LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—Digital Alert Systems and broadcast streaming processing specialist D2D Technologies have launched DAS-Flex, a combination of both companies’ technologies that creates a unified, resilient broadcast solution.

The partnership has resulted in a true technology with D2D’s multiplexing capabilities being directly integrated into the Digital Alert Systems DASDEC platform. The resulting product is an all-in-one emergency alert encoder/decoder, signal switcher, media playout system and ASI-IP bridge, which reduces the hardware broadcasters require and simplifies workflows, the company said.

“We’re excited to bring our Flex-series technology into this powerful new platform,” said Steve Doll, president at D2D Technologies. “The DAS-Flex combo is a great example of how thoughtful integration can solve real-world challenges for broadcasters. Whether it’s ensuring signal continuity during a disaster or enabling localized alerts at translator sites, this solution offers a unified approach with enhanced performance and adaptability.”

DAS-Flex brings together Digital Alert Systems’ DASDEC-III emergency messaging platform and D2D Technologies’ Flex-series ATSC multiplexer and media keyer in a compact 2 rack-unit chassis. While purpose-built for U.S. broadcasters and cable operators subject to EAS/CAP mandates, the unit offers a modular design that makes it suitable for a wide range of program distribution environments, it said.

The platform supports full-power stations during normal operation with DASDEC providing alert information within the standard air chain but with the DAS-FLEX option also functioning as a tower backup switch with alerting capabilities automatically detecting loss of the studio transmitter link (STL) and switching to a secondary feed. It also can display a technical difficulties slate or play locally stored media.

Even during these fallback modes, DAS-Flex continues to monitor and display emergency alerts across all channels, ensuring uninterrupted public safety messaging.

For translator sites, DAS-Flex enables localized alert insertion, allowing geographically targeted emergency messages without disrupting the broader network. This is especially valuable for statewide networks, where over-alerting can lead to viewer fatigue, the company said.

For low-power television operators, it offers easy deployment with support for ASI and SRT feeds, it said.

WASHINGTON—The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance made the rounds at the Federal Communications Commission last week to underscore the importance of removing the ATSC 1.0-3.0 simulcast requirement, establishing a date certain for the shutoff of legacy DTV and setting a date by which broadcasters must transmit 3.0 to facilitate a successful transition and support continued technological innovation in broadcasting.

AWARN Alliance executive director Dave Arland and Ed Czarnecki, AWARN steering committee member and vice president of government and international affairs at Digital Alert Systems, met July 25 with FCC Media Bureau and Public Safety Bureau staff, as well as legal and policy advisers to Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty, to discuss how realizing all of the benefits of advanced emergency warnings depends on shutting down ATSC 1.0 and fully transitioning to 3.0, along with other issues, according to notices of ex parte communication sent to the agency.

Arland and Czarnecki told Media Bureau staff that “the full capabilities of the ATSC 3.0 standard require that each broadcaster have at its disposal an entire 6Mhz channel, as is done today with ATSC 1.0 transmissions, in order to have the certainty of knowing what technology will be utilized in the future before committing to more extensive deployment of ATSC 3.0’s full range of capabilities,” according to one of the ex parte notices.

Certainty of a date for the full transition to 3.0 will enable local stations to plan for “necessary technical upgrades and staff training to more fully deploy the capabilities of ATSC 3.0 such as advanced emergency alerting and information messaging,” the pair told the Media Bureau staff.

During the Media Bureau meeting, the AWARN Alliance representatives discussed A331, the ATSC standard on signaling, delivery, synchronization and error protection. Media Bureau staff inquired about the “wake-up bit” that can bring an ATSC 3.0 receiver out of sleep mode during an emergency, the notice about the meeting said.

The meeting with Public Safety Bureau staff covered the same material with additional discussion about advanced emergency alerting and information demonstrations. Noting that there have been some demos and real-world examples of how 3.0 has enhanced emergency alerting, Arland and Czarnecki added, “it’s very much a ‘chicken-and-egg’ situation” as broadcasters wait for the ability to devote all of their assigned spectrum to 3.0 and for more of their audience to have NextGen TVs and receiving devices.

The meeting with Gomez’s staff covered much of the same territory. Deena Shelter, legal adviser to Gomez, noted that the FCC does not want to leave any consumer behind during the transition and that there is no coupon program, as there was during the analog-to-digital transition. The AWARN pair said the transition would not succeed without certainty from the FCC regarding 1.0 shutoff.

Arland and Czarnecki told Shelter that “[i]naction could threaten the important technological innovations that ATSC 3.0 is designed to deliver,” the ex parte communication notice of the meeting with Gomez’s staff said.

During the meeting with Trusty’s staff, ATSC 3.0 digital rights management (DRM) was discussed in addition to the topics addressed at the other meetings. Broadcasters are using DRM to ensure free over-the-air transmission of high-value content is available, the communications notice for the Trusty meeting said.

“Arland noted that consumers have already purchased more than 15,000,000 ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV sets that work seamlessly with DRM technology and that only a small relative number of consumers are impacted by a set-top box product sold with a banned chipset that cannot be authorized to decode protected content,” the notice said, referring to the SiliconDust HDHomeRun 4K Flex and the HiSilicon SoC (system on a chip) that it uses.

WASHINGTON—In the run-up to its August open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission has released details of its previously announced plans to embark on an effort to “re-examine…national alert and warning systems from the ground up and explore whether fundamental changes to these systems could make them more effective, efficient, and better able to serve the public’s needs.”

At the August meeting, the FCC will vote on whether to proceed with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will begin the effort by seeking public comment on wide variety of topics that could ultimately produce fundamental changes in the workings of current alerting systems.

Notably the proposed NPRM does not mention the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the Trump administration is trying to defund. In the past the CPB has played a major role in channeling funding to public stations to implement and upgrade their alerting systems.

The proposed NPRM also makes no mention of ATSC 3.0 or the transition to NextGenTV/ATSC 3.0. Proponents of 3.0 broadcasts have repeatedly touted its capabilities for delivering much more robust and informative alerts.

The FCC reports that the NPRM, which has been released to the public but won't take effect until it is has been voted on, will consider these main issues:

• "Seeks comment on the objectives that effective alert and warning systems should serve.
• “Explores which entities need to be able to send alerts to fully accomplish these objectives and how these needs should be addressed in the design of alerting systems.
• “Considers the alert transmission capabilities that a national public alert and warning system must have to achieve its objectives, including the need for resilience, geographic targeting and security.
• “Examines both the kinds of information that needs to be conveyed to the public and how that information needs to be conveyed for the nation's alert and warning systems to be effective.
• “Asks whether EAS and WEA are meeting the needs and expectations of both the public and alerting authorities, and if not, whether EAS and WEA need to be redesigned to fully reach their potential for achieving the nation's alerting objectives."

The proposed NPRM notes, “Congress established the Commission for the purposes of, among other things, the national defense and “promoting safety of life and property through the regulation of wire and radio communications networks.

“For nearly 75 years, the Commission has implemented this mandate by adopting rules that set technical and other requirements to provide the public with an effective national public alert and warning system,” the proposed NPRM explained. “The Commission’s approach to emergency alerting has been to implement regulations intended to leverage existing commercial communications infrastructure for public safety purposes and to update that existing capability over time to reflect advances in technology and evolving consumer expectations. While this approach has gradually improved the nation’s alerting capabilities, it may also have restricted innovation by preserving alerting frameworks that are decades old without examining whether more fundamental structural changes are warranted.”

To overcome that issue the proposed NPRM said: “In this Notice, we take a novel approach by seeking first to identify what goals the nation’s alert and warning systems should be designed to serve. Proceeding from these first principles will enable the Commission to explore alternatives to our historical regulatory approach and consider how to maximize the usefulness, effectiveness, and resiliency of EAS and WEA consistent with our legal authority. As part of this examination, we seek to identify the objectives that an effective national alerting system should advance, how alerting systems should be designed to ensure that they serve the needs of alerting authorities, what kinds of information alerting systems should deliver, how that information can be most effectively conveyed to the public, public expectations when receiving that information, and other important considerations necessary for modernizing the nation’s public alert and warning capabilities.”

The proposed NPRM extensively covers questions and issues regarding how alerts are currently delivered, with an eye towards changing that infrastructure to reflect how people use devices and consume media.

As part of that effort, it also raises questions about whether the current system of relying on radio and TV broadcasts and cable systems may be outmoded.

“Today, the public can receive emergency alerts from various sources like mobile devices, radio and television broadcasts, cable services, wireline video services, and road signs,” the proposed NPRM explained. “The public, however, increasingly engages with content through other media and platforms that are not equipped to interrupt content to provide emergency messages, such as personal computers, tablets without commercial mobile service, wearable technology, gaming consoles, smart speakers, streaming services, and social media. This shift in consumer behavior indicates that fewer people may be using the platforms through which emergency messages have been traditionally issued, which may frustrate the EAS and WEA systems’ objectives of widespread public notification about emergencies.

“Are the services that transmit EAS alerts—radio and television broadcast, cable service, wireline video services, and certain satellite services—representative of how people consume video and audio services today?” the proposed NPRM asks. “Does EAS remain an effective tool for alert originators if it only makes alerts available over those services?If the public’s media habits are changing, what changes can the Commission implement to make sure that EAS and WEA continue to follow the public’s eyes and ears…Alternatively, is a new alerting system needed to reach the public on these other media and platforms?”

The full proposed NPRM can be found here.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn., and BOULDER, Colo.—PBS station WCTE and the Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) this month met in Cookeville to test and implement a new initiative that uses ATSC 3.0 technology to bring American Sign Language (ASL) services to emergency alert systems.

Building on the groups’ introduction of real-time, Spanish-language closed caption translation this past December, the latest effort aims to ensure critical information reaches deaf and hearing-impaired community members. Both projects are powered by PMVG’s NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) station in Cookeville, leveraging the capabilities of NextGen TV broadcasting to deliver life-saving emergency information across the entire Cookeville and Putnam County, Tenn., region, PMVG said.

WCTE (branded on-air as WCTE Central TN PBS), PMVG, DigiCAP and EQ4ALL are collaborating on the ASL initiative, which is supported by a memorandum of understanding between PMVG and EQ4ALL to advance accessibility and emergency alert technology, it said.

The meeting at the Putnam County Emergency Management Agency in Cookeville was hosted by WCTE president and CEO Avery Hutchins and Putnam County EMA Director Brandon Smith. Attending the meeting were project leaders, station engineers, emergency management experts, specialists in accessibility solutions and local government officials, including the Putnam County Mayor and the Cookeville Mayor. Meeting attendees expressed strong support for the initiative and agreed to work together to complete further testing and deployment, it said.

