WASHINGTON, D.C. —Following the passage of the Rescissions Act of 2025 that defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and left the organization without operating funds for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025, the CPB has announced that it is shutting down its Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) grant program because it can no longer absorb costs and manage the program.

The CPB is slated to shut down at the end of Sept. with only a small staff to manage the shutdown remaining in place through the end of 2025.

In making the announcement, the CPB said that Congress recognized the essential role of local public media stations in protecting public safety when it created the NGWS grant program in 2022 and appropriated $136 million over three years to support that mission. It also affirmed CPB’s role as a steward of federal public media funding by directing FEMA to partner with CPB to implement and administer the program in line with congressional intent.

“CPB has been fully invested in the NGWS program and its mission to protect the American public,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB President and CEO. “This is one more example of rescission consequences impacting local public media stations and the communities they serve—in this case, weakening the capacity of local public media stations to support the safety and preparedness of their communities.”

The CPB reported that under its administration, NGWS was built from the ground up, prioritizing rural and disaster-prone areas. CPB brought the specialized knowledge of local public media stations combined with decades of federal grant management and compliance experience needed to administer such a complex federal program. In one year, CPB hired a dedicated NGWS team, issued requests for applications, and provided technical assistance to stations nationwide.

From the first round of funding received in 2022, CPB awarded 44 grants totaling $21.6 million. Demand far exceeded available resources, with a second round of applications drawing more than $110 million in requests from 175 stations, the CPB said.

With CPB’s closure imminent, the CPB said that FEMA should assume responsibility for disbursing the funds as Congress intended. If it doesn't, most of the FY 2022 funding—and all funds from FY 2023 and FY 2024—will go undistributed, the CPB stressed.

If FEMA does not take control of the program, the CPB warned that critical emergency alerting equipment will not be purchased, leaving communities, especially those in rural and disaster-prone areas, without the upgrades Congress intended.

In response to the announcement Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, said that "today’s announcement by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that CPB can no longer administer the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) grant program is yet another devastating result of the rescission of public media funding."

“Despite the claims during the rescission debate that emergency alerting and public safety services would not be affected by eliminating all public media funding, we are now seeing local stations forced to reduce staff, services and in some cases their coverage area - which will reduce the reach and effectiveness of emergency alerts," she noted. "“In addition, the ending of the Next Generation Warning System will make it even harder for the most at risk stations, particularly those in rural areas, to replace aging infrastructure and support enhancements to alert and warning and other public safety communications systems to ensure resilience and the ability to meet the evolving nature of public safety challenges."

Echoing the CPB, she also said that "with the closure of CPB, America’s Public Television Stations call on FEMA to establish a new process for delivering this funding to public broadcasters."

“In addition, America’s Public Television Stations urge Congress to restore essential direct funding to local stations throughout this country whose communities depend on them for lifesaving public safety services, proven educational resources and essential community connections.

"Public television is one of two technologically diverse pathways that FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) uses to send Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) messages from federal, state and local public officials to cell phone subscribers," she added. "The encrypted messages ride over the public television broadcast spectrum and infrastructure directly to cell phone providers who in turn send them to their subscribers. Sending these messages over the public broadcasting pathway ensures they can reach every corner of the country, even if internet service is compromised or unavailable. These geo-targeted messages can reach subscribers wherever they are in the event of an emergency."

“All of these services that ensure Americans’ safety are now at risk with the closure of CPB, the end of CPB’s administration of the NGWS program and the loss of federal funding for local stations," she said, concluding with a call for Congress to restore the funding for public media.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has lifted its “hold” on grant money for some public broadcast stations to upgrade their infrastructure.

According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, FEMA “lifted a 65-day hold on $38 million in contract reimbursements to CPB for public media stations seeking to update their equipment to create a more resilient and secure public alerting system.”

The news comes a little more than a week after two U.S. senators — one from each major political party — urged FEMA to release the grant money.

CPB in March brought a complaint in federal district court against FEMA over access to the money. It said that FEMA, without explanation, had placed a purported “hold” on the funds despite the intentions of Congress and its own prior commitments.

Among other goals, the grant program is intended to help TV stations upgrade to ATSC 3.0; enable radio stations to upgrade to digital capabilities to enable the broadcast of IPAWS alerts; help stations alert individuals with disabilities or limited English; and improve warning coverage in remote rural areas.

According to a timeline from CPB, in 2022 Congress directed FEMA to set up the grant program, and CPB over three years CPB has been awarded $136 million to administer it for FEMA.

To date about $24.9 million has been awarded to 45 organizations in 24 states from the initial round of funding, which drew from $40 million allocated by Congress for FY22. Congress also appropriated $56 million for FY23 and $40 million for FY24.

New grants

In the latest round, CPB has issued five grants totaling $9.65 million to statewide public broadcasting networks in Louisiana, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and to a radio station in Colorado:

• South Dakota Public Broadcasting receives up to $3.4 million to buy 12 alert encoders/decoders, upgrade 10 FM stations so the statewide radio network can transmit in HD Radio, and install equipment providing backup redundancy for the radio network in case of an emergency;
• Wyoming PBS receives up to $2.3 million to replace outdated equipment at 39 of its 53 locations to ensure timely emergency alerting;
• Louisiana Public Broadcasting Network receives up to $2 million for transmitters and antennas for TV stations in Lake Charles and Monroe and to update alerting equipment to enable statewide delivery of alerts;
• Wisconsin Network (PBS Wisconsin/Wisconsin Public Radio) has up to $1.4 million for decoders and other equipment to make Wisconsin Network more resilient, expand coverage in rural areas and upgrade emergency alerting; and
• KUTE Inc. KSUT Tribal Radio receives up to to $537,000 to replace equipment at nine locations to create back-up systems to broadcast emergency information during extended power outages.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Radio World. [Visit Radio World’s News and Business Page here]

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded up to $1.37 million to four public broadcasters to upgrade equipment to deliver enhanced emergency alerting.

To date, CPB has issued 17 grants through the first round of funding for the Next Generation Warning System (NGWS) grant program, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The latest public broadcasters to receive the grant include KMOS PBS in Warrensburg, Mo., PBS Fort Wayne (Ind.), KTOO Public Media (KTOO TV/FM) in Juneau, Alaska, and Kodiak Public Broadcasting/KMXT-FM in Kodiak, Alaska, CPB said.

“Public media stations have long played a vital role in emergency alerting in communities across the country,” said CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison. “The Next Generation Warning System grant program helps public media organizations, especially in rural areas, replace and upgrade their infrastructure so that they can continue to keep their communities safe.” 
FEMA selected CPB in 2022 to establish and administer the NGWS grant program, which funds public media stations to upgrade their equipment and receive training to enhance alerting and warning capabilities, including the ability to use NextGen TV broadcast technology and comparable digital broadcast technology for radio stations. The program prioritizes public media stations serving rural, tribal and underserved communities.

Grant details include:

• KMOS PBS, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Mo., up to $880,085 to replace aging broadcasting infrastructure and provide increased technical capacity to partner with local, state and federal emergency management officials in emergencies.
• Fort Wayne PBS, WFWA-TV, Fort Wayne, Ind., up to $185,086, to improve the reliability and resiliency of the broadcast station’s warning system and support the installation of several updated equipment components.
• KTOO Public Media, KTOO TV/FM, Juneau, Alaska, up to $252,209 to improve the station’s resilience and warning system infrastructure. KTOO is the local primary distribution point for Juneau and reaches tribal and other populations in outlying communities.
• KMXT-FM, Kodiak Public Broadcasting, Kodiak, Alaska, up to $51,670, to buy encoders to improve common alerting protocol capability, fill gaps in alert delivery and provide backup power systems to improve its infrastructure and resilience.

In June, CPB launched a Request for Applications (RFA) portal on the CPB website for a second round of funding for the NGWS grant program. The total amount of NGWS grant funds available in this round is $48 million, approved in Fiscal Year 2023, CPB said.

“FEMA is committed to building resilience by rapidly disseminating emergency communications to the public through diverse integrated pathways,” said FEMA IPAWS director Manny Centeno. “FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) provides a suite of tools and resources for local authorities to effectively send emergency communications to the public. We continue developing the Next Generation Warning System concept as we improve continuity and leverage new technologies, such as ATSC 3.0, that can reach the public wherever they are.”

