[EAS] CAP Converters

[Mike McCarthy]

I too have preached for an equal number of years about the same carriage 
of NWS call to action warnings and have drawn considerable flack from 
the quarter which opines those EAS messages might interrupt live 
coverage of the event being warned.  On news covering TV and a hand full 
of live radio stations, that might be the case.  On 99% of the remaining 
radio stations and TV stations playing some rerun or overnight, not so. 
Our radio stations send TOR and FFW messages for their communities of 
license and surrounding counties well covered.

I also agree with you that the event should drive the message and I 
don't think I said otherwise.  As I recall, the GMC flag is something 
added to a message type so as to not limit which event code can be used 
for forced carriage such as the EAN being the only code for national. 
Any governor who chooses to use the GMC for anything but a life 
preservation call to action would destroy the reputation of the system.

MM

On 11/16/2011 9:13 PM, Clay Freinwald wrote:
> Mike, my old friend -
>
> You really need to take the time to carefully read the comments filed by the
> BWWG....I believe you will come away with a whole new way of thinking about
> this.
>
> We were very critical about GMC and recommended the Feds take a completely
> different approach to this.    We submitted that what should be 'must-carry'
> are certain events where clearly lives could be saved, ie, this whole
> mandatory thing should be 'Event-driven' etc.
>
> I have been preaching for years about the fact that it's just plain wrong
> for a broadcaster (of any flavor) to ignore a Tornado warning or similar
> event where advance warning could be life saving...Yet this is just what
> many broadcasters do.  Is it any wonder why those in Emergency Management
> feel that EAS is an un-reliable means of public warning?
>
> Clay Freinwald
>