At the meeting, DigiCAP senior VP Joonyoung Park introduced the company’s cloud-based, NextGen TV “broadcast app” technology that integrates seamlessly with existing emergency alert infrastructure.

“Broadcasting's large coverage area and the hardening and backup power of broadcast sites make television an ideal platform for emergency alerts,” Parks said “ATSC 3.0 technology enhances this capability by adding intelligence and accessibility features to the alerts.”

EQ4ALL co-CEO Kevin Lee demonstrated human avatar technology that uses ASL to deliver emergency alerts over various platforms. The avatars not only sign critical messages but also guide viewers to trusted local resources for additional information.

“Signing is crucial because many hearing-impaired individuals cannot rely on text-based alerts,” Lee said. “The ATSC 3.0 standard allows us to add sign language capabilities, making alerts more accessible and impactful.”

More information is available on the WCTE, DigiCAP, EQ4ALL and PMVG websites.

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—Emergency communications solutions provider Digital Alert Systems has tapped Daniel Dillon as a product and project manager.

In this role, Dillon will manage Digital Alert Systems’ HALO product, a patented system for managing Emergency Alert System and Common Alerting Protocol devices, as well as related products and services.

An 18-year industry veteran with substantial cable industry knowledge, Dillon served in management roles with Trilithic and VIAVI Solutions, Digital Alert Systems said. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and is a member of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.

“Digital Alert Systems has built a strong reputation for reliability and expertise in the emergency notifications space, and working here means being involved in the development of cutting-edge technologies that have a direct impact on the public,” Dillon said. “As someone who spent much of my early life involved in emergency management, it gives me great pride knowing that I can have a direct, meaningful impact in the real world, helping save lives, especially in situations like severe weather, natural disasters or national emergencies.”

Dillon will work remotely from Indianapolis, reporting to Vice President of Business Development Bill Robertson, the company said.

“Dan’s expertise was a natural fit for our organization and will ensure our customers’ needs are even further intertwined with our valued product offerings,” Digital Alert Systems Chief Operating Officer Anne Wakeman said. “The entire team looks forward to Dan’s contributions to Digital Alert Systems.”

For more information, visit the Digital Alert Systems website.

If the FCC is going to allow radio broadcasters to adopt software-based EAS infrastructure, it should weigh the challenges of virtualization and consider how potential solutions might work together to meet them within the current regulatory framework.

That was the message from representatives of Digital Alert Systems, Telos Alliance and Nautel, who met in a video conference in October with nine staff members of the commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

What follows is a summary of the presentation, submitted to the FCC as an ex parte filing. It was written by Edward Czarnecki, vice president, global and government affairs for Digital Alert Systems and has been edited for space.

You can view slides that accompanied this presentation here.

The purpose of the meeting was to provide the FCC with a full understanding of a solution supporting EAS in audio-over-IP (AoIP) and virtualized environments currently deployed at several broadcast radio stations. …

The meeting began with an overview of issues faced by various radio stations adopting audio-over-IP and virtual architectures that do not readily integrate with certain legacy approaches.

The three companies meeting with the FCC combined their resources to craft an approach to address the AoIP and virtualization challenge for EAS. We also noted that many radio participants may not be aware of similar integrations already accomplished within the video services sectors — cable, IPTV, and broadcast TV—over the past decade to support EAS in IP and virtual environments.

While noting that virtualization brings new possibilities that might provide cost savings and new types of functionalities, we outlined various limitations of virtualization — as acknowledged by industry experts — that some forms of virtualization can be problematic considering a range of regulatory, policy, security and operational factors.

We explained how some of the broadcast industry’s leading manufacturers have collaborated to develop and field a solution to enable EAS in a virtualized environment. This approach — called “EAS-at-the-Edge” — involves a hybrid combination of the EAS device at the operator site, virtualized systems for radio station operations and virtualized services for system monitoring, management, reporting and software updating.

Conventional EAS processing at a radio station essentially consists of switching baseband audio, which is insufficient for the IP requirements of an AoIP or virtualized system. In the hybrid virtualized EAS-at-the-Edge environment, the DASDEC addresses this obstacle by communicating via IP (AES-67 plus routing/control protocols) to enable EAS insertion into the modern AoIP air chain. Hybrid virtualization combines IP-enabled EAS appliance and software virtualization to simplify EAS from reception to playback.

As discussed during the meeting, this approach yields an elegant architecture by essentially reducing the radio station footprint to two devices. With this currently deployable architecture, our hope is this approach simplifies issues for broadcasters in terms of cost, complexity and FCC compliance.

We illustrated how virtualized radio station solutions already provided by Telos Alliance (the Omnia.9) and Nautel (the GV2) were able to fully interface with the DASDEC EAS system, using a combination of Livewire for AoIP support and EAS-net for additional signaling functions. We showed how, as in the case of Nautel, this combination of resources reduces virtualized broadcast station to an elegant two-unit approach — the DASDEC for comprehensive emergency alert management plus the GV2 to accommodate every function from audio playout, PPM encoding, audio processing, RDS encoding, FM/HD modulation and transmission.

Our joint stance is that the hybrid virtual approach would be secure and afford a greater deal of resilience in the broadcast architecture. In response to questions from the FCC regarding scenarios of internet unavailability and system survivability, we provided detailed responses stressing the flexibility and survivability of this architecture. The example of one client was provided, where they intend to run processing and insertion at the network operations center (NOC) but are also implementing redundancy at the edge (the transmission points) if contact with the NOC was lost.

Simplified station architectures were examined via two leading virtual air chains (the examples of the Telos Omnia.9 and Nautel GV2). One objective of this approach is to provide autonomous continuity of operations at the local station or local transmission site. Regardless of a particular air chain configuration, there would be survivability and ability to inject the EAS message into the transmitter regardless of disruption in other areas of the air chain.

A range of security considerations were discussed, including a broadcast station’s overall security posture and component-level security. We addressed questions from the FCC participants around security at a radio station’s studio and transmitter, and between the studio and the transmitter.

We illustrated how virtualized radio station solutions already provided by Telos Alliance (the Omnia.9) and Nautel (the GV2) were able to fully interface with the DASDEC EAS system, using a combination of Livewire for AoIP support and EAS-net for additional signaling functions. We showed how, as in the case of Nautel, this combination of resources reduces virtualized broadcast station to an elegant two-unit approach—the DASDEC for comprehensive emergency alert management plus the GV2 to accommodate every function from audio playout, PPM encoding, audio processing, RDS encoding, FM/HD modulation and transmission.

Our joint stance is that the hybrid virtual approach would be secure and afford a greater deal of resilience in the broadcast architecture. In response to questions from the FCC regarding scenarios of internet unavailability and system survivability, we provided detailed responses stressing the flexibility and survivability of this architecture. The example of one client was provided, where they intend to run processing and insertion at the network operations center (NOC) but are also implementing redundancy at the edge (the transmission points) if contact with the NOC was lost.

Simplified station architectures were examined via two leading virtual air chains (the examples of the Telos Omnia.9 and Nautel GV2). One objective of this approach is to provide autonomous continuity of operations at the local station or local transmission site. Regardless of a particular air chain configuration, there would be survivability and ability to inject the EAS message into the transmitter regardless of disruption in other areas of the air chain.

A range of security considerations were discussed, including a broadcast station’s overall security posture and component-level security. We addressed questions from the FCC participants around security at a radio station’s studio and transmitter, and between the studio and the transmitter.

The meeting highlighted how this particular approach enables EAS in virtual and AoIP air chains, with full compliance with existing regulatory and operational requirements, including FCC Part 11 and Part 15 rules, government equipment type approval, and FEMA IPAWS conformity testing.

Our strong recommendation was that no solution should be contemplated by an EAS participant or the government without fully meeting those existing interagency requirements.

It was noted that this approach has already received significant industry recognition, including the 2024 Technology Award from the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and a Radio World “Best of Show” Award at the 2024 NAB Show.

We observed that, as published in trade press and stated by FEMA officials, FEMA IPAWS prefers “full compliance with FCC rules” and has stated “IPAWS does not endorse any specific product but enthusiastically welcomes discussion about innovative solutions that can enhance the timely and effective distribution of alerts to the public.”

Virtualized EAS device administration was presented in the form of Digital Alert Systems’ HALO system that monitors and manages all EAS devices in an enterprise environment. With fully virtualized EAS device administration, HALO provides remote enterprise monitoring, health status and configuration management of EAS devices, with provisions for remote delivery of software updates and security patches.

Currently deployed at major broadcast and cable TV operations, HALO can also provide the remote monitoring, management and updating capabilities being sought by the broadcast radio industry. In response to a question from the FCC regarding virtualized EAS software and HALO, we clarified that HALO remote enterprise management applies to EAS in either a physical or virtual (VM) environment.

Regarding accessibility, we detailed information on how we have utilized this EAS-at-the-Edge to successfully broadcast visual alerts in HD Radio, incorporating symbology to visually indicate the presence and type of alerts on enabled radio receivers. We suggested this approach would further the commission’s objectives of making emergency alerts more accessible including to those with limited English proficiency. Responding to FCC questions, we clarified that the symbology was included in the HD Radio data (program art) transmission sent from the station and received on conventional HD Radio receivers.

Whether via symbology in HD Radio, or RDS, our approach can enable persistence in the display of alerts during the active time of an emergency event, even after the EAS message itself has been played. This approach is compatible with millions of HD Radios currently used in the U.S. today, without any change required by the consumer or HD Radio manufacturer.

Concluding the meeting, we recapped how this industry-proven approach yields reduced security and operational risks while maintaining regulatory and operational compliance. This standards-based approach combines simplicity, reliability and high availability in an architecture that is being deployed today.

We also noted our hope for continued discussion between industry participants, hopefully leading to a consensus on optimal paths forward given operational, regulatory, and technical realities. …

Digital Alert Systems, Nautel and Telos Alliance thank the commission for its efforts to maintain a resilient and secure national Emergency Alert System. Our companies are mutually committed to the development and deployment of broadcast systems that will achieve the objectives of a secure, reliable and robust public warning architecture in ways that will be compliant with government requirements.

[Related: “NAB Differs With EAS at the Edge in Important Respects” ]

This article initially appeared in TV Tech sister brand Radio World.

CHANTILLY, Va.—Datacasting solutions provider SpectraRep has appointed George Molnar as its chief technology officer.

Molnar will draw on his 25 years of experience in crisis and emergency management technologies to spearhead SpectraRep’s national public alerting datacasting network for public safety and government and commercial communications, the company said.

