WASHINGTON At least some Emergency Alert System observers sound encouraged by the FCC's plans to address EAS shortcomings before the commission and FEMA conduct another national test.
FCC List National EAS Test Faults
The PSHSB said in its report on the first national EAS test that it uncovered several problems that impeded the ability of some EAS participants to receive and/or retransmit the Emergency Alert Notification. These included:
Widespread poor audio quality nationwide;
Lack of a Primary Entry Point (PEP) station in the area to provide a direct connection to FEMA;
Use of alternatives to PEP-based EAN distribution;
Short test length;
Anomalies in EAS equipment programming and operation.
A report from the commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, released in April, identified steps that it believes are necessary to improve alerting. This follows the first national EAS test, conducted in November of 2011. Overall, a large majority of EAS participants successfully received the Emergency Action Notification, the live code for the national EAS, the bureau report noted. The test demonstrated that the national EAS distribution architecture is basically sound.
Gary Timm is broadcast chair of the Wisconsin State EAS Committee and an alerting subject matter expert for SRA International in Washington. Timm said the greatest value of the report is the PSHSB urging the commission to move forward with new rules to improve EAS.
This expected resolution of the many items deferred for ruling in the EAS Fifth Report and Order will allow states to finally complete their revised EAS plans, and the recommended rules to improve [Emergency Action Notification] performance will pave the way for an even more successful next nationwide EAS test, Timm said.
Asking the states to revise their EAS test plans to update monitoring assignments is important; the FCC found that many stations did not know which stations to monitor to receive the alert. In the report, the bureau said a lack of consistency among state plans made it difficult for the commission and FEMA to create a national propagation map after the test.
TEST RESULTS
The FCC analyzed test data from more than 16,000 EAS participants and held discussions with EAS stakeholders to dissect the results. It acknowledged widespread poor audio quality of the test and the inability of some EAS participants to receive or transmit the Emergency Action Notification message, the live message that a president would use to address the nation in times of crisis.
The type of national emergency that would justify a presidential EAS alert would be a catastrophic event, where access to electrical power and communications systems may be significantly degraded or even eliminated, the bureau states in the report.
Possible Further Action'
What about stations or cable systems that didn't turn in EAS national test results? A significant number of stations appear not to have filed, according to the FCC.
A bureau warning was buried in Footnote 22 of the PSHSB report:
Although the commission received thousands of reports from EAS participants, many entities did not submit the required filings. The deadline for filing these reports was Dec. 27, 2011. Since that time, the bureau has reached out, primarily through industry organizations including the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and the American Cable Association, to encourage those EAS participants that had not filed their mandatory reports to do so. As a result of this effort, PSHSB received numerous additional filings in November 2012. However, there are a significant number of EAS participants that still appear not to have filed the required reports. Accordingly, the bureau plans to confirm cases of continued non-filers and refer them to the Enforcement Bureau for possible further action.
Under such conditions, the one communications media platform likely to continue operating is broadcast radio, accessible from battery powered consumer receiver sets and other means, such as car radios and hand-cranked radios.
In addition, the bureau found that a decision by federal planners to shorten the EAS test length from around two minutes to 30 seconds meant that some broadcast stations and cable systems were unable to deliver the EAN.
The report did conclude that a large majority of broadcasters and other EAS participants reported receiving the EAN.
However, not all reaction from EAS stakeholders was congratulatory in tone.
The FCC was under a lot of pressure to say something, Washington State SECC Chair Clay Freinwald told Radio World. He believes the report is short on what went wrong with the first test.
There also needs to be better ongoing communication with all the stakeholders.
IMPROVEMENT LIST
On the FCC's list of improvements is a call for a rulemaking on proposed changes to EAS equipment rules to ensure that alert encoders/decoders operate in a consistent manner.
We now have some encouragement from the FCC that they will conduct conformance testing beyond the extensive IPAWS OPEN testing that FEMA conducted to make sure all authorized EAS devices will play nice together when it counts, said Richard Rudman, core member of the Broadcast Warning Working Group. IPAWS is FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System platform.
Rudman would like to see standardized feature sets and behaviors for all authorized EAS equipment, but since enhanced EAS equipment has already been put into service, that may not be possible.
Nevada EAS Chair Adrienne Abbott said the FCC report revealed nothing new, at least nothing that EAS state chairs hadn't figured out.
However, at least we now have the info
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
04/06/2026
Sony Electronics is introducing the SRG-AS10, a 4K 60p-compatible PTZ auto-frami...
