[EAS] Blue Alerts Are Back

[Barry Mishkind]

I know our NWS colleagues are sincere in wanting to provide
the best product, but there are a couple of points that 
probably should be spoken, although I'm sure all involved
will acknowledge that they already know. 

NWS: please read the end of this, if nothing else.

At 09:08 AM 5/26/2017, Mike McCarthy wrote:
>When the mandate to not carry anything beyond that compelled by rule comes
>directly from the licensee or their delegate, it's hard to do anything
>more.  Their reasoning is irrelevant and it's their choice to be certain.

        Most of the people who care for EAS are
        engineers, tasked with the job because they are
        the ones who have to install the boxes and 
        ensure they work.

        In *most* cases, the engineer does *not* have
        the authority to decide what is run or not run,
        unless the GM or PD says, "lock out anything
        unnecessary."

>I will say some underlying cause for this is message flooding from the
>NWS. 

        Yes, we *know* that many of you are trying
        to solve this problem. But the fact is: that is
        how many in management and programming
        view you.

        When an LP1 chooses to not run anything but
        required and maybe one or two event codes,
        you/we/all of us are cutting out most of the
        stations in a given market. When the LP2 is
        in the same building, you might as well send
        email to them.

> Particularly with SVR's where any number of them are issued for the
>same regional/metro area as storms progress. After any number of separate
>warnings for the same cell(s) and/or line, it gets really old...fast.

        The question really is: who is going to 
        make the effort to do outreach to solve the problem?
        Remember, most every broadcaster reading this
        is on the tech side.

        Clay Freinwald deserves a lot of credit for his
        constant evangelism of EAS for many years,
        while he was at Entercom. Clay went from
        coast to coast to give SBE and other programs
        explaining how EAS could be used to benefit
        stations and NWS. He went out of his way
        to meet with NWS folks (as have the BWWG,
        which, to be clear, is mostly tech folks and
        a couple of broadcast association folks.),
        to build bridges, and to help merge the
        expectations of each group, while smoothing
        out the wrinkles wherever he could.

        Washington State is a great example of
        how inter-agency/inter-industry cooperation
        has built an EAS that many others see and
        wish they could have in their backyard.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART

        All that said: NWS folks, please consider how
        *you* can do outreach to the *managers and
        programmers* at local stations. 

        Yes, you have limited budgets. Yes, it is hard
        to get the attention of the relevant people,
        who have this huge chip on their shoulder
        called "message flooding."

        Your tech partners, like the BWWG cannot
        do the whole process.  Some are just tired
        of being told off by management. Others
        are plain tired of the internecine fighting
        over arcane aspects of Part 11 rules that
        the FCC personnel have *failed* to resolve,
        *failing* the industry they are supposed
        to serve. (One might get cynical and suggest
        they are busy at parties held by the 
        translator owners and Spectrum Auction
        winners to boast of their millions of dollars
        of "gifts" from the FCC - but we should
        probably not go there (the parties)).

        Again, could it be part of your mission, part
        of the community outreach, to target
        radio station owners/managers/programmers?

        Can you arrange to help some stations *want*
        to be LP1 and LP2s?

        All the discussion about "broadcast ready"
        mentioned at the conference call this week 
        as well as thos about "Blue" alerts miss the 
        point that if the distribution pipeline
        is broken at LP1 and LP2, all your work is in 
        vain.

        As engineers, we want to help make EAS worth
        all our time and effort in installation, maintenance,
        and all those logs and records. 

        By motivating management, you can help the
        tech folks get a lot more satisfaction.

        I will now go back into my closet to await
        the tongue lashing that is coming.

        barry