"SpectraRep is delighted to expand our team with broadcast and public safety veteran George Molnar,” SpectraRep president Mark O’Brien said. “Molnar’s dual background in broadcast engineering and statewide interoperability coordination will be invaluable as we continue to build our nationwide datacasting network for public alerting and encrypted public safety tools. His technical expertise will enable us to expand our operational goals while coordinating key partnerships with state and local officials.“

Molnar’s extensive experience and education includes his tenure as senior director of technology at all-news radio station WTOP Washington, D.C., where he led technical and operations IT, broadcast activities supporting newsroom and production activities and disaster recovery facilities, SpectraRep said.

He was also director of engineering and management, WARN Project, PBS, where he led a cross-functional team and multimillion-dollar effort to update the PBS WARN system to comply with new Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) requirements. In addition he held emergency management positions with CyberSafeNV and the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, where he was actively engaged in initiatives focused on public, business and school safety.

“I am excited to join the SpectraRep team, where I can combine my experience and commitment to broadcasting and public safety with the company’s proven solutions," Molnar said. “SpectraRep’s innovative approach to emergency alerts through datacasting is transformative, especially given the need for reliable alerting across the nation. I will be laser-focused on our goal of efficiently and quickly establishing a nationwide network of stations dedicated to keeping communities safe and informed during critical times."

SpectraRep’s emergency alert datacasting services are active at more than 130 public television stations. The company has announced a strategic goal of creating a nationwide public alerting system in 2025.

WASHINGTON—John Lawson, longtime broadcast alerting advocate and founder of the AWARN Alliance, said he is stepping down as its executive director to work full-time in his position as co-founder of America’s Emergency Network LLC, which uses satellite and the ATSC 3.0 core network to interconnect alerting authorities to NextGen TV stations. Dave Arland, founder and president of PR firm Arland Communications, has been tapped as the new executive director, taking over when Lawson steps down at the end of the year.

AWARN (Advanced Warning and Response Network)—a coalition of broadcasters, device manufacturers and emergency management agencies tasked with developing advanced emergency alerting technology for ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV)—was founded in 2015 with Lawson as its first executive director. Lawson is also president of his own consulting firm Convergence Services, a strategic consulting firm focused on spectrum, resilience and next-generation broadcasting business model.

Although Lawson has been a strong advocate for emergency alerting, he has recently expressed frustration and skepticism about the broadcast industry’s transition to ATSC 3.0, calling out broadcasters for not doing enough to advance the technology.

“By and large, the broadcasters have not lived up to the promises that many of them made to the FCC in 2017 to stand up advanced alerting if the commission approved a voluntary transition to ATSC 3.0,” he told TV Tech last year.

His frustration grew after meetings with the FCC and local broadcasters, Lawson told TV Tech recently. Last spring, in an op-ed published on TVNewsCheck, he advocated for a government program that would provide discounts for 3.0 converter boxes, similar to the converter box coupon program in the transition from analog to ATSC 1.0 several decades ago.

Then he met with the FCC.

“Senior staff at the FCC told me that the broadcast industry had made it clear from the beginning, in their opinion, that the 3.0 transition was unlike the transition from analog to digital, and that it would be a purely market-driven approach,” he said. “And then I went out on the road so to speak to the Michigan Broadcast Engineering Conference I really got a dose of reality,” adding that no one raised their hand when he asked attendees if the 3.0 transition was “on the right track.”

“I’m proud of the work of the AWARN Alliance to foster the use of ATSC 3.0 for advanced emergency messaging, which creates a powerful use case for NextGen TV,” Lawson said, thanking the AWARN Alliance’s core group of commercial and public broadcasters and technology companies that “grasp the life-saving power of NextGen TV alerting.”

Arland brings decades of industry experience and expertise in lobbying, communications and strategy to his new role at the AWARN Alliance. He continues to lead his consulting firm, Arland Communications, and serves as executive director of the Indiana Broadcasters Association.

“The AWARN Alliance itself is John Lawson’s legacy, and all of us owe him an enormous debt of gratitude,” AWARN Alliance Chairman John I. Taylor said. “Similarly, we are very fortunate to have the well-respected and talented Dave Arland to lead us into the future.”

OAKVILLE, Ontario—As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canada's national public alerting system, will be distributing a test alert to Canadians in participating provinces and territories on their television, radio and compatible wireless devices on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

"The Alert Ready system is a critical service that helps keep Canadians safe," says Martin Belanger, director of public alerting at Pelmorex, which operates Canada’s alerting system Alert Ready. "Testing provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the Alert Ready system and to validate that it works as intended in case of an actual emergency."

Alert Ready is designed to deliver critical and potentially life-saving alerts to Canadians, including but not limited to tornadoes, flooding, fires and AMBER alerts. In 2023, the Alert Ready system distributed 1086 emergency alerts across Canada.

To learn more, visit alertready.ca. 

LYNDONVILLE, NY—Digital Alert Systems, a provider of emergency communications solutions for media providers, and Masterplay, provider of the Masterplay On-Air playout system, today announced a new technology partnership.

The Masterplay On-Air server now integrates with the Digital Alert Systems DASDEC emergency messaging platforms that use the Digital Alert Systems EAS-Net communication protocol, allowing users to now use EAS-Net for advanced IP-based alerting in broadcast and low-power TV environments. The two companies said they will share support for their combined customers.

Through this integration, Masterplay has extended its Emergency Alert System (EAS) support beyond the traditional serial and audio cables. This technological advancement provides a pure-IP link to the Masterplay servers so customers can link remote sites over a simple network interface. The setup is ideal for centralcasting operations, where the equipment isn't required to be collocated, according to Masterplay.

"Using EAS-Net and aligning with the leading EAS vendor in the TV market showcases the strength of our collective commitment to smaller companies and smaller operators," said Rick Mella, sales engineer at Masterplay.

"We use EAS-Net to link our DASDEC EAS devices in the field with our Masterplay On-Air playout servers in one single centralcast location," said Matthew Davidge, CEO of Roseland Broadcasting. "With broadcast stations in Texas, Florida, and the Midwest, we use a hub-and-spoke model, and EAS-Net helps us better accomplish the alerting mission with less equipment. It saves us time and money and reduces the amount of wiring and support required to maintain FCC compliance."

Masterplay On-Air playout system for 4K/HD/SD playback and scheduling is scalable, making it suitable for operations of any size, but the technology integration with Digital Alert Systems is especially beneficial for smaller, low-power TV operators looking for a low-cost EAS solution, DAS said.

"The Masterplay system is a robust and powerful playout tool that provides high-quality performance for a much lower cost than many other solutions," said Bill Robertson, vice president of business development, Digital Alert Systems. "The greater the selection Masterplay customers have for complying with emergency messaging mandates, the easier it is to find exactly what they need at a price they can justify. By making our technologies work together, we're giving customers another option for delivering emergency alerts that is affordable and easy to implement."

WASHINGTON—NextGen Broadcast datacasting via ATSC 3.0 is “an ideal” technology to complement wireless networks, filling coverage gaps and offering seamless delivery continuity during emergencies and disasters, ONE Media Technologies today told the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau in filed comments.

The wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group told the bureau datacasting via ATSC 3.0 can bolster delivery of emergency information that otherwise would rely only the “fragile” existing wireless system that “can be impaired or entirely disabled during times of crisis, when alerting is most needed.”

The filing pointed to wildfires in Maui and California as examples of cell tower destruction during disasters and network overload during the Jan. 6. 2021 riot when cell traffic swamped delivery of vital information as only a few instances that “highlight the perils of overreliance on cellular service.”

NextGen Broadcast, now covering about three-quarters of the U.S. population, can deliver “much needed redundancy and enhance the quality and targeting of… emergency alerts,” it said.

The ONE Media filing laid out the benefits of NextGen Broadcast-based Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) capabilities. Topping the list is the ability of NextGen Broadcast AEI to reach mobile devices regardless of cell coverage. 

The filing pointed out that 3.0 transmission enables advanced alerting capable of distributing emergency messages even when cell networks are unavailable, power has been interrupted, high winds are present and falling trees are an issue. 

“… [T]he NextGen Broadcast standard was purposely built to be a mobile-first standard and reflects the designed-in capabilities to reach all portable devices,” the filing said. “Thus, rather than getting frozen out because of a downed cell tower, power outage, or an overloaded cell system, NextGen Broadcast AEI can continue to provide critical information instantly and directly to all users in affected areas in even the most extreme circumstances.”

Working with Saankhya Labs and partly financed by the Indian parliament, ATSC 3.0 is being demoed as a “Direct-to-Mobile” technology pilot program that serves that nation’s bandwidth needs. The demonstrations offer “an excellent use case” to inform “U.S. domestic AEI policy,” the filing said.

For the pilot, ATSC 3.0-receiver-enabled devices like the Mark ONE smartphone, dongle accessories and Wi-Fi hotspots are being demonstrated.

“India’s adoption of the standard would be a monumental step toward international synchronization of the NextGen Broadcast standard and inevitably propel manufacturing of consumer devices to serve a vast population, resulting in benefits to consumers in the U.S. and around the world in the form of more (and more affordable) mobile ATSC 3.0 device options,” the filing said.

The filing also laid out five different examples demonstrating how NextGen Broadcast AEI can alert users regardless of the availability of cell or Wi-Fi service or while they are running other applications. It also presented a link to a video demonstrating four of the five use cases using the Mark ONE phone and 3.0.

Other benefits explained included: enhanced alerting capabilities, such as delivering rich multimedia like maps and evacuation routes, as well as distributing large amounts of encrypted data to emergency responders across a market; broad coverage; and operation by existing EAS participants setup to receive and retransmit IPAWS-delivered alerts.

The filing also discussed several successful NextGen Broadcast ADI pilots, including a launch involving the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in April.

I recently asked John Lawson, executive director of the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, what it’s been like trying to get ATSC 3.0 advanced emergency alerting off the ground. “We’ve been pushing a rock up a hill,” he said with a bit of weariness in his voice.

Why? It could be the fact that Pearl TV, which includes some of the nation’s largest station groups, Fox Television and News-Press and Gazette have left the alliance. Perhaps, it’s because a corporate tech member from Japan has bailed out. Or, it might be a lack of support from the FCC.

Each has proven to be a challenge for Lawson. But his biggest disappointment—the thing that may have added the tinge of exasperation to his voice, is how the broadcast industry overall has dropped the ball when it comes to advanced emergency alerting.

“By and large, the broadcasters have not lived up to the promises that many of them made to the FCC in 2017 to stand up advanced alerting if the commission approved a voluntary transition to ATSC 3.0,” he said, adding that Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh, N.C., and Sinclair Broadcast Group are notable exceptions.  

While the remaining AWARN Alliance members recently voted to continue as an organization with Lawson as its leader, he’s no Sisyphus.