More information on the grant program is available online.

More information on the CPB is available on its website.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance (NVISA) and the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) have announced a strategic partnership with Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (FEMA IPAWS) to establish an end-to-end NextGen TV broadcast system at the IPAWS Technical Support Services Facility (TSSF) near Washington, D.C. 

The implementation is a joint effort between the FEMA IPAWS TSSF, NVISA and the ATSC’s Advanced Emergency Information Implementation Team. The ATSC 3.0 system will serve in a closed-circuit environment, capable of demonstrating Advanced Emergency Information features, upgraded Emergency Alert System (EAS) displays, integration of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), and other advanced public warning capabilities integrated into the IPAWS ecosystem. It will also provide live over-the-air monitoring capabilities.

The deployed system will consist of a full ATSC 3.0 broadcast chain fully contained within the FEMA facility. The system will also provide significant opportunities for educating government and private sector stakeholders and open the door to expanded public-private conversations on potential opportunities and requirements for next generation public warning systems and advanced broadcast services.  

“We are looking forward to this initiative becoming the start of a broader public-private partnership to advance future public warning capabilities," said NVISA Chair Ed Czarnecki. "By bringing together NVISA, ATSC, and FEMA IPAWS, we want to make certain that ATSC 3.0 is well-positioned for the future. This includes reinforcing broadcast television’s role as a first informer during emergencies and leveraging a range of advanced services.”

“We believe it is important for ATSC to expand its collaboration with the public sector and other industry groups in the advancement of ATSC 3.0 capabilities,” said Madeleine Noland, ATSC president. “The increasing adoption of ATSC 3.0-enabled technologies is expected to drive fundamental transformations to the services and applications offered by the broadcast community, including public warning and emergency information services."

According to Manny Centeno, IPAWS program director, “The implementation will establish the TSSF as one of the first full-circle testbeds for ATSC 3.0 advanced emergency messaging integration with IPAWS, highlighting FEMA’s commitment to remaining on the forefront of technological advancement.”

The system will allow FEMA IPAWS to test advanced broadcast warning practices securely in real-world scenarios and experiment with ATSC 3.0-enabled technologies. The ATSC 3.0 system interfaces with the FEMA IPAWS network to aggregate alerts directed for both broadcast (EAS) and mobile (WEA) and directs them into ATSC 3.0-enabled services.

A briefing on this initiative will be provided at the ATSC’s NextGen Broadcast Conference, during a panel on “NextGen Public Service: Emergency Messaging Update,” to be held on Friday, June 14, in Washington, D.C.

Members of NVISA and ATSC that are providing technology and expertise to establish this system include:

• Digital Alert Systems (alert and advanced emergency information management)
• Harmonic (live media processor)
• Hitachi-Comark (ATSC 3.0 exciter/transmitter)
• Triveni Digital (ATSC 3.0 scheduling and transport encoding)
• WRAL/Capitol Broadcasting (video server and broadcast video content)
• DekTec (ATSC 3.0 test modulator)
• Zapperbox (ATSC 1.0/3.0-enabled set-top receiver and home gateway)
• Zinwell (ATSC 1.0/3.0-enabled set-top receiver and home gateway)

An open letter to American broadcasters:

Whether serendipity or luck; we seem to be in an exceptional place. As the following article summarizes, it seems that we have the only combination of assets and technologies that make for effective Emergency Mass Communications. There are no practical alternatives.

 With NVISA and FEMA in the lab, and what we hear from several milieus about the interest and willingness to invest in public safety, we are at a tipping point.

 Acting as if our goal is to return TV to its bygone role as primary alerting and informing appliance is not helping. Smartphones dominate and “mobile first” is a respectable adoption strategy.

 Everything good and bad with emergency communications occurs at the user interface. No one is happy with the current brain-dead, inconsistently alerting everyone everywhere, test it until no one listens state of affairs.

 Sure, with 3.0 we have vastly better distribution and IP support, and presently broadcast news is uniquely the highpoint of electronic mass communications in crisis—but none of that matters without a national, universal, quality app and first-rate user experience.

 It’s time to ask Congress/FEMA/FCC… the people who represent and protect us from invasion to tornadoes… to build what saves lives and property with our 3.0/broadcast assets. Intentionally or accidentally, broadcasters have already done their part. We have coverage and a protocol begging to be used.

The field piece of development is probably best done in the "Switzerland" of PBS/CPB. The lab should be FEMA’s. The broadcaster’s role going forward is to make sure this works with and enhances our news and our other assets.

 Or maybe there is a better path?

Fred Baumgartner

This article originally appeared in The Spectrum Monitor and is the third in a series about NextGen Broadcasting:

Radio and public safety have always and forever been bound together. The lives radio has saved and the reduction in human suffering is colossal. The Spectrum Monitor (TSM) readers, especially first responders, know this in ways others do not.

Mass communications during an emergency has been broadcasting’s highest calling. For the most part, outside of weekly (or more often) testing of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), broadcast isn’t about emergencies—until it is. A major fire, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, eruption, industrial accident, etc., does tend to completely consume broadcast media’s attention when it occurs. 

Historically, both amateur radio and broadcast justify their spectrum grants with the public role they play when things go badly. The FCC takes this very seriously, issuing more notices of violation and fines for EAS than any other infraction.

In 1990, AM radio was king, the World Wide Web was born, a radio telephone call needed an operator to assist, local TV news was an hour a day, and NOAA weather radio (NWR) was sparse. When EAS was launched in 1997, we were just learning that simply ringing the alarm bell was not enough, and frequently unintentionally deadly. Our world, threats and especially our behaviors have changed since then.

The Digital Era
Smartphones... Emergency Mass Communications (EMC) is smartphones. When people evacuate, they do not take their TVs with them. Only a very few scramble for their wind-up AM radio. People in danger take their purses/wallets and… phones.

The singular and growing dependance on smartphones for most human-to-human and human-to-machine interactions is fact.

Humans over the age of five have their smartphones with them at all times. If you need your phone to start your car, park, open a hotel room door, order a hamburger, shop, or your location is being tracked by friends, family and advertisers, you know the disconnected, helpless, empty feeling of having misplaced or discharged your phone.

There is some investigation that suggests that smartphone dependency has the unintended consequence of increasing milling time. AEA/AEI on the other hand, directly ties critical information to the alert, thus eliminating search time and one would think reduce milling saving lives.

Natural Hazards Center Director Dennis Mileti (1945-2021) defined and studied “milling” as EAS was being developed. It is human nature for people to want to validate and spread the word of an emergency following an alert. Milling wastes valuable time and is often fatal. 

It’s not all bad; spreading the word quickly is probably why survival rates are highest in tight/dense communities. Milling ends, and survival activities begin, when the crisis “becomes real,” to the participants. In a world of two-minute emergencies, there is no time to search or text, just time to act.

WEA predates the smart in smartphone. About five years into WEA, several emergency alerting apps made bids to intelligently fill the information gap. FEMA, the Red Cross, some schools, companies, and many local emergency management offices, and much of social media, offer many apps that residents can subscribe to… so many that there are posts and sites dedicated to advising which emergency apps and how many anyone should have on their phone. This fragmented EMC delivery.

By their nature, these apps address pieces of EMC, not the whole of EMC. The apps that focus on a few threats, where there is some intelligence (usually in the form of a local emergency management office or weather service) work well for their sphere of emergencies. The local or county emergency management office that invested in an app to deal with wildfires and has diligently marketed their app to citizens with the time and patience to download and the skills to configure the apps and maintain them, does well in their narrow circumstance. 

Social media that scrape other sources for the grist that they warp into the attention-grabbing notifications that fuel and package EMC in click bait, might be notably delayed, unreliable, and soaked in crowd sourced misinformation… but they do work.

Bottom line? The state of EMC is a fragmented mix of the ancient and many emerging apps.

Missing Platform
It seems logical that that EMC should use every distribution platform it can. Radio, TV, Wireless, and social media (for better or worse) are ubiquitous. Signage and sirens (the ones with voice message speakers being most useful). However, streaming and satellite don’t help and cable support ranges from nonexistent to rather mature and well developed.

