[BC] ... and another spot with false tones

[Sid Schweiger]

ed.czarnecki at comcast.net recalls:  "Some ads for the Tom Cruise remake of War of the Worlds also contained EAS tones (or a facsimile thereof).  I guess we're starting to identify a trend that may have been going on for a while ..."

Funny...the one movie I would have expected to contain some sort of official emergency-system alerting scheme didn't have any.  I'm referring to "The Atomic Café," a documentary/humorous look at how America coped with the Cold War in the first 15 years or so after the end of WWII.  Near its end the film contains a montage of what a nuclear strike on the United States might look like.  ("Would YOU know what to do in case an attack came?  Say at ten o'clock tomorrow morning.  Interesting question, isn't it?")  There were several announcers breaking into programming:  "This is an official Civil Defense broadcast!"  "The United States is under nuclear attack!"  "We interrupt this program in the interest of safety and security as requested by the United States government!"

Although they showed some pictures of old car radios with the triangles at 640 and 1240, nowhere was the Conelrad carrier-break alert-and-tone in evidence.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040