With the membership’s blessing, Lawson is preparing to push that rock up the hill one more time. But unlike the mythical Sisyphus, Lawson is taking a new route up—one he believes that will take advanced emergency alerting where it needs to go.

This time, Lawson is taking the for-profit, commercial approach. His plan is twofold. Working with a partner like tech manufacturer 6G-Datacast.tv, Lawson hopes to see mobile 3.0 receivers with battery backup power and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities in the homes and cars of millions of people around the country. The idea is the units will receive 3.0 advanced emergency messages and data and rebroadcast them to other devices in the home if the users so choose.

To naysayers who argue Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) messages and cell phones can do the same thing, Lawson points out that rather than helping, the combo can hurt when a fast response on the part of the public is required. When people receive these alerts, they tend to mill about, unnecessarily delaying their response, while they seek to confirm or find more information on their smartphones. 

That phenomenon is tied directly to the 360-character limitation of WEA messages. In contrast 3.0 advanced emergency messages have no such character limits and can, in fact, include rich media like maps with escape routes, other graphics, video and audio from official sources like local emergency managers and more.

Plus, there’s the problem of electrical service to cell towers going down in severe storms and hurricanes, a comparatively rare occurrence at TV transmitter sites hardened with backup generators and days of fuel.

The other piece of the puzzle, Lawson said, is a 24/7 disaster reality channel, something he described as “C-SPAN meets the Weather Channel.” The idea is to use artificial intelligence to scrape public sources of emergency alerts to retrieve the 2,800 or so issued every day. Then using a model similar to Alert FM, which has proven to be a success, deliver the alerts and accompanying rich media from official sources to TV station subscribers via satellite or other means.

Lawson would outfit emergency managers and public safety officials with the tools to aggregate rich media and the means to transmit that content along with alerts to station clients. On the station side, the alerts and rich media would be received and automatically trigger delivery to the public via 3.0.

While he is at the beginning of this journey, Lawson is encouraged after attending Disaster Expo USA 2023 at the Anaheim Convention Center in September where the ideas were well received. Of course, there will be many challenges along the way, but at least he’s had years of experience learning to live with the pain of pushing a rock up a hill. 

WASHINGTON—Representatives from the broadcast industry met with public emergency managers recently to discuss the future of emergency alerting in the new ATSC 3.0 standard (aka “NextGen TV”).

The meeting, held last week at NAB headquarters here is part of a series of roundtables sponsored by the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN), an alliance of broadcasters, government officials and manufacturers tasked with developing the new advanced emergency alerting service for the ATSC 3.0 over the air service. 

The ability of ATSC 3.0 to combine broadcast with IP brings the promise of far more detailed and targeted information that can be relayed to the public during emergencies. This ability for broadcasters—whose transmission facilities have to meet FCC requirements for security and reliability— could make a crucial difference in a world where the kinds of cellular services consumers rely on every day are far more vulnerable and likely to fail, as evidenced by recent storms, including Hurricane Ian.

What kind of information, how it’s presented and how best to relay it to the myriad of devices was among the main topics of discussion at the meeting. Jerald Fritz, Executive Vice President for Strategic and Legal Affairs for ONE Media, a division of Sinclair Broadcast Group, emphasized the importance the broadcast community put on improved mobile reception when developing ATSC 3.0; something that could not be achieved in 1.0.

“What we've now enabled is mobility—we can put it in your tablet, on your laptop, or on your phone,” he said. “That's critical in the emergency informing field.” 

Fritz showed several screenshots showing different layouts of how and what information could be relayed on a TV or mobile device screen, from maps of escape routes to sources of additional information, weather maps, school closings, emergency updates, etc. The plethora of information and how it can be presented can be daunting, however. 

During a demonstration of its emergency alerting app that showcased such features, Kevin Wong with ONE Media discussed how the company has approached its development. 

“There's a lot of potential here to show additional information that you expect to get on the internet, including an augmented experience,” he said. “It's really just a matter of what information is available and making it accessible and organizing it. So we're still working on enhancing the experience to provide more information, making it more accessible.”

Although cord cutting has increased and the number of consumers receiving TV over the air has incrementally grown over the past decade, the vast majority of  consumers still watch via cable and/or broadband, so how do the emergency alerting capabilities of ATSC 3.0 fit into the multichannel and mobile device world of today, if they're not available on pay TV?

“[Broadcasters] are currently talking with the MVPDs (multichannel video program distributors)... to make sure that they're going to be taking the 3.0 service—not just the 1.0 service—to transmit to those folks that have cable systems,” Fritz said. “That's assuming that they have electricity and power to run their television station. Because when power goes out, the cable systems pretty much go out as well on their televisions that work. That's why we believe it's critical to have ATSC 3.0 in mobile devices and laptops and tablets and phones.” 

On that note, despite the lack of ATSC 3.0 compatibility on mobile devices, Fritz pointed to the international focus of the standard and ONE Media’s ongoing work with Saankhya Labs, its chip partner based in India and the potential offered by the world’s second most populous nation. 

“With respect to the cell phone companies, we have decided to do it ourselves, to show what the capabilities are,” Fritz said, pointing to the company’s ongoing development of its Mark One Android-based smartphone it’s developing with Saankhya. “India is conducting broadcast spectrum testing in Bangalore and Delhi right now to show what direct to mobile will look like and we believe that it will be successful, and that success will then manifest itself here in the United States.”

Sulayman Brown, Deputy Coordinator for the Dept. of Emergency Management and Security for Fairfax (Va.) County Gov’t., discussed the evolution of the region’s emergency preparedness efforts through the creation of the National Capitol Notification System that, over the past decade, has streamlined the way local governments in the DMV area alert both their internal departments as well as the general public. As communications from pagers and cellphones have evolved to the sophisticated smartphones of today, the notification system has adapted to those changes. 

Brown noted the increasing value of using social media for emergency communications. “A lot of our messaging is out on social media," he said. “Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all of that is now connected to our notification system.”

Brown sees the emergency alerting capabilities through ATSC 3.0 as an important addition to a menu of emergency communications capabilities but is also cognizant of the realities of today’s consumer choices and getting the message to where the consumers are. He also thinks there’s room for improving communication between local broadcasters and emergency officials. 

“Essentially we need better communication about who makes the decisions at the broadcast station,” he said. “Can we get you out to our location where we can walk you through a particular situation? What's our trigger for sending out messages? Is it that big of an emergency so that you feel more comfortable putting that message out? This is the message, so it's got to be trust. I don't know if you have that now.” 

“In a lot of jurisdictions in the National Capital Region, they have a public affairs manager who worked for local stations before so we have that relationship,” he added. “But what I’d like to know is, ‘what do you need from emergency managers?’”

The goal of the roundtables, which will continue in Raleigh and New York in the new year, is to not only provide a tutorial on the emergency alerting capabilities of ATSC 3.0 but to also enhance dialogue between local stations and their local emergency officials to improve coordination during emergencies, as well as use that feedback to improve the design and form of 3.0 alerts. 

The roundtables are helping to open the lines of communication as both broadcasters and government agencies adapt to the evolution of mass media, according to John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance. “We're trying to build relationships,” he said. “We talk about technology, but this is really about relationships, getting to know your counterparts and finding out the best ways to work together.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.—AWARN has announced that local TV broadcasters and emergency managers  from the Washington, D.C. metro region will be convening December 7-8 for the AWARN  Washington, D.C. Roundtable. 

The goal of the event, which is the third in a series, 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, AWARN said. 

“We’re gratified with the range of broadcasting and emergency management  organizations that have come together for these discussions. Our focus is regional, but the implications are national. The power of these meetings comes from bringing together TV broadcasters, who’s signals have tremendous reach, with local alerting  authorities, who ‘push the button’ for delivering local alerts,” according to AWARN  Executive Director John Lawson. “The educational sessions and off-the-record discussions create an opportunity to  explore ways to work together. The pay-off is the capacity to deliver geo-targeted, rich  media emergency information across multiple platforms.”

The AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable will cover an afternoon and part of a second  day. It will be hosted at the new offices of the National Association of Broadcasters. 

The  following organizations are co-hosts for the Roundtable: 

• The AWARN Alliance 
• ONE Media 3.0 
• National Association of Broadcasters 
• Maryland, DC, and Delaware Broadcasters Association 
• Fairfax County Department of Emergency Management and Security
• Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (coordinating alerting for 18  jurisdictions in the National Capital Region) 
• Radio Television Digital News Association 
• WHUT-TV at Howard University 
• Virginia Association of Broadcasters 

 In addition, a number of groups and companies are sponsoring the event. These include: 

• Advanced Television Systems Committee 
• LG Electronics/Zenith R&D Lab 
• National Association of Broadcasters 
• Sinclair Broadcast Group 
• The Weather Company, An IBM Business

To register, or for more information, contact John Lawson, executive director, AWARN Alliance at Jlawson@AWARN.org or (202) 302-1654.

LEAWOOD, Kan.—As tornados go, it was rather puny. Then again, a piece of debris striking someone at 100 mph—the wind determined for that particular EF-1 twister—could kill or cause severe injury.

But this column isn’t about the tornado per se. Rather it’s about the experiences of some of the people in my hometown during the event, public safety warnings and NextGen TV. 

First some basics. The tornado formed at about 1 a.m. on June 8, roughly seven miles west of my neighborhood in the city of Lenexa, Kan., and traveled east along a major thoroughfare. By the time it got to about a half mile from my house it was no wider than 125 yards. Continuing east into Missouri, the twister traveled along a path from Kansas City, Mo., to the northeast side of a major interstate intersection called the “Grandview Triangle” where it dissipated. No deaths or injuries were reported.

I was out of town at the time, but my wife reports being sound asleep when a warning tone emanated from her smartphone. Groggy, she assumed it was an Amber Alert, which too often comes in waves about events far away. She then rolled over and went back to sleep, not hearing Johnson County’s tornado sirens—although they functioned properly.

Across the street, my neighbors say they slept through the entire event and didn’t learn of it until the next day. Next door, the neighbors heard the sirens and headed to the basement.

The young man who cuts my grass and lives about a block closer to the twister’s path, heard the alert on his phone and the county’s sirens. He went outside to take a look, determined it wasn’t a false alarm, went inside and headed to the basement. He reports losing cellular and internet service right about then.

I have learned a few lessons from this experience that might benefit broadcasters. First, the time of day  an emergency happens plays a huge role in the effectiveness of efforts to warn the public. If people are asleep, some will keep right on sleeping.

Second, when a mobile phone frequently goes off with an Amber Alert warning—something that seems to happen in spurts about possible abductions many miles—its effectiveness as a tool to convey a warning wanes. It becomes background noise and is easily ignored, especially when someone is sleeping.

