[EAS] Blue Alerts Are Back

[Suzanne Goucher]

>>Blue Alert situations can be handled by the LEW code.<<
 
I'd argue for a separate code for Blue Alerts.  Maine and several other states do not use EAS for Blue Alerts (or Silver Alerts, for that matter, because of the risk of chartreuse/teal/fuchsia/yellow ochre* alert fatigue and overload).  Having a separate code would mean that states that want to use EAS could do so, and in those that don't, LEW could still be reserved for other law enforcement-related alerts -- riots in the streets, nuclear lobsters attacking the coast, whatever -- without stations having to air Blue Alerts as part of the LEW "basket."  Just my $0.02.  The only other new codes I recall as having been added in the past 20 years are CAE for Amber Alerts and the three new hurricane-related weather codes (actually two warnings and a watch).
 
*It's been quite a while since I've had my hands on a box of 64 Crayolas, but as others have noted, that's where this whole "color alert" trend may lead us.
 
-Suzanne Goucher, Maine Association of Broadcasters