[EAS] Fallout Over False Alert Continues

[Kelly D. Alford]

        "This is one of many rules pushed out without
        any real effort to approach the people in the
        field who use the equipment before it is
        "mandated."  If some real, live end-users
        had been brought into the room, we might
        not have so many "oops" situations that,
        incrementally, is killing EAS' credibility."

Great point Barry!  And I would add that a big part of the loss of credibility caused by seemingly endless 'oops situations', is the over-complexity and reliance on other stations or agencies who may or may not care about EAS.  The reality is you can't regulate how much someone down the line cares, nor more than a supervisor can force a common work ethic on all their employees.

        "... and to this day, virtually no one has addressed the
        large elephant in the room: When disasters strike,
        the Internet is often among the first things to go.
        No IPAWS. No FEMA web site. All there is are the
        broadcasters with boxes forced to a distribution
        system mandated from above."

Yep, and even though Internet traffic runs over phone lines, the focus on reliability for Telco companies is at an all-time low anyway.  Just ask the folks in the Napa Valley area after the most recent earthquake.  A partial building structural issue caused a major AT&T CO to go off line, causing loss of public Internet traffic, 911 services, DS-lines connecting public service communications, etc.  Given their location in a known earthquake zone, you'd think (and was probably assumed), that the phone services would be as hardened as back in the 70's and 80's.  Nope!  Telco companies are all about profit and increasing shareholder value.  Reliance on the public Internet (or cell phones) for emergency communication is a sucker's bet.

        11.51(m)(2) and 11.52(e)(2), as reinforced by
        the NPRM that is out there somewhere, seem
        to be pretty clear. The issue now is controlling
        a distribution system that lost control - if in
        fact the octopus ever had control in the first place.

Bingo, well said.

Kelly D. Alford
General Manager of Production and Operations
Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.
Springfield, VA 22153