[EAS] EAS and CMAS

[suzanne at mab.org]

I guess I've been around too long and I know what closets too many of the political skeletons are hiding in.....  

CMAS arose out of the federal WARN Act that soon-to-be-former Sen. Jim DeMint of SC introduced about seven or eight years ago. The original WARN Act had a lot of good things in it to improve our national alert and warning system. By the time the backroom deals were done (meaning the cell phone guys got in the back room and hacked and slashed the bill to ribbons), the bill was stripped of everything good, cell phone messaging was voluntary, and so -- As of today, more than 70% of cell phone companies have opted OUT of CMAS.  And the Big Four, ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, have opted in "in part," meaning they will deliver alerts in some parts of their service areas, but not necessarily all.  And they won't tell you which areas they will and won't.  But they trumpet it like it's God's gift to the safety of the American public.  What a farce.  Politics and PR at its worst.

Please don't hang your hat on CMAS, or begin to believe that it will inform anyone or keep anyone safe.  We shouldn't even be wasting time or space on it, on a serious alert and warning discussion board like this.  It's PR fluff.  (And, being a former radio news director, I know fluff when I see it.  Fluff is a polite name for what comes out of the back end of a steer.)  

We'd make better use of our time by talking about how we can bring station management and state/local EMA folks to the table to, not only take EAS messages seriously and carry them, but also carry the all-important follow-on information.  

I b*tch-slapped several FEMA and FCC officials the day after Sandy because, out of 9 "staying in touch in an emergency" tips the FCC put on its website, #9 was "Tune to local radio and TV.". 1 thru 8 had to do with how to squeeze the last nanosecond of juice out of your smartphone.  Really???!  9th put of 9?  Obviously there's a perception in bureaucrat-land that broadcasting is either irrelevant, or falling down on the job.  Increasing relevance and making sure we're doing our job as broadcasters - first informers - to me, that's a waaaay more productive conversation than ANYTHING having to do with CMAS.

-Suzanne Goucher, Maine Association of Broadcasters
(channeling Ann Arnold, who is sitting up in heaven applauding this email)

On Jan 2, 2013, at 3:55 PM, "Mike McCarthy" <towers at mre.com> wrote:

> CMAS is an incomplete tool.  At present, CMAS is the cell systems way to 
> counter the FM chip argument here in the US.  They'll point to a dead 
> end effect of their subscribers being told by their system to check 
> broadcast for more information when there isn't any on 99% of the 
> stations AM or FM.
> 
> Case in point, I drove into a county under a Blizzard Warning.  CMAS 
> sent me an alert with EBS tones and all the fanfare.  Of the 6 stations 
> licensed to CoL's in the county, not one was carrying anything on the 
> Blizzard Warning. And even with life threatening implications, all they 
> played were the hits or the blather of talk radio.
> 
> The problem is paradoxical. Until broadcasters step up to meet the needs 
> of their listening public in these instances, CMAS is going to a tool 
> wedging FM's from being turned on in cell phones.
> 
> MM
> 
> On 1/2/2013 1:00 PM, Clay Freinwald wrote:
>> In response to the recent post by Adrienne -
>> 
>> My fear is if all cellphones had an FM receiver....and thousands of people
>> suddenly received a CMAS message (like I received recently) they would still
>> be mystified as to what to do about it.    In this area (Seattle) we have
>> probably 25-30 FM stations. ...How is this person going to know where to
>> tune for additional information?    It's a certainty that not all FM
>> stations are going to suddenly stop what they are programming and air
>> follow-up information for the vague CMAS message.....In fact, I would doubt
>> that more than a couple of FM stations will agree to 'break-format' to do
>> anything in the way of public warning messages.  Our last hope for that
>> concept was dashed by the recent FCC action that tossed out GMC.    Until
>> such time as we have a major attitude change in the world of radio
>> broadcasting - Cellphones might just be better off if they included NWR
>> receivers.   At least the NWS does not turn their noses up at the mention of
>> the letters EAS
>> 
>> Clay Freinwald
>> 
>> You'd think the least we could do would be to create a public demand for
>> radio and TV on our cell phones...how hard can it be people? We've got to
>> start talking to the staff in our newsrooms.
>> 
>> Adrienne Abbott
>> Nevada EAS Chair
>> 
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