Emergency Broadcast System
Encyclopedia
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) was an emergency
Emergency management
Emergency management is the generic name of an interdisciplinary field dealing with the strategic organizational management processes used to protect critical assets of an organization from hazard risks that can cause events like disasters or catastrophes and to ensure the continuance of the...

 warning system in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System
Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast System , which itself had superseded the CONELRAD System...

.

Purpose

"The Emergency Broadcast System was established to provide the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 with an expeditious method of communicating with the American public in the event of war, threat of war, or grave national crisis." It replaced CONELRAD
CONELRAD
CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to serve two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing in on American cities by using radio or TV stations as beacons, and to provide...

 on August 5, 1963.
In later years, it was expanded for use during peacetime emergencies at the state and local levels.
Although the system was never used for a national emergency, it was activated more than 20,000 times between 1976 and 1996 to broadcast civil emergency messages and warnings of severe weather hazards. Some dramatic works depicting nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...

 (most notably the 1983 made-for-TV film The Day After
The Day After
The Day After is a 1983 American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. It was seen by more than 100 million people during its initial broadcast....

) included fictionalized scenes of EBS activations. Occasionally the EBS would be shown in fictionalized use for events other than nuclear warfare, such as the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead.

National Level EBS

An order to activate the EBS at the national level would have originated with the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 and been relayed via the White House Communications Agency
White House Communications Agency
The White House Communications Agency , originally known as the White House Signal Detachment , was officially formed by the United States Department of War on 25 March 1942 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The WHSD was created to provide normal and emergency communications requirements in...

 duty officer to one of two origination points: either the Aerospace Defense Command
Aerospace Defense Command
Aerospace Defense Command is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command. Established in 1946 under the United States Army Air Forces, its mission was to organize and administer the integrated air defense system of the Continental United States , exercise direct control of all active...

 or the Federal Preparedness Agency—as the system stood in 1978. Participating telecommunications common carrier
Common carrier
A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...

s, radio and television networks, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 and United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...

 would receive and authenticate (by means of code words) an Emergency Action Notification
Emergency Action Notification
An Emergency Action Notification is the national activation of the Emergency Alert System and can only be activated by the President or their representative . The Emergency Broadcast System also carried the Emergency Action Notification...

 via an EAN teletypewriter network designed specifically for this purpose. These recipients would relay the EAN to their subscribers and affiliates

The release of the EAN by the ADC or FPA would initiate a process by which the common carriers would link otherwise independent networks such as ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 into a single national network that even independent stations could receive programming from. "Broadcast stations would have used the two-tone Attention Signal on their assigned broadcast frequency to alert other broadcast stations to stand by for a message from the President." Note that the transmission of programming on a broadcast station's assigned frequency, and the fact that television networks/stations could participate, distinguished EBS from CONELRAD
CONELRAD
CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to serve two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing in on American cities by using radio or TV stations as beacons, and to provide...

. EBS radio stations would not transmit on 640 or 1240 AM, and television stations would carry the same audio program as AM radio stations.

Activation procedure

Actual activations originated with a primary station, which would transmit the . The Attention Signal most commonly associated with the EBS was a combination of the sine waves of 853 and 960 Hz, an interval suited to getting the audience's collective attention. Decoders at relay stations would sound an alarm, alerting the station operator to the incoming message. Then each relay station would broadcast the alert tone and rebroadcast the emergency message from the primary station.

A nationwide activation of the EBS was called an Emergency Action Notification (EAN). This was the only type of activation which broadcast stations were not allowed to ignore; the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 made local civil emergencies and weather advisories optional (except for stations that had agreed to be the "primary" source of such messages).

To activate the EAN protocol, the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 and UPI
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...

 wire service
Wire Service
Wire Service is an American drama series that aired on ABC as part of its 1956-57 season lineup.-Synopsis:Wire Service focuses on three reporters for the fictional Trans-Globe wire service, which was similar to real-life news wire services such as the Associated Press and United Press International...

s would notify stations with a special message. It began with a full line of X's, and a bell inside the Teletype
Teletype Corporation
The Teletype Corporation, a part of American Telephone and Telegraph Company's Western Electric manufacturing arm since 1930, came into being in 1928 when the Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Company changed its name to the name of its trademark equipment...

 machine would sound ten times. To avoid abuse and mistakes, the message included a confirmation password which changed daily. Stations that subscribed to one of the wire services were not required to activate the EBS if the activation message did not have proper confirmation.