Arguably, smartphone dependence is so domineering that no other platform is required. As our dependence on smartphones continues to increase, soon enough the people reached by broadcast radio, etc., will become insignificant. But, if life is precious, and not everyone has their smartphone on their person, and wireless isn’t 100% reliable, it makes sense to alert on all platforms simultaneously… if for no other reason than to alert people to check their phones.

In addition to smartphones, NextGen Broadcast’s AEA/AEI (Advanced Emergency Alerting and Advanced Emergency Informing) is a good fit for cable, satellite, and internet.

Smart is Good
Some think that technology constantly pushes intelligence to the edge. Nowhere does this make more sense than in EMC. In EAS, and WEA, the radio, TV or device is dumb. It simply makes noise or displays the messages that are broadcast to it and every other receiver. In EAS, there is “where, what, when” information encoded in the FSK signaling we hear at the start of every alert. 

This information allows EAS decoding receivers—a small brain is required—to activate when wanted. Most people might own an automatic NWS radio, but home EAS receivers are rare. The only people who directly receive an EAS activation are those watching or listening to a participating station where everyone gets everything because unlike AEA/AEI, EAS supersedes programming. 

This forces the broadcast station into a “Sophie’s choice” situation as to what alerts are passed on. Is a tornado on the edge of the coverage area worth interrupting the Dallas Cowboys game? WEA is somewhat better, but the practical installations are still challenged to effectively target EMC. Occasionally waking to a 2 AM Amber alert for an adjacent state is where the state of WEA is after 10-years.

For EMC, a smart, location aware device that is always with us is a godsend. The smartphone has already displaced weather radios… along with cameras, watches, cash… 

Want the same functions on a TV? There are only man-made barriers to this. Developing AEA/AEI on smartphones and gateways is fairly straightforward. These are well known mature and stable environments. Porting AEA/AEI to TVs is fairly easy for those TVs that have the memory, processing power, hooks, and storage to support it. Developing on multiple TVs from multiple manufacturers? … no one has that much money or patience.

Smartphones have an amazing user interface with incredible flexibility and full bidirectional connection. TV remotes are inflexible molded plastic devices with a few or many molded buttons. The best you can say about TV remotes is that navigating information is ugly. Some TVs use smartphones as a remote control (so called “second screen”). In this case, the TV becomes superfluous.

Assuming the code isn’t written with the same process that gave us healthcare.gov and is more like the low friction apps you find while online shopping (and there is adequate intelligence behind it) AEA/AEI solves all the problems we’ve substantiated since EAS was adopted. 

First and foremost, AEA/AEI stops over-testing, over-alerting and mistargeting. Second is the availability of critical follow-on information. Having to search on an overloaded network for life and death information kills people. Language and disability access are no longer obstacles.

Bottom line? EMC is about smartphones. With a smart, well-designed, self-configuring, pre-installed app—AEA/AEI resolves the human behavior issues and user limitations—even the ones we inadvertently created.

UHF High Power
Smartphones on the wireless network have one serious, fatal, but resolvable limitation. In any medium to major crisis, the wireless network collapses.

While broadcast supports an infinite number of simultaneous users, common carrier wireless cannot support the flood of individual demands for information typical in an emergency. The capacity required does not exist. Intuitively, one would think that when the network chokes, the milling time increases dramatically and of course the lost information would have often been lifesaving. 

Wireless requires multiple towers with often single-thread interconnect. This wireless architecture is far more fragile than broadcast which tends to be hardened, staffed and secured with backup power and everything else. When a wireless carrier or a tower fails, the people it serves are disconnected. When a high-power UHF broadcaster fails… the receiver simply retunes to the next strongest signal of many.

UHF is vital. UHF is necessary for building penetration and its big service area. It also needs to be built into the smartphone. Qualcomm put UHF TV into cellphones a decade ago, but no one has been able to do acceptable AM or FM reception. TSM readers know well the laws of physics and the inferiority of VHF and MW transmission in an urban or indoor environment.

In an emergency, you want to “carpet bomb” the population with a multitude of resilient high power RF. Wireless is extremely useful as events evolve, but EMC distribution shouldn’t rely on a low power, countless single-points-of-failure system that can’t survive a “scraped earth event.” 

Further, the complex and exposed wireless network is vulnerable to cyber-attack and instabilities. Consider that AT&T, including Firstnet (the wireless service that AT&T contracts to independently serve first responders) failed nationally on Feb. 22, 2024 for hours. In July 2022, KDDI in Japan and it’s 39 million customers experienced, “…the biggest glitch in our history,” according to KDDI chief Makoto Takahashi, taking the entire system down for two full days. Rogers Canada has had multiple outages over the last three years impacting all of its Canadian customers. 

And it’s not just wireless carriers. CenturyLink took three states of their internet customers “off the air” pre-Covid.

The unfailing and simple architecture of broadcast makes it much less likely to fail or fall victim to cyberattack. There has never ever been a time or event where more than one broadcast signal didn’t survive.

Intelligence
EMC is only as good as the information disseminated.

“Rich media,” beyond simple text, audio and video, is valuable. Searchable data, maps and visuals are very useful, expected, and rare. Emergency management organizations generally have neither the staff, equipment, nor expertise to prepare much more than simple text alerts. 

TV news organizations are the American machine that aggregates information from all of the stakeholders, federal, state, and local governments, power companies, utilities, first responders, and the scene itself. Broadcast news can put cameras on the ground and in the air and put authorities in front of a microphone. Nothing new here. Broadcasters routinely forgo advertising revenues to cover major news of emergencies. However, legacy alerting is at best loosely attached to news.

Indispensably, broadcast news has the relationships to validate information.

NextGen AEA/AEI
Conelrad, EBS, EAS, WEA, sirens, signage, are or were all alerting systems under the control of broadcasters and to some degree emergency management, that could interrupt programming so that sometimes on-air talent or automated weather service speech synthesis can speak to the situation. 

AEA/AEI directly connects all of emergency management to a user’s smartphone where the decisions of what to alert for and in what manner are made under the user’s control. AEA/AEI can share information in the manner that we are used to, without pre-NextGen broadcasting’s analog era limitations.

NextGen AEA/AEI smartphones (and other equipped devices like TVs) periodically check for AEA/AEI messages in addition to alerts via native WEA. For the OTA part, there is a balance between battery life and urgency. When a pair of bits in the ATSC 3.0 bootstrap (the lowest most secure data path) indicate that there is a message, the smartphone grabs it and runs it through filters. 

The filter asks if this affects my location and if this is a situation where people should be notified or awakened. An Amber alert might wait until people wake up. An F-5 tornado in the neighborhood demands immediate attention.

No television station has to decide whether to interrupt programming, because AEA/AEI unlike EAS… doesn’t interrupt programming. On a TV, the video squeezes back, and there are three loud “attention” beeps with a text crawl. A viewer can dismiss, dig deeper… or grab the smartphone, which is doing the same things, and run for cover.

Every AEA alert is on every transmitter nearly simultaneously and goes to every phone without delay. Following the “in emergencies, all delivery methods are used” guidance, the internet and wireless are also useful paths. Ideally, the phone sees the same message from many places—and filters out the redundancies.

Where are We?
Both EAS and WEA have devolved into systems that neither broadcasters nor wireless providers have a positive incentive to maintain or improve. The public and emergency community complain about both. The last time we heard anything about EAS, broadcasters through the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) got Congress to force car manufacturers to continue support of AM radios, claiming that AM/EAS plays a critical role. 

The reality is somewhat nuanced. 

Today, “full service” radio stations are almost always AM/FM or FM only; only larger metropolitan areas support the necessary full-service station. While radio news operations have declined, TV and digital news has boomed. Radio on the dashboard is far more difficult and distracting to tune than the days of five buttons and a tuning knob. When you see “tune to 1610” traveler information signs while driving a rental car, you are unlikely to figure out how to listen safely without first pulling over.

