Last week the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) held a meeting to discuss the next generation of public alerting systems. These systems will modify or replace the current Emergency Alert System (EAS). The meeting, held in Washington D.C., included representatives from the FCC, FEMA, NOAA, NAB and the National Alliance of State Broadcast Associations (NASBA).
A report on the meeting on the SBE Short Circuits web page said there is much work to be done before any firm plan for the next generation alerting plan will be known. The government agencies welcomed input from the broadcast industry and broadcasters’ help will be solicited in the design of the system.
FEMA will send a first assessment of the architecture of the system to the While House by the end of the year. The SBE Short Circuits report says, “SBE representatives came away from the meeting feeling that there will likely be no action required of local broadcasters for at least a year and possibly longer.”
NASDA representatives made it clear that funding for any required equipment should come from the federal government.
Representing SBE at the meeting were Clay Freinwald, national SBE Emergency Alert System (EAS) Committee chair and leader of the meeting, Richard Rudman, a member of SBE’s EAS Committee, and John Porey, executive director.
