[EAS] Where is the data about public alerting and warning?

[Sean Donelan]

On Wed, 31 May 2017, Robertm wrote:
> As for hurricanes and severe weather, we know its coming days in 
> advance so no need for EAS. The NYC market covers three states and at 
> least four fundamentally different weather zones. What is severe in one 
> place can easily be a non-event elsewhere.

Isn't this true of every Nielsen DMA in the country?  They all cover large 
geographic areas, many cross state borders, and different hazards. The 
Denver Nielsen DMA is just bizzare.

Before an emergency, people won't necessarily be watching or listening to 
local news stations. How do you alert people listening or watching the 
other 300+ cable and broadcast alternatives in a DMA? Nielsen Total 
Audience Measurements show a very fragemented audience across all 
media.

I don't know of good data about how the public first learns about an 
emergency or hazardous situation. There are many surveys about where the 
public goes to learn more about an emergency, after they know one exists.

I also don't know of good data about how EAS is used beyond amber and 
weather alerts.

What entities re-broadcast EAS alerts and warnings? (beyond mandatory)

I don't have national data. I found in San Francisco, St. Louis and 
Washington, DC, non-commercial stations seem to broadcast the most types 
of EAS alerts. The major national affliates use non-EAS alerting, i.e. 
text crawls and weather graphics. Cable systems seem to vary by national 
company policies (my experience with Comcast, RCN and Verizon).