[EAS] Improving IPAWS and EAS

[Adrienne Abbott]

Sean writes: If history is a guide, less than 50% of broadcast and cable
systems in the area will re-broadcast non-mandatory EAS messages.  News
stations and non-commercial/educational stations seem to be the most likely
to cover the alert as part of continuing coverage or re-broadcast an EAS
message.

Sean--
It's been my experience that while many stations won't carry weather-related
EAS activations, most will re-broadcast non-weather activations. I'm
speaking of the stations in my Operational Area, whether they are live,
automated or a combination of both. This also applies to both stations with
no news staff as well as those with a news department. The notable
exceptions in this area are most of the "hub" stations which broadcast to
automated stations and translators across multiple states. I tend to agree
with that programming decision because carrying an evacuation notice for a
fire or flood could be confusing when there's a "Bald Mountain" or "Mud
Lake" or "Main Street" in every other county in the three states covered by
the Nevada Operational Area. However, I have a couple of "satellator-type"
hubs which have decided to carry everything EAS. God Bless 'em...

IMHO...Part of the reason for the high degree of EAS participation here can
be attributed to the use of Common Alerting Protocol. Broadcasters here
constantly comment on the good quality of the audio, particularly when one
of our Authorized Originators voices the message and properly pronounces the
names of local streets and other landmarks. Because many of our broadcasters
have CAP messages piped into their news room and control room computer
systems, they appreciate having access to the message text which gives them
immediate information on who to call for details and updates. I think you
would find that other SECC Chairs like Clay Freinwald and Suzanne Goucher
have the same experience. 

The situation is "Not so much" when it comes to cable participation...some
providers here carry everything, including the weather activations. Others
carry nothing, the result of caller fatigue after hundreds of subscriber
complaints. Again, maybe not such a bad problem because the local TV
stations are already on the scene of many events and there's nothing like
losing the audio for a live report to an EAS activation, depriving the
viewer of the details, on-scene video, maps and graphics provided by a news
department. Some cable operators here are so low-tech that they still
force-tune their subscribers to the "Blue Screen of Death", trapping them
there until the viewer manually resets their cable box. 

Yes, cable has a long way to go to improve EAS quality, but they also have a
lot of technology issues to resolve. They're in the same boat as the
National Weather Service with their NOAA Weather Radio-related issues and
the cell phone industry with the older, first-generation digital phones. You
can't blame the broadcast industry for the many problems in the Public
Warning business. 

Adrienne Abbott
Nevada EAS Chair