[EAS] Commentary on the future of EAS

[Brian Law]

HI Richard,
Well Said.
As you may remember, I have been, for some time now,  asking for some kind of government incentive in order to get local and state EM's linked into the EAS chain.  I also agree with you that the companies that produce EAS solutions should have some kind of oversight to ensure that the regs are interpreted the same way, and that their solutions respond in the same way.  This was very apparent before CAP was implemented, when one vendor's machine would relay a somewhat fuzzy RMT and another vendor's machine would not.

Without participation by local EM's, much of EAS in small communities is nearly a waste of broadcaster resources.  I say nearly, because it is not a complete waste, and has been used a number of times even in communities where EAS is not utilized by the Local EMs.  With the advent of CAP, there are now very robust and turnkey solutions for implementing EAS at local EM facilities, as well as the other alerting methods, such as reverse 911, using one simple set of commands for all.  Of course, these solutions cost money.  I believe the government, if it is Truly serious about public warnings and EAS, needs to fund EM's for such solutions.  Without that funding, most locals are going to be forced to stay the way they are for many years.  Large communities can probably afford this, small ones probably cannot.

My 25 cents.

Brian Law
Living Proof Inc

On 10/30/2014 9:28 PM, Richard Rudman wrote:

>Greetings:

>I just posted a commentary on where we might take EAS in the future in light of both current revelations, and what I perceive as the disconnect between the warning process and the emergency management (EM) community at large.

>This "disconnect" does not exist everywhere in the EM community. Washington State has gone in a good direction so far and show indications that this trend will continue.

>Supporting and opposing views are welcome once you read it. This Commentary was published yesterday in the Broadcasters Desktop Resource, but I want to see what support or criticism it might receiver here on this list.

>Regards

>Richard Rudman,
>Core Member, The Broadcast Warning Working Group, host of the EAS Forum
>Vice Chair, CA SECC

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