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It helps other curious minds discover how broadcasting really works.

So so, In the world of emergency communication, theory only gets you so far.

The Emergency Alert System, or EAS, is impressive on paper, A federally mandated network of radio and television stations designed to relay urgent messages to the public.

But how well does it actually work when it matters?

I'm Tyler Woodward, a seasoned senior broadcast engineer for a network of public media stations.

I've been in this industry now since 2014, and I currently hold a certified broadcast networking technologist credential through the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

This is Fully Modulated.

Where signal meets podcast.

This season, we're diving deep into the emergency alert system how it works, how it doesn't, and how we, as broadcasters, navigate the gaps.

In this episode, we're moving beyond the technical blueprint and into the field.

We'll explore how EAS has been used in real-world situations from devastating tornadoes to amber alerts and how engineers, station staff and emergency managers have had to think on their feet.

These are the stories that put the system to the test.

Eas isn't just a box and a rack.

It's a system that has to work under pressure.

When a tornado touched down outside of Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, local broadcasters played a critical role in relaying weather alerts.

As the storm intensified, NOAA Weather Radio issued a tornado warning and within seconds, EAS messages began rolling through the airwaves.

For some residents, the alert tone was the first warning that they had, seconds before sirens started wailing or the sky turned black.

The strength of EAS is its redundancy.

Noaa alerts were picked up by LP1 stations, local primary stations assigned to monitor and distribute alerts, then retransmitted to other stations who passed the message on to the listeners across multiple formats.

Even when cell towers went down or TV cable feeds were disrupted, car radios and battery-powered receivers kept the alerts coming.

It was the definition of public service broadcasting, but the system isn't bulletproof.

Some broadcasters later reported delays in message reception due to configuration errors or missed daisy chain relays.

In a system where seconds count, an EAS decoder that fails to parse the incoming header correctly can create a dangerous lag.

Still, the fact that EAS got the word out at all under immense pressure reinforces its importance.

This is a special report from News Talk 820 AM, WBAP.

It is 441.

I'm Eric Bushman.

We need to issue an amber alert for a missing baby out of Coffman County.

Stand by as we alert our other stations in the area on WBAP.

It is 441.

I'm Eric Bushman.

We need to issue an amber alert for a missing baby out of Coffman County.

Stand by as we alert our other stations in the area on WBAP.

This is an activation of the Amber Alert system at the request of the Kemp Police Department.

The Kemp Police Department in Coffman County has issued an Amber Alert for a missing three-month-old baby, Xavier Caliste Jr.

The baby boy is 13 weeks old, black, with brown eyes, black hair, 23 inches long, 8 pounds.

Last seen with the suspect.

The suspect is identified as Abigail Williams, a 23-year-old black woman with brown eyes, brown hair, 5'6", weighing 150 pounds.

There is currently no vehicle description.

If anyone has any information, please call 911.

Again, the Kemp Police Department has issued an Amber Alert for a missing 3-month-old baby, Xavier Calise Jr.

The baby boy is 13 weeks old, black, with brown eyes, black hair, 23 inches long, 8 pounds.

Last seen with the suspect.

If anyone has any information, please call 911.

We now resume normal programming on WBAP.

While many people associate EAS with natural disasters, it's also used to locate abducted children through the Amber Alert system.

These alerts are high priority, often relayed in coordination with state and local police and distributed through CAP, the Common Alerting Protocol, directly to stations' EAS equipment.

In 2022, an Amber Alert issued in Arizona led to a statewide broadcast of vehicle and suspect information.

The originated message came from the state's Emergency Operations Center via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, otherwise known as IPAWS.

Because the state's LP1 and LP2 broadcasters were properly configured to monitor the CAP feed, the alert went out cleanly within moments.

What's especially important here is the CAP part.

Unlike the daisy chain method used for presidential and severe weather alerts, cap allows direct injection of data-rich alerts.

Cap allows direct injection of data-rich alerts.

Stations can include images, maps and scrolling text much more informative than the limited format of legacy EAS.

Cap is what allowed digital signage and mobile push alerts to join the emergency broadcast ecosystem.

But these alerts don't always go as planned.

Misconfigured filters, outdated certifications or simply missed monitoring assignments have led to gaps.

In some cases, stations didn't relay the message because of the filter mismatch or cap polling issues.

That's where attention to monitoring assignments and regular tests come in EAS only works when engineers keep the gears turning.

Quote Amber Alerts are time critical and even a five-minute delay can change the outcome.

Unquote, said a FEMA official at a 2023 briefing on alert performance.

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Now let's talk about what happens when it doesn't work.

I've been on site at stations where an EAS alert failed to relay because of something as simple as a misconfigured filter or a firmware update that never got installed, but I've also seen it go off without a hitch clean, fast and clear.

Clean, fast and clear Because someone such as myself and fellow broadcast engineers took the time to review the logs and test the gear every single week, and that diligence.

That makes all the difference.

At one station I engineered, we caught a serious issue during a required monthly test.

Our INDEC was rejecting CAP-formatted messages from IPALS due to well, a misconfigured or a mismatched SSL certificate.

It wasn't obvious and we might have missed it if we hadn't reviewed the logs that day.

At another site, an SR state relay I helped maintain.

We were able to catch a missed relay from an LP1 upstream.

The only reason we noticed it we had an independent NOAA weather radio monitoring setup as a backup.

That kind of redundancy is what makes the system resilient.

But sometimes the system breaks in ways that well are louder and a little messier.

Not long ago another LP2 station in our area accidentally had their gear configured to originate an RMT, something they were absolutely not supposed to do.

When the header went out, other stations in town picked it up and did what they were designed to do relay the alert.

The tones fired, the crawl started on TV and cable systems.

And then it was country music, no EOM, no message, just a rogue relay stuck in limbo.

Every station that picked it up, including us, had to scramble to kill the alert manually.

It completely disrupted radio, tv and cable systems all across the area.

Then a few days later it happened again.

By that point the FCC got involved.

It was a mess, an avoidable one.

All of it could have been prevented with proper configuration and basic care from the engineering staff, and that's the point.

The emergency alert system isn't perfect, but it is resilient If we make it that way Stations that take the time to monitor multiple sources CAP, analog, noaa, weather radio, satellite feeds.

They're the ones that stay online when it counts.

It's not just about passing audits or filling the right reports.

It's about showing up for your community when the lights go out and the weather turns dangerous.

This stuff matters and when we take it seriously, the system works.

Today we walk through the Emergency Alert System in action, from tornadoes to amber alerts to misconfigured EAS equipment causing havoc with other local stations in the area.

Eas plays a critical role in keeping the public informed and safe.

We've seen the strengths, the weaknesses and the ways engineers keep things running smoothly when it matters the most.

Next time, on Fully Modulated, we're going to explore the flip side, the challenges and limitations of EAS, from false alerts to gaps in Royal coverage, what stands in the way of an even more reliable emergency system?

And I'd love to hear from you have you had to troubleshoot a broken relay or caught an alert that shouldn't have aired Text in your stories, questions or comments?

The link is in the episode description.

Let's make this into a conversation.

If you enjoyed the show, like, follow and share Fully Modulated with your friends and maybe your colleagues, and if you'd like to support what we're building here, become a modulator for as little as $3 a month at FullyModulatedcom.

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I'll see you guys next time.

Thank you.