[EAS] [BC] CMAS

[Dale Lamm]

[snip]

However, there needs to be a better mechanism to get detailed  info to
broadcasters without congestion.  During the Amber, our news staff had
trouble getting information for broadcast.  They finally got it from
Total Traffic, who likely got it from the WA State Department of
Transportation.  Because of the problems described above, there was no
other source, and we didn't get an EAS until 20 to 30 minutes later.

[end]

Within the past few months, we received a defective EAS AMBER alert, due
to a glitch upstream. We relayed it as obligated, but then called the
State of Ohio Joint Dispatch Facility to get the missing details. I
spoke with a real, live officer from Ohio State Highway Patrol,
collected the info, then passed it on to the air staff.

I don't remember if the relevant AMBER web sites were reachable or not.
The simple telephone call gave me the info we needed in less than a
minute.

Part of our preparation to be ready when people's cell phones receive
CMAS messages is to have up to date contact info posted in the control
rooms and news room. "Contact info" includes plain old telephone
numbers, email addresses and URLs.