[EAS] WEA used in NYC bombings

[Mike McCarthy]

I find it interesting WEA was used in the bombing suspect search and again
directed the public to broadcast for more information.

There is, to me at least, a bit of a disconnect between the use of WEA and
other public alerting and information conveying methods. More over, was it
necessary to raise the alert (and fear) level of the public using what has
been to this point a system for very short fuse and targeted geo-specific
alerts?

Moreover, it is disconcerting to me as a non-news station operator that
the public ostensibly be directed away from our station to the one or two
(not necessarily co-owned) stations carrying up to the second news. Did
WLTW or any of the big non-CBS music stations break format for
dissemination of suspect information?

Outside of metros with staffed newsrooms (let alone staffed at all) round
the clock...the question is...What stations?

As a result, WEA's short message format is a stand alone silo...but one
which reaches more the 90% of a given area's population efficiently often
leading to more questions than action.

There are other significant non-EAS implications which I won't go into
here as well.

This morning's Inside Radio also has a reference to CRSIC's recommendation
of activating FM chips in all cell handsets gaining traction. The lone
holdouts are Verizon and Apple.  The latter will be a challenge with the
elimination of the antenna through the headphone cable.