ 10.520(d), 11.45.
While the FCC encourages improving public awareness of WEA and the EAS, including the upcoming nationwide test, broadcasters and cable providers are reminded to exercise caution and avoid inadvertently broadcasting the WEA or EAS tones in a news story.
Any question or concerns with the upcoming nationwide test can be directed to the FCC at alerting@fcc.gov.
I understand this came out of a meeting between the FCC HSPSB and various EAS stakeholders. I have to wonder if this is really a problem or not. Have things like this been happening prior to this test or in previous tests? Is it a preventative measure? It seems strange that for some reason this particular test is generating the above warning from the SBE and numerous other sources.
There have been instances of tones being run to demonstrate what to expect. The technical side often knows this violates FCC Rules. Non-technical departments don’t usually know the Rules as well, and while they think they are providing a service, they are unintentionally violating the Rules. This is simply a reminder.