04/06/2026
This recent grad from Spring, TX, led creative-video output for the Aggies' men's basketball team last season and has been producing video and creating ...
04/06/2026
For the first time at a women's golf major, every player in the field will r...
04/06/2026
Three Panasonic PT-RQ45 40,000-lumen 3-Chip DLP projectors made their first live...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin and Akamai have announced a collaboration with NRJ Group, a French mult...
04/06/2026
Telestream will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N7952), demonstrating media work...
04/06/2026
Sony has announced the development of RIALTO 65, a 65mm format image sensor block for the VENICE 2 digital cinema camera, targeting release in the first half of...
04/06/2026
KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N8025, June ...
04/06/2026
Bell Media's TSN and RDS are the exclusive Canadian broadcasters of FIFA Wor...
04/06/2026
The Challenge: Receiving Heavy Media Files From Road Games Quickly and ReliablyT...
04/06/2026
MASV, a managed file transfer platform used in broadcast and live sports product...
04/06/2026
NESN has announced the appointment of Fahad Haider as Vice President of Operations and Engineering. Haider returns to NESN, where he previously served as Vice P...
04/06/2026
David J. Halberstam, who spent almost 50 years in sports as a broadcaster and an executive, died June 2 after a years-long battle with brain cancer.
Over his l...
04/06/2026
Although collegiate production programs are tasked with delivering high-quality ...
04/06/2026
California studio, two production trucks, global distribution system are combine...
04/06/2026
New global program empowers and supports storytellers through scriptwriting course and access to industry experts
TikTok and Sundance Institute today announce...
04/06/2026
Steinberg DAWs now boast in-depth Tonalic integration
Celemony's innovative virtual session musician plug-in has just received an update that brings ARA...
04/06/2026
Get Hands-On With Over 20 Mic Brands
GearExpo UK is fast approaching, and if you've been looking for a chance to check out some new mics, then you'r...
04/06/2026
Combos feature new Amplifier Intelligence engine
Positive Grid's latest release sees the company introduce two new combo amplifiers that promise to offe...
04/06/2026
Is Your Job Making You Work this June?
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS Launches the World Cup Watchers' Rights Association to Stand Up For Australians&...
04/06/2026
Statement regarding unauthorised use of SBS logos on third party social content
4 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has become aware of social media posts in c...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming infrastructure, and Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business onli...
04/06/2026
American Underground (AU), the Startup Hub of the South and a community of mor...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/06/2026
NVIDIA and Microsoft Reinvent Windows PCs for the Age of Personal AI
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
RTX Spark - a 1-Petaflop Superchip, the Full...
04/06/2026
Inside the Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man Grade
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Simone Grattarola discusses shaping the look in DaVinci Resolve...
04/06/2026
Cine Gear Expo Announces 2026 Awards of Excellence Recipients
Brie Clayton June 3, 2026
0 Comments
Ed Lachman ASC, Caleb Deschanel ASC, and M. David M...
04/06/2026
St. Vincents Live with Orchestra Tour to Feature Berklee Alum Ruby Plume Berklee alumni St. Vincent and Ruby Plume will appear on the same bill across seven d...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
All the Truth in My Lies Coming to Netflix on August 28
Entertainment
04 June 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Download the imag...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Larry Tanz, VP of Content, EMEA, Delivers a Keynote Speech at ...
04/06/2026
Back to All News
Turn Your Living Room into a Stadium With the New FIFA World ...
04/06/2026
Keeping conversations real on LinkedIn Published on Jun 4, 2026 Categories: Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Communications
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook ...
04/06/2026
BackStory follows four Irish young people as they travel back to their parents' homelands
Modern Irish identity is enriched by cultures and influences from...
04/06/2026
June's forecast with GeForce NOW: 100% chance of gaming.
GeForce NOW is lining up new adventures for the month, from big-name blockbusters to quirky indies...
03/06/2026
SES and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, have launched multi-orbit satellite inflight connectivity on Viva's Airbus aircraft. A total of 60 A320s ...
03/06/2026
The College Football Playoff, ESPN, and TNT Sports have announced kick times and...
03/06/2026
RED Digital Cinema will exhibit at Cine Gear Expo 2026 (Booth 33, June 5-6, Universal Studios Lot), hosting three panels and hands-on product demonstrations.
P...
03/06/2026
Roku has announced the Soccer Zone, a dedicated hub for FIFA World Cup 2026 content available across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argent...
WASHINGTON At least some Emergency Alert System observers sound encouraged by the FCC's plans to address EAS shortcomings before the commission and FEMA conduct another national test. 