My own experience is that I have not received a useful emergency message via my AM radio in many years. On the other hand, my cellphone has warned me of bad weather and with the help of the smartphone, I have navigated around hail, etc. at least a few times each year. AM radio used to do that, but not anymore—which is OK because the smartphone does this so much better—WEA messages are even displayed on my dashboard via the car/phone handsfree Bluetooth link.

As you might expect, most of broadcaster’s activities surround reducing their investment in EAS (including NAB and largely iHeart’s move to virtualize EAS to avoid replacing hardware), news and other staff intensive programming.

EAS does little good for broadcast news, sometimes interrupting live tornado coverage with a less informed and often delayed NWS issued tornado warning. Broadcasters, especially the ones that embrace the vision of a broadcast digital news operation that is ubiquitous, interactive, and low friction, do have motivation to develop AEA/AEI. 

It expands the news department’s reach and gives them a lower friction platform for disseminating information from the trivial to the ultra-critical. AEA/AEI builds on and can deepen a station’s relationship with its viewers. Unfortunately, EAS drives viewers and listeners away with constant false alarms, tests and untargeted use.

So Where is the NextGen EMC Application?
The broadcast app that supports AEA/AEI has yet to be written. There have been several starts, each of which stalled at the mockup stage. We’ve seen what it might look like, but not how it works.

Unfortunately, vaporware is impossible to demonstrate and very difficult to describe outside of abstractions. If you want to show emergency management, broadcasters, regulators, or the general population AEA/AEI, we will have to build it.

Within ATSC is the “I-team.” The only implementation effort under the ATSC umbrella is to develop AEA/AEI. In the I-team’s long history, they have only had access to BAs (aka "Broadcast Apps" installed on the smartphone by the broadcasters) that function on an EAS level, meaning that they have yet to experience a BA that does the advanced filtering functions, or supports rich media information dissemination. ATSC and their I-team have nothing close to a deployable AEA/AEI app.

As this is written, NVISA and FEMA have set up a NextGen Emergency Mass Communications laboratory in Maryland. This is all very good. For now, without an AEA/AEI app and mobile devices, all that can be done here is to play with TVs and basic prototype BAs able to do little more than alarm. When we do have a BA, this is the place to test it and make it work before it is released into the real world. FEMA has a test version of IPAWs very useful for this.

3.0 Enabled Smartphones
NextGen AEA/AEI depends on a smartphone running an AEA/AEI app that receives information via the wireless network when available, and information embedded in NextGen UHF Broadcast high power, big tower transmission when wireless access becomes impossible.

India seems to be the place where NextGen smartphones are taking off. Not so much in America.

Next Step
Without a BA and 3.0 chips in smartphones, we do not have resilient, intelligent EMC.

For broadcasters, what revenue potential there is in funding the BA is maybe from licensing what has never been licensed before (EAS is public domain) and/or betting that broadcast news can someday benefit from the AEA/AEI platform. It is also uncomfortable for broadcasters to depend on a competitor for a critical piece of broadcast architecture. 

There have been rumors of various players crafting a proprietary BA, usually more focused on monetization issues than AEA/AEI. So far, there is no AEA/AEI progress. There have been two efforts to cooperatively advance this endeavor within the industry. 

NAB Pilot’s effort ended quietly, apparently lacking broadcaster support and some member opposition to NAB supplying a universal “free” app. Later, NVISA invited broadcasters and vendors to cooperatively do such. NVISA (NextGen Video Information Systems Alliance) received no response from the major players.

As mentioned above, ATSC’s I-team dedicated to AEA/AEI implementation has no resources beyond the power of the regularly scheduled meeting. Also, ATSC is a standards organization, so as one would expect, implementation—as much as it is needed—is well outside ATSC’s tradition and resources.

AEA/AEI serves the public good. As a nation, we do invest in our security and safety. In 2006, Congress put $106 million into the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act. This funded Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) as well as other upgrades to EMC. More recently, congress has designated funds to upgrade EMC, in several different “buckets.” While AEA/AEI is likely the most important thing we should do, a lot more expensive and less important things seem to be on current agenda.

This is also close to the charter of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who with PBS, have a history of nurturing similar technologies such as closed caption in the early 1970s. That lead to the passage of the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990. PBS has been active in the EMC field with WARN, a system that backs up IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert & Warning System) internet delivery. There have been several NextGen proof-of-concept demos within public broadcasting for the benefit of first responders and EMC.

It is also better that there be just one AEA/AEI BA that operates in a manner where everyone everywhere can easily understand it and navigate. Competing BAs can create unnecessary friction. This is software and NextGen is “extensible,” meaning that the system can be updated and fine-tuned over time.

The bottom line is, that if we want reliable and powerful Emergency Mass Communications, FEMA and the FCC, if not congress, have to say so.

The chief financial officer of the state of Florida wants the FCC to “immediately halt any further utilization” of Wireless Emergency Alerts on a national level.

Jimmy Patronis, who also serves as the state’s fire marshal, addressed his letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. He took issue with use of the WEA platform to send the nationwide emergency text message to cellphones and wireless devices in early October:

“What was the point of that? Was it really necessary? The federal government scared about 70% of Americans with that alert, and in my opinion, this was government overreach at its finest,” Patronis wrote in the letter. (Read it here.) 

The FCC and FEMA conducted the national tests of WEA and EAS public warning systems on Oct. 4.

Patronis in his letter admonished the FCC for directly reaching out to citizens on their electronic devices. “I don’t like systems where the federal government can access Americans directly to their smartphones. Frankly, I don’t like the idea of any administration (regardless of party) having the ability to DM Americans without their permission,” Patronis wrote.

Patronis, a Republican, has served in Florida’s cabinet since 2017. According to his bio, Patronis is a fourth-generation Floridian who previously worked in his family’s restaurant business. He is a former member of the state legislature.

His letter continued: “Trust in our nation’s ruling class is at an all-time low and for good reason. In a time when the first and second branches of government should be reining in Big Tech and protecting the privacy of American citizens, Big Tech and Big Government seem to be indistinguishable. … In my opinion, there is absolutely zero reason that the federal government needs to notify millions of Americans at the exact same moment. It’s unreasonable that people on the West Coast need to be alerted about something going on in the East Coast,” he said.

Patronis says emergency alerting should be left to each state to handle. “State emergency management directors are more than capable of protecting and alerting their own citizens during emergencies without the federal government needlessly getting in the way.”

He concludes his letter: “I urge you as the chairwoman of the FCC and a fellow taxpayer to immediately halt any further utilization of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response.”

Rosenworcel has sought to expand the capabilities of WEA by making them more accessible to people who don’t speak English or Spanish. In October the FCC adopted rules expanding the language capabilities of WEA by adding more bilingual alerts.

Replying on Friday to a Radio World request for comment, an FCC spokesperson wrote by email: “Life-saving emergency alert systems are the law, as is the requirement that FEMA conduct periodic nationwide tests, and they are responsible for setting the date and time of these tests. The FCC strongly supports emergency alerting, which save lives in communities across the country.”

The commission on its website describes Wireless Emergency Alerts as “an essential part of America’s emergency preparedness. Since its launch in 2012, the WEA system has been used more than 84,000 times to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children and other critical situations—all through alerts on compatible cell phones and other mobile devices.” It notes that wireless companies volunteer to participate and that it is the result of a public/private partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FCC and the wireless industry.

The letter produced some eyerolling on an EAS listserv maintained by the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

“I guess he is just unaware that we’ve had national alerting for at least 70 years, beginning with CONELRAD,” one engineer wrote. Another called his letter “political pandering … no, it’s scaremongering and nothing more.”

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World. 

WASHINGTON—FEMA has announced details surrounding its planned national emergency alert test Wednesday, Oct. 4. Conducted in conjunction with the FCC, the national test will consist of two portions, testing Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to mobile devices and Emergency Alert System (EAS) alerts to TV and radio. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET.

This will be the third nationwide test for WEA alerts to cellphones, but the second test to all WEA-compatible cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.

FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and maximize the public safety value of the test.

The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed, due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.

The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.

This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).

All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:

• Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and in a geographic area where the wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message.
• For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
• Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
• Similar to when your phone receives an Amber Alert, the WEA alert tone is generally only played when the alert is initially received by the phone and on some devices stops as soon as the user clicks a button.
• If a phone is off before the test alert is sent and not turned back on until after the WEA Test expires (approximately 30 minutes), the phone should not get the test message.

