[EAS] Single point entry of CAP messages

[Adrienne Abbott]

Jonathan--
EAS may work well for you and your stations but it doesn't mean it works
well for the rest of us. One of the biggest problems we have had since EAS
took effect in 1997 is the lack of specific information in the text produced
by the current EAS equipment. For example, the "Abducted Child Emergency"
event code followed by locator codes for 7 Nevada counties and 10 California
counties in no way provides the kind of specific information--"content" if
you will--that a radio or TV station staff needs to be able to intelligently
repeat the information that an AMBER Alert has been issued, especially if
the audio part of the message was bad or garbled. or that can inform TV
viewers who miss the audio message and are just getting a crawl that repeats
every 10 or 20 minutes. 

There have been a lot of concerns raised over the years about the
effectiveness of the warnings produced by the legacy EAS equipment. CAP is a
response to those concerns and provides much more information than the
legacy EAS equipment ever could--text, audio recordings, photos, maps,
graphics and more specific targeting of the warning area. You need a CAP EAS
receiver to get all this information. There's nothing in the legacy EAS
equipment that allows it to ingest that content from the Local Primary
station and then pump it out at your station so just adding the CAP
equipment at the origination point wouldn't get you and other stations the
benefits of the new system. 

Your stations may be staffed 24/7/365 with well-trained, experienced news
people who can run down an AMBER Alert five minutes after it's issued.
That's not the situation everywhere else. Right now, it can take hours to
get a photo of the victim or suspect, particularly if the abduction occurs
in a remote area. That's hours that the victim may not have. Not all
stations have the kind of staff who can take easily care of these kinds of
emergencies. Some stations don't have news staff. Some stations have no air
staff and run on automation.  And even where there are station personnel,
they need emergency information that is consistent, complete, accurate and
timely. CAP does that for them and in a manner that can be used by automated
stations. 

This is just one example of what CAP equipment will bring to broadcasters.
There's not enough time or space here to get into the other
improvements--logging, testing, time changes, Internet connectivity...

However, you are right about one thing. Even with all the potential of CAP,
there will still be problems. There will be a learning curve especially for
the state and local law enforcement, emergency management and public safety
agencies who will originate the messages. But just like we did with EAS, our
job is to make it work.

I would only ask you: how well does your 14 year old computer work these
days? And are you still getting analog service for that bag phone you're
carrying around? After all, those technologies worked too. Or have you
upgraded since 1997? And was it really that tough to figure out your iPhone
or Windows 7?

Adrienne

"Radio burps, it cries, it needs to be fed all the time, it requires
constant attention, but we love it." Jim Aaron WGLN 

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of Bowen, Jonathan

So I've been trying to keep up with all this stuff but from what I
understand so far the entire thing sounds seems backwards. EAS works and has
been in place for decades. I may be preaching to the choir but it seems CAP
is a lot of complication on top of a system that just works... I understand
the need for CAP to bridge the gap and send the messages over other
channels. They can add content to the alert if they want but that doesn't
affect broadcasters. What I don't get is why we all need CAP-EAS receivers.
The only place a CAP-EAS converter should exist is at the EAS origination
points. When the governor or emergency organization wants to send a message
they send it over CAP and it is injected into the EAS chain just like we do
now. No extra regulations, no extra hardware, and no hassle. I still don't
see why I need a CAP-EAS converter.
 
I might be missing something but the entire things seems like a mess that
will just cause problems for years to come.
 
Thank you
 
Jonathan Bowen
 

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