Re: EAS(y)...not...

[brouder@juno.com]

I hesitate to enter this thread because I know how emotional this issue
is with many people.  And thus it will always be because the FCC was
short-sighted when it implemented EAS.  They adopted a
potentially-wonderful system of technology, then gave stations wide
latitude on how to impement it.  Thus, any hope of a "standard" was
defeated.

For example, Roy Lawrence referred to WHEB ("we would just slip the "fax"
like tones in between two spots and it was business as usual!  However,
it was a train wreck for us to run received tests(from WOKQ) during other
elements....")

The FCC's Part 11 rules don't require a station to say ANYTHING when
running a Required Weekly Test.  However, the Required Monthly Test must
contain spoken word.  WHEB was fine just running the tones between
records and getting on with it.  In my experience, though, too many
station personnel have no idea whether they're sending or receiving an
RWT or RMT.  When they receive someone else's Weekly test, all they have
to do is log it--nothing is transmitted over the air.  But as others have
pointed out, the Monthly test must be re-transmitted within 15 minutes of
receipt.

Bob Nelson wrote:  "I believe stations must run the test when required
(no advance warning!) and when the test is run it goes right over what
the DJ or talk host is saying without said host even being aware of it."

That's not accurate, Bob.  The test only goes over the air without host
knowledge IF the licensee has chosen to insert the EAS box in the final
stage of the audio chain--after the studio and before the transmitter. 
It doesn't have to be done that way, but many owners do it because it is
expedient.  Many also do it because it involves less staff training and
requires no "hands-on" decisions.

EAS gear is programmable.  If a station is attended and interested, the
operators can leave the box on manual and insert EAS messages at a
convenient time.  But if a licensee chooses to automate, there really is
no other choice than to put the box on automatic and suffer interruptions
to normal programming.  Those are the only options.

There are too many options, though, when it comes to which events a
station filters.  There are about three dozen event codes on the FCC's
approved list.  Part 11 only requires stations to filter 6 of them.  All
weather warnings, watches and special statements are optional.  Listeners
have no way of knowing (and usually staff don't even know) which codes
their EAS gear is programmed to recognize and which it is programmed to
ignore.  Consequently, EAS offers no universal reliability because each
player in the game is allowed to interpret the rules so widely.

I personally feel EAS could be quite valuable, but the way the FCC rules
are written, I don't think it will ever live up to is potential.

Ed Brouder 
Chairman, N.H. State Emergency Communications Committee
(but normally Man From Mars Productions, http://www.manfrommars.com)


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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V3 #496
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