•  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.
• The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public." 

WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.

FEMA and the FCC warned TV and radio broadcasters not to include the tones or Attention Signals in broadcast TV or radio coverage about the Nationwide Emergency Alert Test being conducted on Oct. 4. Doing so could result in a violation of federal regulations, which prohibit the use of Emergency Alert System codes (which are audible tones) or the EAS and WEA Attention Signals, or simulations of them, except in actual emergencies, authorized tests of the EAS, or authorized Public Service Announcements (PSAs).

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As expected FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have announced that they will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) this fall on October 4. 

The agencies reported that the national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

The agencies said that if the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.

The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test of the WEA system, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.

The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test, the FCC said. 

This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).

The agencies said that 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.

The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages and will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”

The FCC also reminded EAS Participants that they are encouraged to take steps, in coordination with their State Emergency Communications Committees, to prepare for the test. Those steps include: 

• Ensuring that a copy of the EAS Operating Handbook is located at normal duty positions, or EAS equipment locations, and is otherwise immediately available to operators; 
• Reviewing the EAS Operating Handbook for the actions to be taken by operators upon receipt of the test alert, and tailoring any actions as necessary that are specific to the EAS Participants’ facilities;
• Reviewing their State EAS Plan for monitoring assignments and ensuring that EAS equipment is accurately configured to monitor those sources; 
• Upgrading EAS equipment software and firmware to the most recent version;  and
• Manually synchronizing EAS equipment clocks to the official time provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology  if an EAS Participant’s equipment does not automatically synchronize to an Internet time source.

The FCC also noted that all EAS Participants are required to participate in the nationwide EAS test and make required filings in the Commission’s EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS).  EAS Participants were required to make their 2023 ETRS Form One filings on or before February 28, 2023.  In addition:  

• Any EAS Participant that must update ETRS Form One to ensure its accuracy (including changes resulting from transfers of control, updates to EAS equipment or software, or as required by any revision of its State EAS Plan filed pursuant to 47 CFR § 11.21) must submit an updated ETRS Form One on or before September 15, 2023. 
• All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form Two to provide “day of test” data on or before October 5, 2023.  
• All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form Three to provide detailed post-test data on or before November 20, 2023.   

ETRS Forms Two and Three will become available in ETRS on October 4, 2023, at the time of initiation of the 2023 nationwide test.

In addition, the FCC stressed that all EAS Participants – including Low Power FM stations (LPFM), Class D non-commercial educational FM stations, and EAS Participants that are silent pursuant to a grant of Special Temporary Authority – are required to register and file in ETRS, with the following exceptions:

• Analog and digital low power television (LPTV) stations that operate as television broadcast translator stations are not required to register and file in ETRS. 
• FM broadcast booster stations and FM translator stations which entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations are not required to register and file in ETRS. 
• International broadcast stations are not required to register and file in ETRS. 
• Analog and digital broadcast stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or common studio or control point if there is no hub station) and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point) are not required to register and file in ETRS.  However, the hub station (or common studio or control point) is required to register and file in ETRS. 

Filers can access ETRS by visiting the ETRS page of the Commission’s website at https://www.fcc.gov/general/eas-test-reporting-system.  

Filers may contact Bureau staff for assistance with ETRS filings via ETRS@fcc.gov.  

For further information regarding the nationwide EAS or WEA tests, contact Austin Randazzo, Associate Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, at (202) 418-1462 or Austin.Randazzo@fcc.gov. 

A test date for the next national EAS test will be announced soon.

TV Tech sister brand Radio World has confirmed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the next national test of the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts this year.

The most recent national EAS test was in 2021 and showed improvement over two years prior, according to a subsequent report by the Federal Communications Commission.

“Receipt and retransmission rates increased, while reported monitored source complications markedly decreased,” the FCC said then. But technical glitches highlighted the importance of those EAS stations that are monitored by many others, the FCC concluded.

Read about the FCC’s findings after the 2021 test.

“It is critically important that those EAS participants that are widely monitored use testing to ensure their EAS equipment is in reliable working order.”

The 2021 test — performed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordination with the FCC — used only the broadcast-based distribution system, the so-called “EAS daisy chain,” and did not involve the internet-based IPAWS system.

In September of 2022 the FCC partnered with 37 emergency management agencies to conduct localized Wireless Emergency Alert tests. (Read its post-test findings.)

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand Radio World. 

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—Digital Alert Systems has announced the availability of an important update of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) digital certificates used to authenticate messaging from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

The company has released updated IPAWS Certificate Authority (CA) credentials for the DASDEC and One-Net series of Emergency Alert System/Common Alerting Protocol (EAS/CAP) encoder/decoders to replace a certificate in the current certification chain that will expire on Aug. 21. 

All U.S. DASDEC and One-Net users are advised to replace the soon-to-expire certificate to ensure the required message authentication continues to operate properly, the company stressed. 

Digital Alert Systems also reminded all EAS participants that the FCC requires them to "configure their systems to reject all CAP-formatted EAS messages that include an invalid digital signature."

"With just a few weeks to go, we urge DASDEC and One-Net customers to update their certificate files before Aug. 21 to prevent any disruptions," said Adam Jones, senior sales engineer for Digital Alert Systems. "While this seems like an annual occurrence, our customers will be pleased to know this new certificate is good until April of 2024!"

Digital certificates, called CAs, are used by FEMA to create a chain of trust between an EAS device and the IPAWS servers. The DASDEC and One-Net EAS/CAP devices use these special digital certificates to validate the authenticity of IPAWS-sourced CAP alerts. These certificates are designed to expire on a specific date and time, requiring the issuing authority to publish new certificates as replacements.

All DASDEC and One-Net customers using the IPAWS system must have the latest certificates in place so only messages authenticated through IPAWS are processed. IPAWS users who do not update their equipment before Aug. 21 could see this error message: "Event Log: Digital Signature VERIFICATION ERROR: Signer UNTRUSTED! Check for correct CAP decoder CA file." Alternatively, the device might simply ignore valid IPAWS alerts.

The new field service bulletin and CA file are now available from the Digital Alert Systems website at www.digitalalertsystems.com/DAS_pages/resources_fsb.html.

DASDEC and One-Net customers should go to the website, download the field service bulletin for instructions, and link to the new CA file.

Further information about Digital Alert Systems and its products is available at www.digitalalertsystems.com.

 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—Aug. 11 will be the date of the first national EAS test since before the pandemic began.

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency officially informed the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, May 4, that it plans its sixth national EAS test on that day. They also plan to conduct a nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test concurrently.

As in the past, FEMA set a backup date in case a national test on Aug. 11 might interfere with actual alerting needs in the country around that time. The backup is Aug. 25.

Al Kenyon, chief of the Customer Support Branch of the IPAWS Program Office, wrote to the FCC that FEMA plans to conduct the Aug. 11 test at 2:20 p.m. EDT (18:20 GMT).

“The test message will use the National Periodic Test (NPT) event code and be geo-targeted using the All-US (000000) geocode,” Kenyon wrote.

“This year FEMA proposes to originate the EAS portion of the test via the National Public Warning System composed of the FEMA designated Primary Entry Point (PEP) facilities. The intent of conducting the test in this fashion is to determine the capability of the Emergency Alert System to deliver messages to the public in event that dissemination via internet is not available.”

In the most recent national test in 2019, several PEPs did not transmit the alert due to varying degrees of equipment failures. Out of 77 PEP stations, 12 experienced technical issues on test day, according to a post-test FCC report.

Kenyon said that in the upcoming test, full message text and multilingual messaging will not be available due to the over-the-air message delivery and relay used in this system of EAS message dissemination.

“As in past years the national EAS test message will look and sound very much like the regular Required Monthly Test (RMT) messages broadcast every month by all EAS Participants, broadcast radio and television, cable, wireline service providers and direct broadcast satellite service providers,” he continued.

“Concurrent with the proposed 2021 National EAS Test, FEMA also proposes to originate a Nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test by originating a WEA message using the WEA test handling code targeting only cellphones where the user has opted-in to receive WEA test messages.”

