[EAS] Identifying the Test on air

[Edwin Bukont]

In regard to the comment about identifying the test, rather than just tones.
 
I always thought it was silly to have just tones and no identfication of the reason.  Almost seems to violate the FCC own rule about sending alerting tones without a reason.  Programmers and managers are why the audio ID was removed.  And they were wrong.
 
Think about it, even a country song references "there was that test at the sound of the beep..."
 
It seems to me we should identify the "why" of the test.  TV uses a crawl.  We should  audio ID, it explains to the public what it is, rather than merely being a reason to tune out, and reminds the public that during an emergency, here is where to tune in.
 
I mentioned this post to my wife, who is consumer savvy.  She agreed and even commented that yesterday there was those noises, and she had forgotten what they were about.  The problem with No Audio ID is that no one under maybe 30 years of age has recollection of the old way with script, so they have no idea what the tones mean.  They are just noise, and a tune out, rather than an attention signal and reason to tune in. 
 
This is just another example of responding to the demands of programmers, and finding that their perception and the perception of the public are two different, and often oppositely polarized, perspectives.
 
Run the script we used to have, the public seems to have identified with it!

Edwin Bukont CSRE, DRB, CBNT 
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