[BC] sirens

[Kevin Tekel]

Sid Schweiger wrote:
 >Robert Klein used to make jokes about the fact that every day, when
 >kids in the Bronx went home for lunch, the city would set off a siren at
 >noon (he never said why they did it).  He said the Russians, if they
 >were smart, would second-guess them and drop the big one at noon ("They
 >don't know, Ivan, they'll think it's lunch").

The fire department in my town runs its sirens every day at noon (as well
as whenever they get a fire/rescue call).  I suppose it serves as a daily
test of the sirens, at a time when it's least likely to disturb nearby
residents.  Other municipalities run their sirens at 5:00 PM every day.

All firemen and EMTs have carried pagers for decades, so you'd think
they'd phase out the sirens, but they do make a good failsafe.  I'm 1?
miles away from the nearest siren and I can hear it inside with the
windows closed, in all atmospheric conditions (unlike the train horns from
several miles away, which I can only hear when it's raining).  People just
have to remember to not call in a fire at exactly 12 noon!

(As for the relevance to this list... sirens are a form of "broadcasting",
are they not?)