[EAS] Wish List

[Tom Taggart]

Barry:

In the fall of 2004, we had a hurricane come up from the
gulf and park over the upper Ohio Valley.  No wind to speak
of, just rain and more rain. Hit on a Friday night, NWS was
clueless, and sent no warnings about flooding.  But by
Saturday morning, on my way to the market, it was clear we
were getting high water.

So I took the back roads to the station (main state road
closed by then) and started announcing road closures
emergency info--Ohio Highway patrol very helpfully faxed up
road closure information, and even got the news guy from the
(competitor) news talk AM to give me some feeds. WV proved
to be problem--even the state police had no idea what roads
were open or closed.

That type of emergency we have enough time to handle. No
staff--that Saturday the only one else around was a
part-timer--he headed up river to see what was happening,
but then he had to go home to move stuff out of the way of
the flood.
We don't have a news department; we don't have any really
effective local emergency center, these things don't exist
around here. 

More typical emergency traffic is the severe thunderstorm
that builds up quickly around 8 or 9 at night. Those we have
to rely on the NWS information as to direction and path.
They have the radar--we don't. Most cases, too, the storm
builds up and blows through before anyone could get to the
station anyway.

Again, the big groups can meet any new requirement that they
be "manned" 24/7--minimum wage broom pusher. Meaningless in
any real emergency situation.
That Saturday when the flood came no-one was home at the
Clear Channel cluster; there was one guy at the other
cluster in town...he was asking me which roads were open
since he wasn't sure he could get home. (I had to call his
GM to get a direct phone number into the cluster).

In the original EAS proceeding, my suggestion to the
Commission was that they build a national emergency alert
radio around NWS radio--and find another band to put in more
channels (with better audio). But that requires money and
staff. Instead, they've just called it NWS "all hazards
radio," with no particular direction or facilities for such
mandate to NOAA.

That's why I am very wary of suggestions such as are set
forth in paragraph 40 of the wish list. Some bright
bureaucrat will think it is a wonderful idea, and stick in a
rule. Then when some emergency center screws up (as in
Minot) the station gets blamed--and fined.