False alarm of 1971

Despite these safeguards, the system was inadvertently activated at 9:33 AM EST on February 20, 1971. Teletype operator W. S. Eberhardt accidentally "played the wrong tape" during a test of the system. As a result, an EBS activation message authenticated with the codeword "hatefulness" was sent through the entire system, ordering stations to cease regular programming and broadcast the alert of a national emergency. A cancellation message was sent at 9:59 AM EST; however, it used the same codeword again. A cancellation message with the correct codeword, "impish," was not sent until 10:13 AM EST.

This false alarm
False alarm
A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the fake report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources to a place where they are not needed. Over time, repeated false alarms in a certain area may cause occupants to start to ignore all alarms, knowing that each time it...

 demonstrated major flaws in the EBS. Many stations had not received the alert, but more importantly, the vast majority of those that did ignored it, or did not know what to do during an emergency. While several stations went off the air, the one best remembered was WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV, channel 44, is an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Telemundo network, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This station is owned by NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of Telemundo...

 (Ch 44) in Chicago, which broadcast the 1971 events as they happened, a recording of which has become available from WOWO
WOWO
Located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, WOWO is an independent news/talk radio station transmitting on 1190 kHz at 50,000 watts during the daylight hours and 9,800 watts during the nighttime hours. An application is on file with the Federal Communications Commission to add a fourth tower to the three...

.

Numerous investigations were launched, and several changes were made to the EBS. Among them, the on-air alert announcement was streamlined, eliminating one version of the script that warned the audience of an imminent attack against the country. (The WOWO broadcast above does not contain the reference to an attack.)

System uses

Although it was never used, the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

's EBS plan involved detailed procedures for stations to follow during an EAN. It included precise scripts that announcers were to read at the outset of the emergency, as well as whenever detailed information was scarce. Among other things, citizens were instructed not to use the telephone, but rather continue listening to broadcast stations for information.

The initial scripted announcement was: "We interrupt this program. This is a national emergency. The President of the United States or his designated representative will appear shortly over the Emergency Broadcast System."

As official information began to emerge from various sources, non-primary stations were to broadcast it according to the following priority list:
  • Messages from the President of the United States
    President of the United States
    The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

  • Statewide emergency information
  • Local emergency information (for a station's operational area, i.e. evacuation and sheltering plans, and severe weather)
  • National programming and news (other than a presidential message)


A presidential message was always required to be aired live during an EAN. For other information, stations were to follow the priority list to decide what should be disseminated first. Lower priority official programming was to be recorded for the earliest available rebroadcast.

Participation in EAN emergency broadcasting was done with the "voluntary cooperation" of each station (as noted in the classic test announcement). Stations that were not prepared to be part of the national EBS network were classified as "non-participating" by the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

. During an EAN, a non-participating station was required to advise listeners/viewers to tune elsewhere to find emergency bulletins. The station's transmitter would then be turned off. Non-participating stations had to remain off-the-air until the EAN was terminated. Under no circumstances could any broadcast station continue with normal programming during a national emergency.

Testing the system

Until the system was superseded, radio and television stations were required to perform a Weekly Transmission Test Of The Attention Signal and Test Script on random days and times between 8:30 A.M and local sunset. Stations were required to perform the test at least once a week and were only exempt from performing the test if they had activated the EBS for a state or local emergency or participated in a coordinated state or local EBS test during the past week. Additionally, stations were required to log tests they received from each station they monitored for EBS messages. This served as an additional check, as they could expect to hear a weekly test from each source. Failure to receive a signal at least once a week meant that either the monitored station was having a problem transmitting the alert signal, or the monitoring station was having a problem receiving it.

Original plan

Early in the history of the EBS, tests and activations were initiated in a similar way to CONELRAD tests. Primary stations would turn their transmitters off for five seconds, back on for five seconds, off for five seconds more, then would go back on air and transmit a 1000 Hz tone for 15 seconds to alert secondary stations. This quick off-and-on became known to broadcast engineers as the "EBS Stress Test", as older transmitters would sometimes fail after the quick cycling on and off. This became unnecessary as broadcast technology advanced and the two-tone alarm was developed.

