[EAS] EAS and CMAS

[Clay Freinwald]

My point exactly.   If ALL broadcasters would automatically (remember many
are automated either all or part of the day) air follow up information to
augment the vague CMAS Message we'd have something to work with.

Right now, in most cases, CMAS , even with it's Geo-Vague method of
stripping location information out of the message and shipping it to all
cellphones within a county...Is superior to Broadcasting for public
warnings.  

Why?   It's very likely that the number of people within a given geographic
area with cell phones turned on greatly exceeds the number of people with
radios in that mode.   Be sure and subtract the number of radio stations
that refuse to transmit EAS messages, unless forced to do so by the Feds.

If the folks that administer CMAS can get the bugs out (and leave in event
location text info) we will  - in time - have a great system.    

Clay Freinwald

In response to both this and Clay's recent challenge to name the FM stations
that MIGHT do something with a CMAS message in the Seattle area, I offer
this.  I'm pretty sure that I would tune to KIRO or KUOW if I found such a
message on my cell phone.  I can't really think of any others, with the
possible exception of KOMO-FM, that has a marginal signal into Seattle and
the ability to have a news room staff go after such an issue.

The point is made that most stations won't "break the format" for something
as vague as a CMAS message seems to be.

So 2 or 3 stations out of 25+ that service Seattle.  The odds are poor.

Tim