[EAS] Some EAS are strong, Some are not

[Barry Mishkind]

At 07:21 AM 8/18/2017, Sean Donelan wrote:
>On Thu, 17 Aug 2017, Clay Freinwald wrote:
>>Trust me, we have discussed this issue - in significant detail - here in
>>Washington State for the last 20+ years and feel our position is very sound.
>
>And there are 49 other states, the federal district and 5 territories. Its amazing how differently they each organize their state/local EAS operations.  Just by coincidence, I would think there would be more simularities.  

        There are four major causes/effects that have led to where
        EAS has come.

        1. The voluntary status of EAS for everyone but broadcasters.
        2. The origination of EAS by committees dominated by vendors
                and bureaucrats less interested in how it worked than
                that they were first in line. Most honest folks agree that
                the hardware portion of EAS was obsolete before it went
                into operation. But with the federal mandate that stations
                *had* to buy, there was little desire to keep feeding the
                money slot.     
        3. The "Kingdom" mentality of far too many EM and local LEOs
                trying to control information and prevent anything
                that might make them look bad.
        4. Clay Freinwald - who was supported by his company (Entercom) - 
                as he tirelessly went around the country and evangelized
                EAS in a "non-partisan" manner, appearing at scores, 
                if not hundreds of SBE, and other local and state events
                and meetings. I can think of no other person - certainly
                no one from the governmental sector - who put so much
                of his personal time and effort into helping people 
                understand EAS as it was/is and offering constant help if
                evaluating and implementing it in each and every service
                area.

>What works in the State of Washington apparently doesn't work the same in the other states and territories.

        For from it. With Clay becoming a better source of knowledge than
        the people in DC - who would refuse to put anything on paper -
        and agencies that proved to be perfect examples of the NIH syndrome,
        Washington was already two laps ahead of everyone, with cooperation
        and buy-ins from local EM and NWS offices, state broadcast association,
        local stations, etc. The handbook they have built, with constant updates
        to address needs by any stakeholder, is a monument to a region that
        "cares."  Many others look at Washington State and are jealous of the
        result, but unwilling to devote any time/effort aside from assigning the
        station engineer to EAS - or dismiss EAS altogether, including areas where
        some LEOs think reverse-911 (even when fire destroys phone and power, taking
        the Internet with it) is the bees knees. 

        There are also those that would point out that the LEOs in ND were literally
        a very short distance from the CC studio, but could not be bothered to
        send anyone to alert the station when their gear did not work and the
        "general" phone number was swamped by local people.

        And no matter what people in DC say (Yes, one of them actually said "you
        don't think there are any stations without broadband Internet, do you?") the
        Internet is useless when power is out after a tornado, for example. 

        And, please do not get me started on the effects of message flooding. All I
        will say is that while I *have* personally commended many folks at NWS
        and the FEMA, once you get to suggestions, they clam up and your email
        conversation stops *instantly.*  I have, in fact, several examples of email
        from NWS people saying "thanks for the good words. What else can we do?"
        which lead to my taking time to try to discuss the issues, only to find I never
        hear from them again.

        Do you think this topic has me expressing passion?  I have 1/100th the time
        and effort that Clay has invested. I do have a fairly well read site for
        broadcasters who care about the industry. I helped Richard start the BWWG.
        But, you know what I have heard from DC?  That Clay and Richard are
        like gnats to most of them - they get tired of hearing how to fix EAS. Otherwise,
        how do you account for the Part 11 rewrite, now in its seventh or eight year,
        which has accomplished almost nothing aside from a new EAS Handbook that
        is a waste of time for 95% of stations - yet is *required* by paper pushers 
        who cannot bring themselves to define "immediately" ... except in bureau-lingo
        meaning "sometime when we get to it after vacation."