Can You Count on Your Emergency Alert System?
What the Emergency Alert System is and how it works.
You’ve probably heard the annoying noise on your television during the week. You know, the ear-wracking beeps and buzzes that shrill from your television and then you get to hear a nice little message that this was just a required test of the emergency alert system? When you hear that, you’ve just heard a message (or a test message anyway) from the emergency alert system.
During a real emergency, the emergency alert system would issue a message along with the emergency alert sounds.
History of the Emergency Alert System
In 1951, President Truman established CONELRAD as the first emergency alert system. CONELRAD mandated that radio stations could only broadcast on certain frequencies during an emergency alert.
In later years, CONELRAD became the Emergency Broadcast System and gave the president a means of sending the American public an emergency message through thousands of stations across the U.S. Then, in 1994, the FCC replaced the Emergency Broadcast System with the Emergency Alert System.
What the Emergency Alert System Does
In case of a disaster or an attack, the emergency alert system would allow radio stations, cable stations and television stations to broadcast messages without anyone having to be in attendance. This means that even if the radio station was unmanned, the Emergency Alert System would allow you to receive emergency messages from the President or from other authorized parties.
In the event of an emergency, the Emergency Alert System would be able to tell you where to go, what to do, and what was going on. You would know when you needed to take cover and when it was okay to come out from safety.
While the Emergency Alert System may not work perfectly all the time (as in instances where there is too little notice to issue a warning), the programs in place are there to protect you as best they can.
If you do hear a message from the Emergency Alert System, follow the directions given and take your emergency radio with you so you can stay advised as to updates from the Emergency Alert System.