An FCC analysis of the 2019 test found that 82% of radio stations participated that year.

While that test generally was deemed a success, the FCC said in its post-test report that some challenges impeded the ability of some EAS participants to receive and/or retransmit the NPT.

Some participants reported problems with equipment configuration, audio quality, alerting source problems and clock errors, among other issues. More than 2,530 test participants didn’t receive the test at all.

Other issues in 2019 included audio issues, power issues, signal issues, internet issues and even lightning—20 participants reported issues caused by bolts of electricity.

Also, several State Emergency Communications Committees reported that certain areas of their states did not receive the alert. SECCs in Florida, Michigan and Georgia reported delivery problems to the Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations. The FCC also received reports of smaller-scale monitoring source issues in parts of several other states.

WASHINGTON—Here’s news of interest to the alerting community, including those working in broadcasting.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency now makes available an archive of Common Alerting Protocol, or CAP, messages sent by alerting authorities through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) since mid-2012.

Check it out here. (Note that traditional “EAS only” alerts are not part of this.)

“FEMA leadership prioritizes hosting and publishing the datasets, which allows internal and external partners to understand IPAWS data, conduct analysis and to inform decisions to improve alert and warning,” FEMA stated in an announcement.

“Several stakeholders, including researchers, media, the public and those who have submitted FOIA requests, are now being directed to OpenFEMA for information.”

One of the people interested in this development is Ed Czarnecki, senior director of strategy and government affairs for technology manufacturer Digital Alerting Systems.

“This new IPAWS web archive of alerts should provide a very handy reference source of historical CAP alert data for a variety of users, including academics, policy researchers, the press and others,” he told TVT's sister publication Radio World.

“The IPAWS archive isn’t a real-time resource, and includes a 24-hour delay in archiving messages,” he noted. That delay is to reduce the risk of being confused with an active alert received from the live IPAWS feed.

“So it isn’t something for monitoring or compliance purposes. The new IPAWS archive will only show what CAP alert have been sent into the IPAWS system. It will not reflect which CAP messages have actually been received or processed by broadcasters. The archive will also only show the CAP messages that have been entered into IPAWS, and not any conventional EAS-only messages.”

He noted that for monitoring, aggregating and auditing alert messages at broadcast stations, companies like his own provide tools that aggregate real-time EAS and CAP alert data.

As described more specifically on the OpenFEMA site: “This data set contains recent, historic and archived IPAWS Common Alerting Protocol v1.2 messages from June 2012 to the present including date, time, event code … city, county, joint agency, police, law enforcement, Collaborative Operating Group (COG), state(s), locality, territory or tribe. It can be used to capture and analyze historic and archived messages.”

This is raw, unedited data from the IPAWS Alert Aggregator created by over 1,450 alert originators across the country.

Questions about the program can be emailed to OpenFEMA@fema.dhs.gov.

WASHINGTON—Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, FEMA has announced that there will be no national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System in 2020.

FEMA will postpone the next test to 2021 “out of consideration for the unusual circumstances and working conditions for those in the broadcast and cable industry,” the announcement reads. The organization notes that the issue lies in the reporting activities associated with the tests, saying that the systems are in place for rapid automatic transmission of the test message by broadcast and cable operators.

IPAWS is a national system for local alerting that provides authenticated emergency alert and information messaging to the public through cell phones and internet applications using Wireless Emergency Alerts, and to radio and television via the Emergency Alert System.

PLUS: IPAWS Guidelines for Coronavirus Shared by FEMA

FEMA is required to test IPAWS at least every three years. The last test for Wireless Emergency Alerts occurred in 2018. The last Emergency Alert System test was in 2019.

According to FEMA, more than 360 safety messages regarding COVID-19 have been sent out to residents across the country via WEA and EAS.

WASHINGTON—An effort is underway to distribute washable cotton masks to essential employees of U.S. broadcasters, those responsible for maintaining operational continuity of operations, during the coronavirus pandemic.

In Georgia, members of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters received an email this week that stated, “FEMA is providing every broadcast facility in Georgia the opportunity for free cotton masks to protect their employees as they perform their broadcast responsibilities during COVID-19. Please click the link below to fill out the form to request masks for your station.” It added that masks would be sent in packages of 10.

In New Jersey, Paul Rotella, president/CEO of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association, told TV Technology's sister publication Radio World that FEMA plans to ship him a supply for broadcasters, and he has been communicating with member stations about how to distribute these once they arrive. He said NJBA will make them available to non-member stations as well.

Rotella said the National Association of Broadcasters has been helpful in coordinating this effort between the federal government and state broadcasters.

NAB spokeswoman Ann Marie Cumming told RW Tuesday, “We appreciate the effort by the Department of Homeland Security in support of broadcasters and other communications providers keeping people informed and safe during the COVID-19 crisis. The timing and logistics of distributing the masks is still being worked out, but the intention is for the masks to be distributed to essential employees of broadcasters—those responsible for maintaining the operational continuity of stations—in each state through the state broadcasters associations.”

PLUS: 230 Charter Communication Employees Test Positive for COVID-19

RW reached out to FEMA for more info and will share any reply.

WASHINGTON—As the U.S. deals with the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, FEMA has shared how the Integrated Public Alert Warning System can be used to inform, alert or warn the public.

Describing it ultimately as “a matter of local judgement,” IPAWS—which can include EAS alerts for broadcasters and WEA alerts for wireless providers—can be used to convey health orders, detail curfew information, notify of assembly guidelines/restrictions and to advice of other COVID-19 related information.

With EAS alerts IPAWS users can send up to two minutes of information via text-to-speech or pre-recorded audio in English and Spanish. Updates have also been made to WEA alerts, in which groups can include a phone number and hyperlink as well as send a 90 second and 360 character messages in English and Spanish.

When planning to use IPAWS, it is encouraged that groups send messages to the IPAWS Lab to test the message as well as new IPAWS capabilities. There is also the IPAWS Message Viewer to verify that messages will be sent out and appear as intended. The IPAWS Lab can be contacted at fema.ipaws.lab@awtestlab.com.

Additional best practices that IPAWS highlights includes reminders that EAS uses event codes and that groups should be aware what events will be carried by local broadcasters. 

For more information, contact IPAWS@fema.dhs.gov.  

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—FEMA has approved the release of the new Federal Bridge certificate bundle designed for DASDEC and OneNet CAP EAS devices to receive IPAWS messages. A deadline of Nov. 8 to install the certificate has also been announced.

This was revealed through an email from Digital Alert Systems’ Edward Czarnecki, the company’s senior director of strategy & government affairs, to Society of Broadcast Engineers members.

The certificate is needed to ensure proper validation of CAP alert message from IPAWS. It is a free update and it works with software versions 2.6, 3.x and 4.x.

“We are aware that Nov. 8 leaves very little time—however, the final confirmation from FEMA to release the certs to EAS users was given a few hours ago,” said Czarnecki.

DAS has posted the certificate on its website, included with instructions and download links.

WASHINGTON—The 2019 nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System is here, as FEMA and the FCC issued a reminder that the test will take place this Wednesday, Aug. 7. Radio and television stations will receive the test message at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

Conducted through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, this test is solely for radio and TV and will not include the Wireless Emergency Alert system that issues alerts to cell phones.

The test message will originate from designated radio stations that participate in IPAWS’ National Public Warning System. All other radio and TV broadcasters, cable systems, wireline video providers and satellite radio and TV providers should subsequently receive and broadcast the test message.

The goal of this year’s test is to evaluate the readiness of the national alerting capability without internet connectivity. The test will be a minute long, causing only a minor interruption of radio and television programs that is similar to regular monthly EAS tests.

In the event that severe weather or another significant event occurs, a make-up date is set for Aug. 21.

For more information, including how to prepare and best practices for the test, are available at fema.gov/emergency-alert-test.

WASHINGTON—It’s time again for broadcasters to prep for a national emergency alert test.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that the 2019 National Periodic Test is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. In case of inclement weather, a backup date has been set for Wednesday, Aug. 21.