Third, layering warnings from broadcast, mobile phones and public sirens increases the chance that some members of the public, like the lawn guy, will receive a warning and take it seriously. In his case, two forms of warning prompted action.

Fourth, it’s human nature to want to confirm the legitimacy of an emergency warning like my lawn guy did by walking outside. John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance, on several occasions, has pointed out to me that one of the first things people do when they receive an emergency alert on their phones is to confirm that it’s real. Typically, they ping a website or call someone to confirm the legitimacy of the warning with the same smartphone. When thousands of people do this in a small footprint they are likely to overwhelm the nearby cell tower with traffic.

As for ATSC 3.0 at this point, it goes without saying that 3.0 advanced emergency warnings can “wake up” NextGen TVs in the homes of people living in the path of a tornado or some other emergency. I suspect that doing so stands a better chance of getting the attention of people as they snooze.

With this capability comes a weighty responsibility for broadcasters however. In an era of cost-cutting and workflow efficiency, will they have someone—not necessarily the station meteorologist—present or who has a hardened link back to the station from home at 1 a.m. to take advantage of this capability and warn people of an impending threat?

Lastly, waking up sets and targeting warnings based on geographical coordinates is great; however, if the public doesn’t own a NextGen TV or, worse yet, owns one and does not know about these capabilities and how to enable them on their end, what good are they?

Broadcasters must waste no time educating the public with PSAs and even by meeting with the people directly in their communities at civic gatherings to inform them of the advanced emergency warning capabilities of NextGen TV. Doing so is fully consistent with broadcasters’ public service obligation—not some self-serving promotional undertaking. It could also save the lives of someone they love. 

LAS VEGAS—America’s Emergency Network, LLC has launched an Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) network using ATSC 3.0/NextGen TV. With the introduction of AEN, authorized alert originators such as the National Weather Service, ShakeAlert and local emergency managers will be able to send actionable, geo-targeted rich-media messages even when power, cellular and internet fail. 

AEN Alert is a rich-media-capable emergency notification system that rapidly delivers secure, emergency messages to residents, schools, hospitals, and commercial and industrial facilities, providing timely warnings before disaster strikes. These alerts will deliver actionable information, such as evacuation routes, flood maps, and video snippets from authorized and trusted originators (such as sheriffs and emergency managers). AEN will help save lives and reduce injuries by giving people the information they need to take protective action. 

AEN marries ATSC 3.0 to the existing Alert FM, which uses the Radio Data System in 12 states. (RDS delivers call letters, song and title information to car radios.) Alert FM serves an extensive network of local alert originators, which is their current customer base, and distributes through FM radio stations. Alert FM is licensed by USGS to deliver to deliver ShakeAlert earthquake warnings on the West Coast in five seconds or less. The integrated FM/ATSC 3.0 system will provide multiple redundant backup transmitters connected by satellite to provide secure transmission of a single point-to-multipoint messaging, layered by geo-targeted groupings. 

“We are excited to leverage proven technology to deploy AEN Alert to deliver actionable emergency messages across the U.S.,” says John Lawson, co-founder and president of AEN, LLC. “As a long-time advocate of geo-targeted, rich-media emergency notifications for tornados, fires, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes, AEN Alert will be a tremendous benefit for increasing public safety in all our communities.” (Through his consulting firm, Lawson also serves as executive director of the AWARN Alliance, a coalition that promotes and advocates for the use of NextGen TV for AEI, the industry term for the range of ATSC 3.0-enabled emergency messaging from alerts to on-going information.) 

Protecting California citizens during emergency situations can be enhanced with rich-media alert solutions leveraging NextGen TV, says Joe Berry, president/CEO of the California Broadcasters Association. "The recent advanced alerting roundtable in Santa Barbara has provided a path for NextGen TV to enhance broadcasters’ vital role in communicating emergency alerts throughout California and across the U.S.," he said. 

“AEN has provided valuable insight into the emergency notification delivery industry,” adds Alex Day, business development director for Tolka TV, a producer of cable, satellite, terrestrial and IP media related applications, which recently announced a partnership with Atlanta DTV to develop ATSC 3.0 products. “We are pleased to be co-operating in creating the software and hardware technology required to deliver rich-media and actionable emergency alerts. 

"Tolka will be the signaling server and middleware partner, providing the link between the AEN Alert service and broadcasters to insert the signals. We also will be developing supporting apps," he continued. "Additionally, we will work together with AEN to deliver mobile, battery-operated devices that will operate even when power, cell, and internet fail.” 

At the NAB Show, Tolka will be demonstrating the AEN Alert hybrid RDS and ATSC 3.0 receiver dongle at the Altanta DTH booth (W7903) in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall. 

In the coming months, AEN will launch several pilots across the U.S. and build out the AEN product line. Besides enabling AEI with NextGen TV and selling alert receiver devices, AEN is developing two other revenue streams: 

• AEN TV: C-SPAN- type linear, reality programming from emergency managers for distribution over NextGen TV and streaming – ad supported.
• AEN Archive: library of licensed emergency manager-generated content – fee-based.

At the NAB Show and in days after, AEN says it will be meeting with potential strategic partners in the broadcasting, infrastructure, and receiver industries. 

 WASHINGTON—FEMA and the FCC have announced that they will do a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) that will begin at 2:20 p.m. ET on August 11. 

This will be the second nationwide WEA test, but the first nationwide WEA test on a consumer opt-in basis. 

In the WEA test, the text message will only be sent to cell phone users that have opted-in for text messages. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.

The Emergency Alert System portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. 

This will be the sixth nationwide EAS test.

In the run-up to the test, FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers, and other stakeholders to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test, the agencies reported.

The test is intended to ensure public safety officials have the methods and systems that will deliver urgent alerts and warnings to the public in times of an emergency or disaster, the agencies said. 

If the Aug. 11 test is canceled due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, a back-up testing date is scheduled for August 25.

The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers.

 WASHINGTON, D.C.—While much attention is focused on ATSC 3.0’s advanced emergency alerting capabilities like geo-targeting warnings and TV wakeup, retired Lt. Gen. Reynold Hoover May 25 during the first day of the virtual 2021 AWARN Summit illustrated precisely why the technology’s ability to disseminate information post-event may ultimately prove to be its most valuable quality in an emergency.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for the last 15 minutes we’ve actually been working a missile launch from North Korea,” Hoover said during the opening of his keynote speech. “We detected a launch of a Hwasong-15, which is an ICBM. It has a max range, we estimate, of about 13,000 kilometers, which takes in the entire United States.”

“NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] has assessed this launch as a threat to the United States. NorthCom [U.S. Northern Command] has launched our ground-based interceptors. We’re reporting flight as nominal. We estimate now impact in 14 minutes,” said Hoover, who among a long list of career accomplishments served as chief of staff at FEMA and integrated the agency into Homeland Security following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as being a driving force behind the adoption of IPAWS (the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System).

Surprising Ron Prater, executive director of Big City Emergency Managers who moderated the session before the keynote, the lieutenant general said, “Ron, let me ask you, the mic’s going hot in 30 seconds. We have NORAD telling us 14 minutes to impact. What are you going to tell the public, and what do you want them to do?”

Clearly caught off guard, Prater said he is not an alert originator. “I would personally just panic, and then I would probably call Becky [Rebecca Baudendistel, director of public warning for the New York City Office of Emergency Management and a prior panelist) in New York City and ask her what to do.”

Hoover responded: “OK, Becca. Thirteen minutes to impact…. What are you going to tell people, and what do you want him to do?”

Taking a few seconds to digest the situation, Baudendistel replied: “I think, you know, the first thing is we need to do is address the problem as quickly as possible and put in a trusted source in that message to make sure they [the public] know[s] this is not just Becca saying this. This is coming from… the officials on this call.”

Hoover persisted in his description of the missile flight status. “Sure, sure. OK. So, NORAD now says impact is going to be on the West Coast, and impact is estimated at about 15 minutes.”

Shifting gears, Hoover recounted the Jan. 13, 2017, emergency warning issued in Hawaii that a missile strike was imminent. Public alerts explicitly stated the warning was not a drill and to seek shelter, he said.

“What do you think they [the public] did?” asked Hoover. In the 38 minutes it took the state to rescind the alert and issue a message telling people the emergency warning was false, many people panicked.

“There was chaos. People panicked in the streets. People said their last goodbyes. People, you know, went to get their kids. They were hiding in the bathrooms. They didn’t know what to do. They were searching for more answers.”

Going back to Baudendistel, Hoover resumed the description of the hypothetical missile attack. “Now NORAD advises that missile impact is imminent and most likely [will strike] Seattle, Wash…. Becca, is that going to change anything… [regarding] what you are going to tell people? Impact is imminent.”

Baudendistel replied: “I don’t think so. I’m not sure what else they can do at that point.”

Building on her observation, Hoover explained that in cases like the one in the roleplaying exercise, it is important to tell people what you want them to do, know who is going to communicate that message and how that message will be conveyed.

“And is that message going to cause more panic and harm than good?” he asked. “Certainly, we saw in Hawaii…panic, and we saw chaos. People didn’t know what to do.”

Continuing with the scenario, Hoover reported the missile struck Seattle, knocking out all communications and power in the area, collapsing bridges and highways, shutting down rail and auto traffic and causing general devastation.

“It seems to me that that is where ATSC 3.0 and that is where what we think of NextGen TV, and that is where what we think of IPAWS 2.0… comes into play,” said Hoover.

“Because it’s post disaster in an event like that that is going to save more lives than the chaos we created [in Hawaii].”

Acknowledging the emergency management community wants to warn in advance of an event what and when it can, Hoover said in “a catastrophic, no-notice event,” it’s important to tell people exactly what to do, where to go and what steps they can take to save lives in its aftermath.

Hoover illustrated what he meant drawing on the work of Genie Chance, a journalist and radio broadcaster, during the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake.

Chance, who was running an errand with her son during the quake, drove to the public safety headquarters and using the VHF radio she had in her car began submitting reports to KENI radio.

“What does she say?” asked Hoover. “She says things like, ‘John Lawson, your family is at the Ross’s house, and they want you to know they’re safe, and they would like you to come there as soon as you can.’

“Things like, ‘The city manager is asking all department heads to report to him at the public safety building immediately.’

“Things like, ‘All engineers and pipefitters please report to the maintenance building in downtown Anchorage immediately.’”

IPAWS, ATSC 3.0 and other technologies need to be survivable “in any situation” to relay these sorts of critical messages following a catastrophe, he said.

“We are going to save more lives when we think about how we can apply ATSC 3.0 post event than in some cases we might have saved pre-event with a warning that might cause chaos.”

