False Alarm: How the Emergency Alert System went wrong

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2018

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When people in Hawaii were falsely alerted of a Ballistic Missile threat, the first thing they heard was the sound of an emergency alert. For decades, this tone has alerted us to local weather emergencies and other important events, but it has never been used for its original purpose. In this episode, we explore the history of the Emergency Alert System and its predecessors. Featuring Kelly Williams, from the National Association of Broadcasters, Frank Lucia former EAS advisor for the FCC, and Wade Witmer from FEMA. Check out Defacto Sound, the studios that produced Twenty Thousand Hertz, hosted by Dallas Taylor. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Consider supporting the show at donate.20k.org Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/emergencyalert Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	36 hours of steady rainfall have left many homes knee-deepen.
0:16.2	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.
0:28.6	You're listening to 20,000 Hertz,
0:32.7	the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.
0:40.2	Hosted by Dallas Taylor, this is the story behind the emergency alert system.
0:49.5	So that wasn't a real emergency, but that distinctive dissonant tone got your attention, didn't it?
0:50.6	And for good reason.
0:52.2	That sound has accompanied weather alerts and other important warnings
0:54.8	here in the U.S. for decades.
0:57.0	It's a key part of the emergency alert system, or EAS.
1:01.2	But had this been an actual emergency, it would have been followed by official news or
1:05.4	instructions from local emergency managers, or the National Weather Service, or in the case
1:10.7	of a national emergency,
1:12.4	the President of the United States.
1:17.1	The emergency alert system is a mechanism that's intended to allow the President to speak
1:23.1	to the American people in times of catastrophic emergency. That's Kelly Williams from the National Association of Broadcasters.
1:31.3	The only part that's actually required is the president's message.
1:35.3	All of the local uses of it, which is 99.9% of it, is voluntary.
1:41.3	It was a sort of a, well, the government's put this system in place. It doesn't do anything
1:46.0	most of the time. We'll like the states and cities and towns and counties use it.
1:52.0	The EAS is primarily used by local authorities. They send warnings by way of broadcast, as well as cable, satellite, and wireless providers.
2:01.6	It falls under the authority of FEMA, which is the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
	...

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