New this year: FEMA proposes to originate the test via the National Public Warning System with a focus on Primary Entry Point facilities. According to Al Kenyon with the IPAWS Program Office, the intent of conducting the test with a focus on PEP is to determine the capability of the EAS system to deliver messages to the public in the event that dissemination via internet is not available.

This time around, the test message will also use the NPT event code and be geotargeted using the All-US (000000) geocode.

“As in past years, the national EAS test message will look and sound very much like the regular Required Monthly Test messages broadcast every month by all EAS participants, broadcast radio and television, cable, wireline service providers and direct broadcast satellite service providers,” said FEMA’s Kenyon in a letter alerting the Federal Communications Commission of its plans.

The last national test took place in October 2018 when FEMA conducted a test of both the emergency alert system and the wireless emergency alert network. That test was conducted in coordination with the FCC and National Weather Service.

The 2018 test revealed that both EAS and WEA are effective alerting tools for disseminating emergency information to the public. Based on a report issued in December 2018 by the FCC, most people reported successful receipt of the WEA test message, though some news outlets reported that WEA receipt was uneven. The test also demonstrated that IPAWS continues to deliver high-quality, effective and accessible EAS alerts.

As TVT's sister publication Radio World reported earlier this year, according to the FCC report, 95.5% of EAS participants successfully received the National Periodic Test code used for the test, while 91.8% successfully retransmitted the test. Those numbers are consistent with the participation levels observed in the 2017 nationwide EAS test.

The 2018 test also revealed that more participants are committed to sending the alert in both English and Spanish languages.

Broadcast organizations like the Alabama Broadcasters Association are encouraging their stations to verify two required monitor sources assigned by the State Emergency Communications Committee when it comes to relaying emergency alert messaging. The ABA asked its member stations to make a note that the 2019 test will not be fed via the IPAWS network as in the past years. “The test will be received via your state’s Primary Entry Point and relayed by the LP-1 and LP-2 stations in your area,” the organization said.

WASHINGTON—The National Advisory Council (NAC) took a good hard look at the nation’s emergency alerting system and issued a set of 14 recommendations at its last session designed to identify areas of concern and opportunities for improvement.

The report, called “Modernizing the Nation’s Public Alert and Warning System” and issued on Feb. 15, broke its primary proposals into five themes related to IPAWS and emergency alerting:

• Improving Alerting Authorities’ Ability to Transmit Effective Alerts;
• Improving Public and Congressional Understanding of Emergency Alerting;
• Optimizing Technology;
• Identifying and Adopting Current and Future Technologies; and
• Initiating Cross-Functional Management and Administration of IPAWS

Each recommendation also included a timeline for estimated implementation of these new priorities and a checklist of things to consider.

There are a few clear themes that pop up across all 14 proposed themes. One of those is that it’s vital for the alerting community to establish a series of best practice procedures across all levels of the emergency alerting strata. Another is that there needs to be an additional effort placed on educating the public about alerting and how individuals should respond in case of an emergency.

For example, the top recommendation under the theme “Optimizing Technology” is that FEMA must lead the development of a comprehensive standard set of communication tools—be they visual images, pictograms, transcripts or captioning—so that a diverse population can easily understand an alert.

This is even more important as populations become increasingly diverse; it’s paramount that IPAWS ensure that people with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency receive and comprehend alerts in a timely manner, the report said. The report noted that uneven distribution of alerts in various languages was an issue during the 2018 Northern California wildfires.

“Local agencies, which originate most alerts, vary widely in their capacity to generate alerts in languages other than English,” said California’s Office of Emergency Services. That fire destroyed 18,000 structures and killed 86 people. “In many cases, this capability varies depending on which language-skilled staff happens to be on duty when an alert is required.” The report proposed, as an example, that FEMA develop a nationwide, standardized hazard symbol set for use by alert originators and for public outreach.

The report also proposed that FEMA develop a policy for redundant alert origination as noted in the section “Identifying and Adopting Current and Future Technologies.”

“Considering that a jurisdiction’s primary alerting capability can be compromised and/or fail during a catastrophic event, alternate alert origination is a critical life-saving capability,” the report said, pointing to the malfunctioning of the part of the alert system in Texas during Hurricane Harvey and the damage caused to the communications infrastructure in the Caribbean islands during Hurricane Maria. In the later case, emergency management officials were unable to issue a WEA alert to notify residents of where to find shelter, food and water.

The complete report includes details on estimated implementation time and key considerations for each proposal, such as staffing needs and equipment requirements.

WASHINGTON—Two messages seem to have been transmitted loud and clear after the most recent EAS/WEA national alert test. One, that participation in national EAS tests is a priority. And two, that participants are committed to sending the alert in both the English and Spanish languages.

It was back in October that the Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted another nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System and the first ever nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert, which was delivered to mobile devices.

At 2:18 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 3, FEMA sent a WEA test message to WEA-capable wireless devices throughout the United States and territories; immediately following, FEMA conducted a live test of the EAS to EAS participants. That message was transmitted in English and Spanish and included both a text message and audio.

All participating mobile service providers were required to participate in the WEA portion of the test, while all EAS participants — including thousands of radio stations, TV stations and cable providers —were required to participate in the EAS piece.

According to results recently released by the FCC, 95.5% of EAS participants successfully received the National Periodic Test code used for the test, while 91.8% successfully retransmitted the test. Those numbers are consistent with the participation levels observed in the 2017 nationwide EAS test.

Of the 2,621 television broadcasters who were 2018 test participants, 89.3% of those received the test (thumbs up to those 2,340 stations). Of those, 84% went on to successfully retransmit the alert. Both of those numbers are down an average of 1 percentage point from the receive/transmit levels in 2017.

Kudos to cable system operators who had the highest percentage of reception and transmission in the 2018 test. Of the 2,792 who were supposed to receive and transmit the test, 97.8% of those participated in the test. More than 91% of those cable MSOs then went on to retransmit the alert.

There were slight improvements in other areas. Nearly 91% of test participants who filed their Form Three (which gives detailed data to the FCC on what happened after the test) reported no complications in receiving the test, up from 89% in 2017. A total of 89% reported no complications in retransmitting the test, a figure up slightly from 88% in 2017.

This year, a significantly larger number of test participants reported to have retransmitted the Spanish language version of the alert. In 2018, 756 test participants retransmitted the alert as it was generated through the IPAWS system, up from only 207 participants in 2017.

This time around, transmission of the test to mobile devices made a lot of headlines. This was the first nationwide test of the WEA system and though data is still coming in, the FCC has determined that the test did at least successfully demonstrate that a WEA can be delivered nationwide.

But there were a few cases of inefficient reception.

Through local emergency management agencies, news reports and feedback from the FCC’s Public Safety Support Center (PSSC), the FCC and FEMA found that approximately 72% of respondents reported receiving the WEA test message. Of the 361 responses that were filed voluntarily with the PSSC, approximately 61% reported no problems in receiving a WEA. The remaining 39% either did not receive a WEA or received one that had issues, such as receiving multiple messages or having problems with the tone or vibration cadence.

Mixed reports came from news agencies across the country.

In the Pacific Northwest, subscribers with several networks, including AT&T and T-Mobile, reported being unable to download data or use their apps for hours after receiving the presidential test alert.

In other cases, participating wireless providers did not successfully deliver the WEA test message at all, while other users indicated that WEA receipt was uneven — some individuals received the alert while others in the same region did not. One journalist revealed that, in the case of his two personal phones, one received the alert twice, while the other did not receive the message at all.

The FCC and FEMA said in a joint release that they will continue to analyze the results and release more detailed findings when available.

Nearly a year after a false missile alert was issued across Hawaii, legislators have taken another step toward addressing the issue of erroneous emergency alerts.

On Dec. 17, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act. The legislation will explore new ways of alerting the public through online video and audio streaming services, will track and study false alerts when they occur, will alter the way states plan for emergency alerts, and will help ensure more people receive relevant emergency alerts on mobile phones, televisions and radios.