“I would urge you, as you think about all of the great capabilities of NextGen TV and the broadcast capabilities that we have, we need to think how it’s going to survive post-blast or how it’s going to survive post-earthquake,… and we need to think about how that system is going to work in the future post-incident because that’s where I think… we’re going to end up saving lives,” he said.

Congress wants better emergency alerting for the United States. So the Federal Communications Commission is working on several ways to accomplish that.

Among other things, the FCC wants to get state governments to improve their own alert coordination efforts. It wants to replace the WEA “Presidential Alert” with a “National Alert” that can be issued by the president or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an alert that mobile users cannot turn off. And it wants to explore the possibility of alert dissemination via the internet.

The FCC, now under the leadership of Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, is taking public comments on proposed changes to the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert system.

Many of the steps are mandated by Congress, so the question for the commission is not whether to take them but how. The FCC said it’s crucial that emergency alerts include accurate information and that any new procedures be trustworthy.

The EAS, as most Radio World readers know, is the national public warning system through which broadcasters, cable systems and other EAS participants deliver alerts to warn the public of impending emergencies and dangers to life and property.

While best known for local weather and other warnings and tests, the system’s primary purpose is actually one for which it has never been used: to allow the president of the United States to provide immediate communications to the public in a national emergency.

Broadcasters are required to carry presidential alerts; they participate in state and local alerts voluntarily. The FCC, FEMA and the National Weather Service implement EAS at the national level.

The reform push comes at the direction of Congress as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021. The spending bill included the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, which gave the FCC its charge.

One industry observer said they were “pleased with the elegant solutions the FCC crafted to meet the congressional mandates.”

FOCUS ON THE STATES

For one thing, the commission wants the 50 states and the U.S. territories to do a better job at managing their part of the alerting infrastructure.

The states and territories would be asked to review the composition and governance of their State Emergency Communication Committees. Those SECCs would be required to meet at least once a year and to submit an updated EAS plan annually; the FCC would have to accept or reject each plan within 60 days. The commission also would provide a checklist of information to be included in state plans.

One longtime EAS observer told Radio World they are pleased to see the FCC finally include rules that say state EAS plans are to be administered by the SECCs, something that has been missing from the rules.

The FCC also proposes that state plans, currently posted on its website, would not be publicly available except for names and contact information of SECC chairs.

“Disclosure of the plans, at least in form where each plan is one place and in a uniform and easily searchable format, could highlight potential vulnerabilities that malefactors could exploit, thereby potentially hindering emergency planning efforts,” it wrote.

Another change would enable jurisdictions to report false EAS or WEA alerts to the FCC Operations Center when they occur. The commission said such a system would allow planners to learn from incidents like the false missile alert in Hawaii that was distributed in 2018.

EAS participants are already required to report false alerts, but there’s no system for other stakeholders to report them voluntarily.

REPETITION DISCUSSION

Congress also told the FCC to modify EAS to provide for the repetition of national security alerts issued by the president or FEMA. The commission devotes several lengthy paragraphs of its NPRM to the repetition issue and its associated mechanics.

The commission said the EAS system is already designed to allow repeated alerts from any originator as long as at least one minute has passed, but it said this capability may not be fully understood in the alerting community. It proposes to keep its rules regarding transmission and retransmission but add language specifying how an originator can repeat a message.

It thinks that automating the repetition of alerts, including setting the repetition intervals, should be achievable with “minimal changes” to alert software programs on the market, though it suspects that many encoder/decoder models would require modifications.

But it proposed that only the president or his or her designee be allowed to repeat the president’s Emergency Action Notification alert. It thinks that requiring EAS participants’ equipment to automatically repeat the alert would present technical impediments that may impair the president’s ability to issue EANs. For instance, requiring a predetermined interval of automatic repetition could cause problems in fast-evolving emergency situations.

It invited comments on a long list of questions including whether automatic (or manual) repetition of national security alerts by participants’ EAS devices is technically feasible. It also asked whether widespread repetition of state and local alerts might cause alert fatigue.

The NPRM also asks whether the FCC should adopt a National Command Authority (NCA) alert originator code for FEMA and whether it should create a National Security Event (NSE) event code for FEMA that would encompass “warnings of national security events, meaning emergencies of national significance, such as a missile threat, terror attack, or other act of war or threat to public safety.”

Veteran EAS observer Gary Timm said broadcasters should watch these developments closely, including the discussion about a methodology for repeating national-level alerts.

“The FCC proposed that the most obvious solution is for the alert originator to simply resend the message as many times as they desire it to be heard again. The other possibility the FCC presented is requiring EAS units to be modified to automatically repeat alerts, which could require money and time to upgrade at every station, if it is even feasible,” Timm said.

EAS experts told Radio World that the originator of an alert for any emergency should have complete control over the number of repetitions, the rate of repetitions, the update of old information to new, and the decision to end repetitions.

Harold Price, president of Sage Alerting Systems, said, “Having the originator reissue the message as needed, the FCC’s primary proposal, is the best path. Trying to automate repetition at the broadcast end adds a lot of cost throughout the EAS ecosystem, could make the system more fragile, and can result in message congestion and overlapping new and old information at a time when clarity is most critical.”

He continued: “EAS has always given any originator the ability to repeat information by simply sending an additional alert. This is a matter of training and procedures at the origination point, and perhaps modifications to alert origination tools to permit the easy reissuing of an alert. This is the best way to address the issue.”

Roy Baum, director of engineering and technology for Alpha Media in Topeka, Kan., said he is “adamantly opposed” to building any automatic repeat function into the existing alert generation system.

“If the emergency message is worth repeating, the entity generating the alert should review it and reissue it with updated information, presidential or otherwise. The current EAS equipment can handle this scenario without any problems,” said Baum, who chairs the Kansas State Emergency Communications Committee.

He said the EAS system was intended to be a “first alert” system, not a “continuous-flow-of-information” system.

'INFLEXIBLE'

Adrienne Abbott, Nevada’s state EAS chair, said broadcasters should pay close attention to the FCC’s planned directives to state governments, especially if there is a vacuum in emergency planning in a given state.

“If a state or local official has ever been denied a request for an EAS activation or feels that the broadcasters aren’t giving EAS enough attention, this is an opportunity for those officials to take over EAS,” Abbott said. “To me, this should be a warning to broadcasters to get more involved in EAS and the SECC.”

Larry Wilkins, director of engineering services for the Alabama Broadcasters Association and the state’s EAS chair, thinks that “overall, the EAS system works well” in his state, but said state-level committees can be a weak link.

“Some states just do not have an effective SECC with representatives from all those involved. In Alabama our SECC includes state emergency management, governor’s office, National Weather Service, state broadcasters association, state cable association and radio and television engineers,” Wilkins said.

“The more diversified the list of EAS contributors, the better.”

Another state chair thinks the FCC is focusing on national-level messaging when errors with local alerts and weather hazards tend to be far more common.

“I would hope that more attention would also be paid to local alerts,” said Mike Langner, SECC chair for the state of New Mexico. “Amber Alerts are frequently issued with insufficient information or in some cases too much irrelevant information. Many states now issue Silver Alerts, and, of course, there are already well established Blue Alerts.”

Langner’s primary concern is a lack of required training so that alert originators know exactly how to do it and how to avoid false ones.

“As I understand it, the failures so far have overwhelmingly been failures of human operators and not failures of the various systems’ hardware and software,” he said.

In addition, Langner says, the level of involvement by radio and TV managers in EAS planning tends to wax and wane.

“As stations are bought and sold and managements’ public service philosophies and practices change, State Emergency Communications Committees should be able to readily change monitoring assignments in state plans to reflect reality on the ground,” he said.

“Currently the system for changing monitoring assignments is cumbersome, requiring a waiver of the old monitoring assignments from the FCC. The system shouldn’t be so inflexible.”

ONLINE ALERTS

In addition to its NPRM, the commission issued a Notice of Inquiry to explore whether it is technically feasible to deliver EAS alerts through the internet, including through streaming services, and whether and how to use the internet to enhance the alerting capabilities of broadcasters and other current participants.

Several observers said the idea has merit.

“The current EAS rules do not require radio stations that carry EAS alerts, including presidential EAN alerts, to carry the alerts or tests on their internet streams,” one said.

“Should the commission eventually adopt the idea of sending EAS via internet streaming, broadcasters who are streaming their program may have to make routing changes depending where their EAS unit is located, which could be at the station or out at the transmitter site.”

Gary Timm, the Wisconsin SECC chair, said the commission should encourage all broadcaster EAS participants to include alerts on their internet streaming feeds, given that “an increasing number of people are listening to the radio via their internet-connected in-home speakers.”

In many cases, he said, streaming feeds at a broadcast station are upstream of the EAS encoder/decoder in the audio chain.

Adrienne Abbott in Nevada said it is likely there will be concern among emergency alerting experts about overuse of EAS and WEA.

“There also will probably be pushback by some in the EAS community on the additional requirements for reporting false EAS activations,” Abbott said.

Comments in PS docket numbers 15-91 and 15-94 are due April 20 and replies are due May 4. They can be filed in the FCC’s online comment system.

The separate notice of inquiry seeks comment on the feasibility of updating EAS to enable or improve alerts through the Internet, including from streaming services. Comments on that are due May 14, and replies are due June 14.

This story originally appeared on TV Tech's sister publication Radio World.

WASHINGTON—The FCC is looking to strengthen emergency alerting, proposing new rules on how the public receives alerts on their TVs, radio and mobile phones. The FCC will also look at the feasibility of delivering alerts over the internet.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the FCC was charged with adopting rules to boost emergency alerting in various areas. As a result, the commission adopted this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the goal of ensuring more people receive relevant emergency alerts, enable government agencies to report false alerts when they occur and improve the way states plan for emergency alerts.

The NPRM specifically seeks to:

• Combine the current “Presidential Alerts” category with alerts from the FEMA Administrator to create a non-optional alert class called “National Alerts;”
• Encourage all states to form State Emergency Communications Committees to help administer alerting on state level, or to review the composition and governance of existing committees and certify they met in the last year;
• Provide a checklist that should be included in annual submissions of state Emergency Alert System (EAS) plans and amend the process for FCC review of those plans;
• Specify that government agencies may report false emergency alerts to the FCC’s 24/7 operations center; and
• Require and ensure that EAS participants can repeat certain alerts over TV and radio when the government alert originator requests it 

In addition, a Notice of Inquiry was approved by the commission to explore the technical feasibility of delivering EAS alerts through the internet, including streaming services, and whether EAS participants can use the internet to offer advanced alerting capabilities to the public.

