Broadcasters And Emergency Managers To Gather For AWARN Washington Roundtable

Local TV broadcasters and emergency managers from the Washington, D.C., metro region will gather Dec. 7-8 for the AWARN Washington, D.C. Roundtable. The goal is to lay the groundwork for the voluntary use of NextGen TV Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) and “reboot” the historic partnership between broadcasting and public safety.

The AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable, covering an afternoon and part of a second day, will be hosted at the new offices of the National Association of Broadcasters. Joining AWARN and NAB as co-hosts are ONE Media 3.0, the Maryland, DC and Delaware Broadcasters Association (MDCD), the Fairfax County Department of Emergency Management and Security, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Sponsors are the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), LG Electronics/Zenith R&D Lab, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and The Weather Company, An IBM Business.

AWARN Executive Director John Lawson said: “The AWARN Roundtables are a forum for broadcasters and local alert originators to network and explore ways to work together to deliver geo-targeted, rich media emergency information. Although NextGen TV AEI will be highlighted, the real focus is building relationships.

Lawson said TV station general managers and news directors, along with operations and engineering execs, have found previous AWARN Roundtables to be a highly productive use of their time. Lawson listed five ways stations can benefit from ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Information, which will be delivered as an over-the-air app. Next-Gen AEI:

• Makes the jobs of TV newsrooms simpler by warning viewers in a very geo-targeted way without interrupting programming for everyone else.
• Provides digital content for multiplatform distribution by opening up access to rich media produced by alerting authorities (evacuation routes, flood maps, road closures, images of missing children, etc.).
• Reinforces the “first informer” positioning of local TV stations.
• Offers a clear consumer benefit that can help drive adoption of ATSC 3.0 receivers.
• Supports the industry’s public policy objectives with Congress and the FCC.

AWARN and local partners, including state broadcaster associations, have completed roundtables in Santa Barbara and New Orleans, both of which, AWARN said, drew strongly positive reviews from participants. Future roundtables will be held in Raleigh, N.C. (Jan. 24-25), and New York City on a date in 2023 to be announced. Other locations are under consideration.

Registration information for the Roundtables can be found at AWARN.org.