[EAS] Radio and Maui: A Failure To Communicate?

[Rich Parker]

I appreciate much of what 'curmudgeon gregory' has said - but as
someone responsible for a number of small community radio which are in
most cases the 'only' media outlet for these small coastal towns, I
must  take strong issue with this:

"Given the high use of broadcast automation systems there is a large
part of each day when the stations are not manned by humans."

All of our stations have very small staffs, and yes, they do run
automation during many parts of the day, and overnight. But we have
configured all of our EAS units to automatically trigger/alert on
specific codes for events that can cause danger or loss of life -
tsunami, fire, earthquake, high wind, cetain marine warnings, etc. -
we do not delay those in any way - that would be incredibly unwise,
particularly for something like a tsunami alert.

It is not a 'technical' problem, nor is it specifically a 'human'
problem - except in cases where station managers/PD/owners
specifically do NOT want any alerts interrupting their precious
signals (and commercials)Given the high use of broadcast automation
systems there is a large part of each day when the stations are not
manned by humans.

Until that issue is dealt with on a local level, this problem will
persist, and lives will continue to be lost.

Rich Parker
Director of Engineering
CoastAlaska, Inc
Juneau, AK