[EAS] Oroville Dam Evacuation

[Barry Mishkind]

At 03:51 PM 2/13/2017, Botterell, Arthur at CalOES wrote:
>I'd contend that "wolf" has been cried too broadly rather than too often.  The problem, IMHO, is that EAS, with its county-level targeting and marketwide reach, simply reaches too many people for whom any given warning is irrelevant.  Its "overalerting," to be sure, but it's a mistake to frame that in terms of time or frequency of alerts.  It's otherwise described as "warning spill," which I think is much more apt.

        I would agree with you Art, except your 
        thoughts ignore one aspect that really
        affects matters. Yes, the county-wide
        aspect is important, but "back when"
        EAS (or EBS) was originally framed and
        placed in operation.

        That is: there was a time when radio 
        stations were actually manned by live
        people who would go beyond the alert code
        and explain to listeners what was happening.

        Now, it is the exception to the rule that
        a station will say anything about the content
        of an alert/warning.  We all are a bit poor for that.