fwd: FCC must ward off FEMA

[Sid Schweiger]

>>> "Robert F. Sutherland" <madprof@ix.netcom.com> 8/30/2006 11:50:39 PM >>>
Passing on a post  from Barry Mishkind's Email list:
(many of you probably already have seen this)
of a scary concept which IMHO could cause disasters to be worse.
Bob

...

FEMA now is trying to get that agency, the Federal
Communications Commission, under its control during emergencies.<<

You did not, unfortunately, post the follow-up from Richard Rudman, the now-retired CE at KFWB and a long-time participant in national boards and agencies dealing with public warning.

The gist of Rudman's follow-up is that FEMA is doing no such thing.  All public warning agencies are being placed, by an Executive Order of the President, under the Department of Homeland Security...possibly one of the smarter things he has done during his term in office.  Current responsibility for public warnings is now a hodgepodge of competing regulations and agencies, some at the national level, some at the state level and some at the local level, all of which have conflicting mandates and often send out conflicting warnings and instructions to the public.

The one unfortunate part of all this is that, less than ten years after the Emergency Broadcast System was replaced by the Emergency Alert System (an unfunded government mandate), the whole thing may be scrapped yet again in favor of a new system...and this one will probably be unfunded as well.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom Boston LLC
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WKAF - WMKK - WRKO - WVEI AM/FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid@wrko.com