Why does the the Emergency Alert System do its "required weekly tests" ten times a day, every day?

[Orrex]

And why the hell do they never pop up during commercials?

[UTUSN]

1. & as comedians have noted endlessly, why didn't it go off during 9-11?!1

Plus the other bit about fear of flying and why aren't planes made of the indestructible stuff the "black box" is made of.

[Orrex]

2. I posted a while back about something similar

In my whole life I don't remember the EAS (or its predecessor the EBS) ever being used in an actual emergency. Others in the Lounge reported that they've seen it used during tornadoes and hurricanes and the like, but no matter how bad the weather or whatever the catastrophe, the EAS never seems to function in my broadcast area except during test-time.



However, I should note that it does occasionally issue Amber Alerts, but not often and not reliably.

[crispini]

6. Gets used all the time here.

Mostly for tornado warnings but it also goes off for severe weather warnings too. Heck, they still use the air raid siren near my house for tornado warnings.

Of course, the chance to run and hide in your bathroom really could save your life in a tornado so I think it's a good thing.

[TheMightyFavog]

7. Gets used for severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings all the time up here

Although, not so much this year. Same for Amber Alerts. We also had an incident a couple summers back involving a crashed tanker truck in the northern part of the county that warranted its use to warn nearby residents to shelter in place..

[Hayabusa]

3. What's worse is

that it usually picks out the most dramatic point of the show. I was watching Law & Order and they were coming across a major clue when the damn thing kicked in. I'm lucky that I usually have closed captioning on as a default so I could follow the conversation.

[Orrex]

4. Yes!

I was watching the Kevin Kline film Dave the other day, and right at the end, just as he was about to give the final line of his speech before Congress, the EAS chimed in, knocking out the sound for 30 seconds. I've seen the film before, of course, but I still couldn't help questioning the timing!


And let me state again that I've never heard it interrupt a commercial, and the "weekly" test runs ten times a day. It also punches right through OnDemand movies and programs, even the new releases that you have to pay for.

[Turbineguy]

5. It seems

to be run by the same people at Sears who send you a weekly email twice a day.

[guitar man]

8. Sounds like

The station in question might have their eas receiver set to receive and turn around more tests than are actually required, better safe than sorry if the FCC ever comes to inspect your station logs.

And the reason you never see them during a commercial is because we would have to refund the money for the spot(s) affected by the test, and refunding money to advertisers makes the big guys very unhappy.

[Orrex]

9. You're probably right, but it's still annoying as hell.

:grr:

[guitar man]

10. Yeah I know

It is extremely aggravating. Class a tv stations are only required to run one test of the header and eom per week and one required monthly test per month. During the week the monthly test comes in, the weekly test is optional, so I have no idea why the operators at some stations run so many tests. I know when I was working master control I didn't run that many.