The FCC voted on these actions during its March Open Commission Meeting today, March 17.

WASHINGTON—After announcing its intention to discuss ways to update its Emergency Alerting protocols during its March Open Commission Meeting, the FCC has officially shared the details of what it will be voting on when it comes to EAS.

As Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote previewing the March meeting, the FCC is “proposing updates to the way Americans receive emergency alerts wherever they are—on their phones, on television and on radio.”

What the FCC is proposing, which is in following requirements set forth by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (which includes the READI Act), would impact both the country’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alert System (WEA).

The FCC is scheduled to vote on both a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and a Notice of Inquiry at the March meeting. Below is what each notice will entail.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

• Proposed rule amendments to combine the current non-optional class of WEA “Presidential Alerts” with FEMA Administrator Alerts into a new alert class called “National Alerts.” 
• Propose to amend the annual State EAS Plan reporting rule to require certification that SECCs (State Emergency Communications Committees) have held a meeting in the past year, propose to provide a checklist of required information for annual State EAS Plan reports and propose to amend the commission’s rule for review and approval or rejection of annual State EAS Plans. 
• Propose rules for the FEMA Administrator or a State, local, Tribal or territorial government to voluntary report EAS or WEA false alerts to the FCC Operations Center at FCCOPS@fcc.gov. 
• Propose a rule to require repeating EAS messages when certain authorized EAS alert originators want a message repeated, and to ensure EAS Participants are technically capable of repeating. 

Notice of Inquiry

• Seek comment on whether it is technically feasible to deliver EAS alerts through the internet, including through streaming services. 
• Seek comment on whether and how to leverage the capabilities of the internet to enhance the altering capabilities of the radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video video providers that currently participate in EAS. 

The FCC March Open Commission Meeting will take place virtually on March 17. For more information on the meeting, visit the FCC website.  

WASHINGTON—The FCC could soon be looking into ways to deliver emergency alert messages over video streaming and other internet services. The commission is expected to discuss this possibility at its March Open Commission meeting.

FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in a blog post, said that during the March meeting the FCC will vote to open an inquiry on the possibility of delivering EAS messages from other forms of communications and possible rulemaking changes to do so.

“We’re proposing updates to the way Americans receive emergency alerts wherever they are—on their phones, on television and on radio,” Rosenworcel said.

This exploration of alternative EAS delivery is related to the READI (Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement) Act, which was recently enacted into law. The law provides a handful of requirements to the FCC, among which is “to examine the feasibility of offering EAS alerts through the internet, including through audio and video streaming services.”

The READI Act also requires the FCC to encourage states to create their own State Emergency Communications Comittee and to work with these committees on their State Emergency Alerting plan.

The FCC is expected to release a full draft of the proposed rulemaking on Feb. 24.

The March Open Commission Meeting will take place virtually on March 17. For more information on the meeting, visit the FCC website. 

RESTON, Va.—The NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance (NVISA) has released “Visually Integrated Display Symbology (VIDS),” a recommended practice document that describes a new way to display emergency alerts based on easily discernible graphical elements.

The recommended practice, the first from NVISA, is intended to enhance the impact, usability and accessibility of emergency information by incorporating graphical elements. The goal is to make emergency information more inclusive by ensuring it works for all audiences, regardless of visual media, language, ability or culture, NVISA said.

"Associating graphics with the audio and visual components of an alert is highly meaningful to audiences," said Bill Robertson, chair of the NVISA VIDS Working Group 2 and vice president of business development at Digital Alert Systems.

"The symbology communicates the context of the alert without requiring viewers to read the text or even understand the language,” he said. ”Leveraging well-known symbols and unifying them in a presentation makes it far easier for users to engage and understand the message, ultimately bringing greater impact to broadcasters' mission of public awareness and safety."

VIDS integrates universally understood graphical elements, including symbols and dynamic elements, into emergency alerting information for broadcast. Until now, visual displays of public warnings typically have been text-only and usually limited to a single language. VIDS creates a commonly defined relationship between the type of alert, the message text and any graphical elements, NVISA said.

The VIDS recommended practice lays out the new approach. It provides a standard look and feel for advanced multimedia alerts that is fully compatible with national emergency alert requirements. The VIDS recommended practice explicitly accommodates the requirements of emergency alert systems in the United States and Canada, while providing the flexibility to be applied anywhere else in the world, NVISA said.

VIDS can be adopted across all manner of display technologies, including broadcast media, cable and IPTV systems and digital signage. The VIDS visual presentation is based on a set of display directives for integrating alert information in which specific icons or symbols graphically represent an emergency event. Each symbol is presented with the alert text in a highly accessible manner, it said.

For broadcasters and cable operators, systems using the VIDS recommended practice will deliver an integrated look and feel for advanced emergency alerts, with enhanced accessibility and appeal for viewing audiences. For manufacturers and developers, the recommended practice offers a standardized method to integrate, package and display alert text and graphics.

Integrating a range of technical and regulatory requirements, the NVISA VIDS document makes recommendations for visual presentation of emergency information on display systems, including the Emergency Alert System (EAS), Advanced Emergency Information (AEA) applications in ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV, OTT applications, digital signage, mobile applications and other visual media.

The set of graphical display elements in VIDS is derived from public policy and social science research conducted by FEMA IPAWS, the DHS Geospatial Management Office, the DHS Science and Technology Directorate and the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation.

The NVISA Recommended Practice for Visually Integrated Display Symbology (VIDS), NVISA-WG-1-001.01, is freely available from NVISA for download and review at www.nvisa.org/documents. 

More information about NVISA is available on its website.

WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives passed a trio of communications-related bills on Nov. 17, headlined by one that will work to include streaming in future emergency alerting efforts.

The Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act of 2020 (H.R. 6096) directs the FCC to examine the feasibility of modernizing the Emergency Alert System by expanding alert distribution to the internet and streaming services. Additional facets of the bill include classifying emergency alerts from FEMA as a type that cannot be blocked by consumers on their mobile devices and appointing the FCC to work with State Emergency Communications Committees in developing and modernizing State Emergency Alert System plans. The bill was introduced by a bipartisan group of representative and passed with a voice vote.

The other bills passed by the House were the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecommunications Act of 2020 (H.R. 6624), which creates a grant program through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to promote technology that enhances supply chain security and market competitiveness in wireless communications networks; and the Spectrum IT Modernization Act of 2020 (H.R. 7310), which requires NTIA to submit to Congress a report on its plans to modernize agency information technology systems relating to managing the use of federal spectrum. Both of these bills also had bipartisan support and passed in voice votes.

“From keeping Americans better informed during emergencies to promoting 5G coordination, competitiveness and security, these three bills will create a better, safer communications network for us all,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) in a statement. “At its core, our telecommunications infrastructure exists to serve the public interest and connect our nation, and we are proud of the bipartisan work that went into advancing that goal with these three bills. We thank all our colleagues for working with us to get such important legislation passed today.” 

WASHINGTON—AWARN Alliance plans to stress that NextGen TV, based on the new ATSC 3.0 standard, can be just as big of an evolution for the weather industry as it is expected to be for broadcasters during an upcoming webinar—or “weathernar” as they are choosing to describe it.

“NextGen TV and the Future of TV Weather” will take place on Nov. 12 and focus on how ATSC 3.0 is a powerful tool for improving public safety, including the processes of emergency alerting and sharing information.

ATSC President Madeleine Noland will be on hand to kick-off the session with an introduction of the ATSC 3.0 standard. Panelists will then discuss how the new standard can help with the delivery of vital weather information. Panelists will be from the National Severe Storm Laboratory, which has built a next-generation severe weather forecast and warning framework; The Weather Company, set to share details on its smart automation powered by AI; and other weather enterprise entrepreneurs who are working with ATSC 3.0.

The webinar will begin at 2 p.m. ET on Nov. 12. Registration or more information is available online. 

This story originally appeared on TVT’s sister publication Radio World.

Ed Czarnecki is senior director for strategy and government affairs at Digital Alert Systems and has served on numerous industry and emergency advisory committees, including with the FCC, DHS-FEMA, SBE, NCTA and others. He is currently chair of the ATSC TG3-10 working group on emergency alerts, and vice chair of the ATSC Advanced Emergency Information Implementation Team.

Radio World caught up with Czarnecki to learn about how the emergency alert system and broadcasters are handling the need to deploy critical COVID-19 and novel coronavirus information.

Radio World: We’ve heard a lot of discussion about the role of public alerting right now. U.S. broadcasters know the EAS and WEA systems; are these being used in the coronavirus crisis? How?

Ed Czarnecki: Public alert and warning systems are just starting to be used right now to keep the public informed about different aspects of this public health emergency.  So far, we’ve seen WEA used more than EAS, with WEA notifications being issued in parts of Texas, Florida, California, Michigan, Rhode Island and elsewhere.  Few EAS alerts have been sent so far, but it is possible that EAS will be used more frequently if this public health emergency continues to escalate.

RW: Which warnings specifically have come into play?  

Czarnecki: A few jurisdictions have begun issuing advisories via WEA and even EAS.H EAS (and WEA) do not have specific event codes that directly relate to a pandemic or specific public health related alerts, so alert originators and broadcasters need to use generic messages like a Civil Emergency Message, or Local Area Emergency to cover those conditions (or a Public Safety Message for WEA). 

One of the first COVID-19 related messages was a Civil Emergency Message (CEM) issued in Rhode Island on March 17. Their WEA message said: “State of RI: Due to COVID-19, do not gather in groups of 25+. www.health.ri.gov/covid.” For EAS, the message (if any broadcaster forwarded it) would have been the standard EAS header text for a CEM, followed by “This is a message from the State of Rhode Island. People should not gather in groups of 25 or more. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are takeout or delivery only through March 30. All Rhode Islanders returning from international travel are required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Visit www.health.ri.gov/covid for more information.” The Rhode Island message is also an example of the CAP message being sent out with both English and Spanish messages.

Other states, counties and cities have relied mainly on WEA, using the Public Safety Alert category for mobile alerts. New York City and El Paso, Texas, have sent out numerous city-wide WEA messages related to the coronavirus health emergency, so far. Michigan sent a state-wide WEA public safety alert on March 24, announcing that a “Stay at Home Stay Safe” order—prohibiting “nonessential” travel in Michigan, but telling people that you are allowed to leave your home for health and safety reasons, groceries and supplies, some outdoor activities and to care for others. 

Manatee County in Florida sent out WEA public safety messages with the subject “coronavirus information” that read, “Prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Beach and restaurant restrictions in effect: 10 people per group, maintain 6 ft distance. Restaurant 50% capacity restrictions in place. Bars and nightclubs closed.” There are several other examples across the nation, all along the same lines. But, while relaying on WEA as a public warning channel, local authorities have tended to rely on broadcasters to relay broader public information about the public health emergency.

