Emergency Alert System - Incidents

Incidents

• During the September 11 attacks in 2001, "... the EAS was not activated nationally or regionally in New York or Washington during the terrorist attacks on the nation." Richard Rudman, then chairman of the EAS National Advisory Committee explained that near immediate coverage in the national media meant that the media itself provided the warning or alert of what had happened and what might happen as quickly as the information could be distributed. "Some events really do serve as their own alerts and warnings. With the immediate live media coverage, the need for an EAS warning was lessened." 34 PEP stations were kept on high alert for use if the President had decided to order an Emergency Action Notification. "PEP is really a last-ditch effort to get a message out if the president cannot get to the media."

• On February 1, 2005, someone activated an EAS message over radio and television stations in Connecticut telling residents to evacuate the state immediately. Officials at the Office of Emergency Management announced that the activation and broadcast of the Emergency Alert System was in error due to possibly the wrong button being pressed. "State police said they received no calls related to the erroneous alert."

• On June 26, 2007, the EAS in Illinois was activated at 7:35 am CDT and issued an Emergency Action Notification Message for the United States. This was followed by dead air and then WGN radio (the station designated to simulcast the alert message) being played on almost every television and radio station in the Chicago area and throughout much of Illinois. The accidental EAN activation was caused when a government contractor installing a new satellite receiver as part of a new national delivery path incorrectly left the receiver connected and wired to the state EOC's EAS transmitter before final closed circuit testing of the new delivery path had been completed.

• On October 19, 2008 KWVE-FM of San Clemente, California was scheduled to conduct a Required Weekly Test; however, it conducted a Required Monthly Test by mistake, causing all stations and cable systems in the immediate area to relay the test. In addition, the operator aborted the test midway through, leading the station to fail to broadcast the SAME EOM burst to end the test, causing all area outlets to broadcast KWVE-FM's programming until those stations took their equipment offline. On September 15, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission fined its licensee, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, $5,000 for the botched EAS test. After the fine was levied, various state broadcast associations in the United States submitted joint letters to the FCC, protesting against the fine, saying that the FCC could have handled the matter better. On November 13, 2009, the FCC rescinded its fine against KWVE-FM, but had still admonished the station for broadcasting an unauthorized RMT, as well as omitting the code to end the test.

• On May 20, 2010, NOAA All-Hazards and CSEPP tone alert radios in the Hermiston, Oregon area, near the Umatilla Chemical Depot, were activated with an EAS alert shortly after 5 pm. The message transmitted was for a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, issued by the National Weather Service in Pendleton, but the transmission broadcast instead was a long period of silence, followed by a few words in Spanish. Umatilla County Emergency Management has stressed there was no emergency at the depot.

• During September 2010, the staff of KCST-FM Florence, Oregon noticed that their EAS equipment would repeatedly unmute as if receiving an incoming EAS message several times a week. During each event, which was relayed from KKNU Springfield, the same commercial advertisement for ARCO/BP gasoline could be heard, along with the words "This test has been brought to you by ARCO". Further investigation by the primary station transmitting the commercial revealed that the spot had been produced using an audio clip of an actual EAS header which had been modified to lower the header's tone and presumably prevent it from triggering false positive alert reactions in EAS equipment. The spot was distributed nationally, and after it had once been identified as the source of the false EAS equipment trips, various stations around the country reported having had similar experiences. After a widespread notification by the Society of Broadcast Engineers was issued, ARCO's ad agency withdrew the commercial from air play.

• On August 9, 2011, the Emergency Alert System was activated for a Required Weekly Test in Davidson County, Tennessee. However, due to a bug in the system, as many as 20 RWTs were sent and received from 3:20 am to 5:00 am CDT.

• In October 2011, the FCC fined WHPR-FM in Highland Park, Michigan $22,000 for numerous violations, one of which was not having any EAS equipment in use; an employee of the station pointed out that the station's EAS decoder was stored in a closet.

• On November 3, 2011, the EAS in Etowah County, Alabama was activated for a Required Weekly Test on television. However, due to a bug in the system, as many as 15 RWTs were sent and received from 2:15 am to 4:30 am CDT.

• On November 9, 2011, the first National EAS Test was conducted. Many people that were listening to TV or radio reported barely hearing the audio, not seeing the video, hearing overlapping audio, or on cable and satellite systems which redirect to one certain channel slot to launch the test, were stuck on the EAS channel without routing to the test (such as a non-essential shopping channel, TV Guide Network, Music Choice audio channel, or in DirecTV's case, a Sonic Tap audio channel airing Lady Gaga's Paparazzi at the time).

• On March 13, 2012, Just after the broadcast of the Today Show at 9:56 am, WDIV-TV accidentally launched the Emergency Alert System seconds before their local newscast started to air. The Emergency Alert System froze for 5 seconds, then returning to their newscast. This is WDIV's shortest- yet glitched EAS running only for 10 seconds. It's unknown if this was implied to air before the newscast starts, or the commercials delayed the EAS from airing.

• On May 21, 2012, the Emergency Alert System in Tennessee was activated for a Required Weekly Test. However, a familiar bug in the system caused as many as 9 weekly tests to be transmitted that night. Later that night, a Required Monthly Test was transmitted but contained a Flash Flood Warning message. No explanation has been given for this error.