The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the FCC announced that a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System will take place on Oct. 4 at 2:20 p.m. ET. EAS participants, with limited exceptions, should have already filed their ETRS Form 1 providing the FCC with information about their stations’ EAS equipment. Any EAS participant that must update their ETRS Form 1 to ensure its accuracy must do so on or before Sept. 15.
On Friday, the FCC said it will conduct a nationwide test of the EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Aug. 11 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, with a backup date of Aug. 25 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. FEMA will initiate the WEA portion of the nationwide test using the State/Local WEA Test category. Only those subscribers who have opted in to receive WEA test messages will receive the test message. Participating CMS providers are required to transmit the State/Local Test message and enable subscribers to opt in to receive it. FEMA will transmit the alert in both English and Spanish. All EAS participants are required to participate in this nationwide EAS test.
Broadcasters Need To Prep For EAS Test
The FCC and FEMA have established Sept. 20 as the date for the next nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System. The nationwide test is designed to study the effectiveness of the EAS and to monitor the performance of EAS participants. The Wireless Emergency Alert system will be tested immediately prior to the test of the EAS. While the test itself is a month away, all EAS participants must file their Form One with the FCC by Aug. 27 in preparation for the test.
FCC: EAS Participants Should Stagger Filings
The FCC has sent an email to those registered in the EAS Test Reporting System for tomorrow’s nationwide test, asking them to (1) stagger the filing of their EAS Form Two based on their time zone, and (2) not file Form Three until the day after the test. The FCC explained that the request — the staggered filing times are not mandatory — is meant to “maximize the resources available to process Form Two filings.”