Later test pattern

Beginning in 1976, the old CONELRAD signaling method (the "EBS Stress Test") was scrapped in favor of the following procedure :

1) Normal programming was suspended. Television stations would transmit a video slide such as the one illustrated at the beginning of the article. One of the following announcements written below was transmitted:
  • "This is a test. For the next sixty (or thirty) seconds, this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
  • "(name of host station in a particular market) is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test." (Mainly radio stations used this particular announcement)
  • "This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
  • "The following is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System."


2) The Attention Signal was transmitted from the EBS encoder for 20 to 25 seconds. At the special request of the FCC, however, this step was occasionally (though rarely) skipped.

3) The announcement written below (depending on the variation) was transmitted. The first part read:
  • "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The broadcasters of your area in voluntary cooperation with the FCC and other authorities (or, in later years, "federal, state and local authorities") have developed this system to keep you informed in the event of an emergency."


There were a number of variations for the second half of the statement. During the early days of the system, stations other than the designated primary station for an operational area were required to shut down in the event of an emergency (reminiscent of the CONELRAD days), and the message was a variation of:
  • "If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed to tune to one of the broadcast stations in your area."
  • "If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for news and official information."


By the early 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

, as it became easier for stations to record and relay messages from a primary station, and the risk of hostile bombers using broadcast signals to navigate lessened due to the development of ICBMs, the requirement to shut down in the event of an activation of the system was dropped, and the message became:
  • "If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news or instructions."


As the EBS was about to be replaced by its successor, the aforementioned Emergency Alert System, some stations used the following variant:
  • "This station is testing its Emergency Broadcast System equipment. The EBS will soon be replaced by the Emergency Alert System; the EAS will provide timely emergency warnings."


The test concluded with one of the following phrases:
  • "(sponsoring station in a particular market) serves the (name of operational area). This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."
  • "This station serves the (name of operational area). This concludes this test of the Emergency Broadcast System."


These variations were heard in different parts of the country throughout the years depending on FCC regulations at the time, local preferences, and whether the specific station performing the test was a primary EBS station or not. At least one version made explicit reference to an attack on the United States as being a possible scenario for EBS activation. The announcement text was mandated by the FCC.

Stations had the option of either reading the test script live, or using recorded versions. WHEN radio in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

 had a sung version of the most common script. The FCC declared it illegal to sing the test message, or read it as a joke. However, it was acceptable to read it in another language (for example, French or Spanish), if a station broadcast in it. Copies of the warning message script
Emergency Action Notification
An Emergency Action Notification is the national activation of the Emergency Alert System and can only be activated by the President or their representative . The Emergency Broadcast System also carried the Emergency Action Notification...

 had a note saying that it was acceptable to broadcast in any other language, so long as it was broadcast in English as well.

Purpose of the test and Cultural Impact

The purpose of the test was to allow the FCC and broadcasters to verify that EBS tone transmitters and decoders were functioning properly. In addition to the weekly test, test activations of the entire system were conducted periodically for many years. These tests showed that about 80% of broadcast outlets nationwide would carry emergency programming within a period of five minutes when the system was activated.
The weekly broadcasts of the EBS attention signal and test script made it a significant part of American Cultural fabric of its time, and became the subject of a great number of jokes and skits, e.g. the sung versions of the test script in the late 70's.

Several people have testified about being frightened by the test patterns as children, and actual emergencies scared them even more.

See also

  • Emergency Alert System
    Emergency Alert System
    The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast System , which itself had superseded the CONELRAD System...

  • Emergency Public Warning System
    Emergency Public Warning System
    The Emergency Public Warning System was a system used in the province of Alberta, Canada until October 2011, whereby local or provincial authorities could warn the public about impending or current emergencies affecting their area...

  • Four minute warning
    Four minute warning
    The four minute warning was a public alert system conceived by the British Government during the Cold War and operated between 1953 and 1992 when the system was dismantled after the cold war ended...

  • CONELRAD
    CONELRAD
    CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to serve two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing in on American cities by using radio or TV stations as beacons, and to provide...

  • UK's National Attack Warning System
    HANDEL
    HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

  • Wartime Broadcasting Service
    Wartime Broadcasting Service
    The Wartime Broadcasting Service was a service of the BBC that was intended to broadcast in the United Kingdom either after a nuclear attack or if conventional bombing destroyed regular BBC facilities in a conventional war ....

  • Singapore's Public Warning System
    Public Warning System
    The Public Warning System is a network of civil defense sirens installed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force on over 2,000 strategic points in Singapore to warn Singaporeans of impeding dangers and air raids...


External links

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