RW: Some experts worry about “over alerting.” What’s the right amount?

Czarnecki: This is a bit of a subjective question. In South Korea, the government was issuing a steady stream of messages to mobile phones (alerts, updates and advisories). While the info was initially appreciated initially, we hear that many Koreans became bothered fairly quickly by the stream of messages, tuning them out. Korean authorities might have gone a bit overboard, sending dozens of messages a day, each time a case was identified, each time a restaurant might have been exposed, etc. The government credits the mobile phone alerts to helping stem the spread of the disease, but we still hear anecdotal information about mobile users getting frustrated at the amount of messages they had been receiving (and whether it was relevant and important enough for them).

Alert originators should bear in mind a balance between keeping people informed, versus bombarding them and causing message fatigue.

Another point is to remember that these public warning systems—both EAS and WEA—are best used for targeted, actionable information. Not general advisories, but specific information telling people what to do.

RW: Why is it important to be aware of the difference between public information and a public alert?

Czarnecki: In some of the WEA message examples we just discussed, you can almost feel the struggle to squeeze emergency information into a system that was designed for concise emergency alerts. This challenge is relevant for both WEA and EAS.

Public alerts are a specific call to action, while public emergency information may be more general (e.g. health and care information about COVID-19). An alert should be targeted and actionable. It should concisely tell identify the risk (or situation), where (and when) it is located, what exactly people should do to maximize their safety, and how specifically they should do it. 

Public information tends to be the bigger story, a greater degree of information and instructions. More context, if you will. Emergency Public Information may be issued even though there is no “alert,” and EPI may also enhance an alert with more information on what is happening, what the response organization is doing, and what else the public should do for its safety.

The point here is that information needs to go through the right set of systems—the right tool for each type of job. EAS and WEA are best suited for that targeted, actionable alert and are not necessarily very good tools for conveying (or trying to squeeze) emergency public information into these relatively short message bursts.

When people receive an alert, they tend to seek additional information to make a decision—to confirm their understanding. And that usually means turning to radio, TV or internet news sites. This is the interrelationship between a public alert and public information—the alert is the “bell ringer” that drives people to seek additional information.

Alert and warning systems exist within a larger communication ecosystem. A public alert or warning about COVID-19 (or a stay-at-home/shelter in place alert) will serve to drive people to other communications media (broadcast, TV, cable, Internet) to seek out more emergency information. It may be a mistake to try to cram less actionable emergency information into an alert system—but it may be more effective to use alert tools to motivate people to seek out “the rest of the story” via media.

RW: What should broadcasters know or do right now that they’re not already doing?

Czarnecki: Broadcasters should ensure that their EAS equipment is in proper working order, and they should also check in with their LECC or SECC representatives to double check what event codes they should be enabling in case EAS is used for this public health emergency. This is also another reason why broadcasters should double check to make sure their software is up to date.  

As I noted earlier, there is a real chance that the EAS system may be used by different jurisdictions, depending on what happens next with this public health emergency. It is important for broadcasters to double check that their systems are in proper working order, and up to date.

EAS operational readiness is essential—and this includes having the right event codes enabled for forwarding. If the originator is going to use a specific event code (like CEM, LAE, SPW or CDW), the receiver must be set up to handle it. The system fails if the originator uses an event code that a receiver is not configured to forward. In the DASDEC system, for example, the Alert Agent can be configured to be “open” to all sorts of event codes, but not necessarily fire off the alerts. It can essentially be configured to be “at the ready.”

Of course, broadcasters with newsroom operations are likely already in regular touch with local authorities, and that is a critical link for ensuring that emergency public information is being made available to the public. Local newsrooms are the nexus of the broadcasters’ role as an essential “first informer.”

RW: What should local alerting authorities do differently, if anything?

Czarnecki: Local authorities are challenged by this unprecedented situation. Their resources are being stretched in different directions. However, local authorities generally know best when emergency information is needed in their area and how best to communicate to people their jurisdiction. 

We have seen in other situations overseas where medical professionals trained in risk communications had a measurable impact by releasing timely and effective messages for public awareness and other important information such as symptoms to look for. Clear, concise messages from authorities can help people (i.e. broadcaster audiences) feel more in control and persuade them to make important health-related decisions to help ensure their safety. 

So, this leaves local authorities with the need to determine how much of that information should be sent via a public warning channel, like EAS or WEA, versus more general resources, like news stories and PSAs over broadcast media. 

RW: You mentioned South Korea.  What have other countries been doing?

Czarnecki: We have information about how a few countries have been approaching public warning during this public health emergency. In Canada, one province (Saskatchewan) issued a Broadcast Immediate mobile alert to deliver a public information message (stay at home). We’re expecting other provinces to be issuing similar stay-at-home messages, and likely over broadcast media as well (via their version of the EAS system). Canada has an integrated public alert and warning system (NPAS) that is roughly analogous to the U.S. IPAWS system—with both mobile phone and broadcast components.

New Zealand also just launched nationwide COVID-19 alerts via text messaging, essentially telling the entire country to shelter-in-place. In New Zealand, the alerts are being transmitted over their cell broadcast system, with emergency information being disseminated over broadcast radio and TV.

Back to public alerting, Britain, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Romania and many other European nations have sent social distancing and stay-at-home messages via text message alert. As far as I know, all these European countries have been relying primarily on mobile media to disseminate alerts, while relying on news media and PSAs to spread the word over broadcast media.

In the United Kingdom, the government issued a text message nationwide: “GOV.UK ALERT CORONAVIRUS  New rules in force now: you must stay at home. More info and exemptions at gov.uk/coronavirus  Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” I believe this was the first use of mass mobile alert messaging by the UK government. The UK does not have a WEA-type system—the government asked the carriers directly to carry the message (and government agencies are now apparently infighting about who is in charge (or not in charge) of mass notification). 

Interestingly (and perhaps disturbingly), the UK government is also in talks with mobile operators to use phone location and usage data to monitor whether people are actually staying at home or not (which has raised all manner of privacy considerations). Germany and Italy have also been evaluating this kind of mobile device location monitoring, which could include contact-tracing. I’m not opining on whether this is good or bad, or appropriate—just that different countries can have significantly different approaches to public warning and emergency information. And broadcasters tend to have a global role as a “first informer” even when there is no formal broadcast alert system in place.

WASHINGTON—When disaster strikes, the public has a reliable and resilient source of information in broadcasters, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith tells members of Congress. But even so, the NAB fully supports efforts on the table to improve broadcasters’ emergency alert capabilities, including the READI Act and NextGen TV.

This all comes from a letter that Smith wrote to members of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology ahead of its Feb. 27 hearing, “Strengthening Communications Networks to Help Americans in Crisis.”

Smith details how radio and TV broadcasters, particularly on the local level, are often the first source of information for Americans “to stay safe during times of crisis.”

“Whether preparing listeners and viewers for the coming storm, directing them to needed supplies and shelter during disasters or helping rebuild in the aftermath, local stations are part of the communities they serve,” Smith wrote. “Consistent with legislation before your Subcommittee, broadcasting is sometimes the only available communications medium in an emergency when wireless and other networks fail.”

The legislation that Smith referred to is the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, which he says would improve the timeliness, accuracy and availability of emergency alerts.

Outside of legislation, Smith provided insight into how broadcasters are attempting to improve their emergency alert capabilities through new technologies, like NextGen TV, the new ATSC 3.0 standard expected to roll out to broadcasters throughout 2020.

“NextGen TV has many features that will improve emergency alerting and public safety, including the ability to wake up sleeping devices, deliver more precise geo-targeted alerts and send rich multimedia files such as weather radar images, evacuation maps and even video files with detailed explanations about the emergency and what to do.

“As broadcasters move to unleash the next generation of free broadcast television service, we welcome the opportunity to continue to work with this committee to ensure our audience and your constituents have the information that they need to stay safe during times of emergency,” Smith concluded.

Smith’s full letter to the subcommittee is available online. 

ARLINGTON, VA.—A T-Mobile white paper characterizing ATSC 3.0 and its advanced emergency warning capabilities as “inferior” drew fire Sept. 14 from the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance.

The wireless carrier’s document, submitted Sept. 11 as an ex parte communications to the FCC “denigrates the potential for ATSC 3.0 in advanced alerting,” said the AWARN response filed with the agency.

“ATSC 3.0 will not enhance public safety and emergency message delivery but instead would be an inferior platform compared to the well-established wireless network,” the T-Mobile white paper said.

The wireless company made the assertion as part of the case it was making against an FCC mandate to include ATSC 3.0 receivers and antennas in cell phones and other wireless devices.

In its response, the AWARN Alliance called the T-Mobile filing “irrelevant” because it “repeatedly and expressly [has] made clear that it does not seek a [ATSC 3.0] tuner mandate in fixed or mobile devices.”

While T-Mobile claims the superiority of its wireless network to convey emergency communications, its own FCC filing in another matter says otherwise, the response said.

In January, the wireless company and other industry players “made clear the limitations” of their networks with respect to improving Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) in a filing related to the FCC’s Alerting Paradigm Notice of Proposed Rule Making, the response said.

Penned by AWARN Alliance Executive Director John Lawson, the AWARN letter recited the table of contents in the January T-Mobile filing—with items such as “the issue of geo-targeting requires further study” and “WEA is not an appropriate means for transmitting earthquake early warning alerts”—which it said illustrated company’s “position on needed improvements to wireless alerting.”

“The reality is that ATSC 3.0 provides the building blocks to make the improvements to public alerting that T-Mobile says are not possible, realistic, or needed on its network,” Lawson said in the letter.

The response laid out the advantages AWARN as part of ATSC 3.0 brings to conveying emergency information to the public, including delivery of geo-targeted rich-media alerts to fixed, mobile and handheld devices.

It also used data from the FCC’s own Disaster Information Reporting System to compare the resiliency of broadcast and cell phone networks in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

Commission data revealed on Sept. 11 that 27.4 percent of cell towers in Florida were reported out of service. In hard-hit counties, 50 percent or more were out. “In Monroe County, which included the Florida Keys and falls inside the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale designated market area (DMA), over 80 percent of cell towers were reported out of service,” the AWARN response said.

However, for Sept. 11 and 12 the FCC data showed “just four (4) television stations in the whole of Florida were reported out of service,” the response said.

“In summary, T-Mobile is offering the Commission the worst of both worlds,” the response said. “Not only is it opposing improvements to WEA’s established by the Commission, it also disparages the advantages of ATSC 3.0 advanced alerting before it is even launched,” the alliance response said.