The legislation will also give the federal government the primary responsibility of alerting the public of a missile threat. The bill was introduced by U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

In short, the READI Act is designed to:

• Ensure more people receive emergency alerts by eliminating the option to opt out of receiving certain federal alerts, including missile alerts, on mobile phones;
• Require active alerts issued by the president or FEMA to be repeated. Currently, alerts on TV or radio may only be played once;
• Explore updating the system to offer emergency alerts over the internet, including to audio and video online streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify;
• Encourage state emergency communications committees to periodically review and update their state emergency alert system plans, which are often out of date;
• Compel the Federal Emergency Management Agency to create best practices for state, tribal, and local governments to use for issuing alerts, avoiding false alerts, and retracting false alerts if they occur, as well as for alert origination training and plans for officials to contact each other and federal officials during emergencies; and
• Establish a reporting system for false alerts so the FCC can track when they occur and examine their causes.

“When a missile alert went out across Hawaii in January, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios,” said Sen. Schatz, who serves on the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee.

“Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert highlighted real ways we can improve the way people receive emergency alerts. [This] bill fixes some of these issues and will help make sure that in an emergency, the public gets the right information they need as quickly as possible,” Schatz said

The National Association of Broadcasters supports the passage of the act, saying the legislation would help improve the timeliness, accuracy and availability of emergency alerts when disaster strikes.

“Local radio and TV broadcasters play a vital role as ‘first informers’ in keeping communities safe, and we understand the importance of relevant and up-to-date information when lives are at risk,” said NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton.

The bill now moves on to the House of Representatives for consideration. 

WASHINGTON—The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the FCC have postponed the nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system until Oct. 3 because of current efforts to respond to Hurricane Florence.

The WEA test is now scheduled to begin at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS test to begin at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

Originally, the nationwide test, which assesses the readiness of the infrastructure to distribute a nationwide message and to find areas needing improvement, was scheduled for Sept. 20.

The nationwide test will be the fourth for EAS and the first for WEA. Broadcast EAS participants, including radio, TV, cable TV, satellite TV and radio and wireline video providers, will receive and rebroadcast the test message, which lasts about one minute, FEMA said.

Cell towers will transmit the WEA test for about 30 minutes. WEA-compatible cell phones in range of a tower of a WEA participating provider will switch on and receive the WEA test message, FEMA said.

More information is available on the FEMA website.

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y. — Digital Alert Systems and Monroe Electronics have released updated IPAWS Certificate Authority credentials for the One-Net and DASDEC Emergency Alert System/Common Alerting Protocol encoder/decoders.

The update replaces a Federal Emergency Management Agency digital certificate that will expire Sept. 24, and IPAWS users who fail to update their equipment before the deadline could see this error message: “Event Log:Digital Signature VERIFICATION ERROR : Signer UNTRUSTED! Check for correct CAP decoder CA file.;”

“This is the second such certificate replacement this year, so we are actively working with FEMA IPAWS to look at methods for automating this update process and hope to have such a process in place before the next certificate update occurs in 2019,” said Monroe Electronics and Digital Alert Systems Senior Director of Strategy and Government Affairs Ed Czarnecki.

The field service bulletin and CA file are available now. One-Net and DASDEC customers should go to the website, download the bulletin for instructions, and link to the new file.

Digital Alert Systems provides R&D, manufacturing, sales and customer service for Monroe Electronics, One-Net and Digital Alert Systems brands. In October 2009, Digital Alert Systems merged with Monroe Electronics.

WASHINGTON--Last month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced the date and times for this year’s national tests of of the Wireless Emergency Alert and Emergency Alert System. Both are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 20, but participating stations must first remember an important deadline.

EAS participants are required to register with the EAS Test Reporting System and must complete ETRS Form One no later than Monday, Aug. 27.

[Read: FCC Advances Goal Of Opening C-Band, Enhances EAS Testing]

Prior to the test, the FCC suggests that participants make sure the EAS Operating Handbook is handy to review; check that the EAS equipment’s software and firmware is up to date and its clock is synchronized with the time provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and also review 2017 ETRS Form One filings.

Then, on Sept. 20 the WEA will be deployed first at 2:18 p.m. (EDT), followed at 2:20 p.m. by the EAS alert test. Then participants must file the “Day of Test” information sought by ETRS Form Two before midnight.

ETRS Form Three, which contains the detailed post-test data, is due on/before Nov. 5.

Note that the back-up date for the EAS test is Oct. 3.

Want to know what changes are in store for EAS and WEA? Mark your calendars for an upcoming webinar on July 25.

The webinar will focus specifically on issues relevant to broadcasters, state and local emergency managers, along with other alerting stakeholders.

Hosted by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau at the Federal Communication Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the topics up for discussion include how authorized alert initiators are trained, recent FCC regulatory actions and changes that are under consideration, recent FEMA updates to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and lessons learned from recent alerting events, including the Hawaii false ballistic missile alert.

[Read: FCC Advances Goal Of Opening C-Band, Enhances EAS Testing]

The webinar will be held next Wednesday July 25 from 2–3:30 pm EDT and will be closed captioned. Attendees must register here. Once registered, attendees will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the event with a password and a final link for the meeting.

Additional information about the webinar can be found via Greg Cooke at gregory.cooke@fcc.govor 202-418-2351.

At its July Open Meeting, the FCC adopted a Report and Order that offers new guidance on conducting local tests, proposes to permit public service announcements about EAS with the two-tone signal that precedes an actual alert, and proposes that state emergency agencies include procedures in their EAS plans for correcting false alerts.

WASHINGTON—Mark your calendars, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has scheduled the 2017 national EAS test for Wednesday Sept. 27 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

(If, by chance, a hurricane is making landfall on that date, or some other event interferes, the test will be run on the following Wednesday.)

The test will be conducted in the same way it was last year, with both English and Spanish language text and audio. Total duration is expected to be about one minute. (Shown below are FEMA officials about to launch the 2016 test in a facility not far from Washington.)

The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission has already released instructions as to how Emergency Alert System participants must register for access to the 2017 EAS Test Reporting System.

As a result of feedback regarding last year’s use of the ETRS, the FCC has mandated that filers using the ETRS must use a single account. The Public Safety Bureau also said to expect a further notice soon about the opening of the 2017 ETRS, and the date by which EAS participants must file their data.

As Radio World has reported, the 2016 EAS test was considered by officials to be a success, with an over 87 percent participation rate, although there were some technical glitches. A few test participants reported complications ranging from equipment configuration issues, equipment failures, failure to update equipment software, audio quality issues, source issues, clock errors, and, in some cases, noncompliance with Part 11 rules.

At the local level, the Alabama Broadcasters Association plans to discuss the test procedure in depth at its annual conference next month in Hoover, Ala. Other active state associations will likely be communicating with their own members about the test as well.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication Radio World. 

WASHINGTON—To ensure the nation continues to adopt the best standards and operating procedures when it comes to emergency alerting, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently announced the names of 31 individuals that will be serving on the IPAWS subcommittee, which is part of FEMA’s National Advisory Council.

The first IPAWS subcommittee meeting will be held Aug. 8 and 9 in Washington, and will meet up to four times per year (two in person and two by video conferencing).

Among the subcommittee’s responsibilities are providing recommendations for new alerting protocols and operating procedures for the nation’s public alert and warning system, as well as submitting a recommendation report on the overall system to the NAC. Any subcommittee report will be submitted to other government agencies, including the House and Senate committees on homeland security.

NAC itself is tasked with advising FEMA’s administrator on all aspects of emergency management.

The new club of 31 members joins eight federal leaders and five members from the NAC to create a total group of 44 that include broadcasters, emergency management agencies, emergency response providers and consumer advocate groups, among others.

In addition to expected representatives like state officials and emergency management agencies, a FEMA selection panel requested participation from national tribal organizations, organizations representing individuals with disabilities, those representing individuals with limited English proficiency and the elderly (although only one organization is included from the later three: a representative from a center for the deaf/hard of hearing in North Carolina).

The subcommittee will also include chairman of the Federal Communications Commission or someone that Chairman Ajit Pai designates to serve.

It was back in September 2016 that FEMA called for applications to this subcommittee as part of its modernization efforts. The committee will disband by April 2019.

When contacted by Radio World, one new committee member, Ed Czarnecki with Monroe Electronics, said he’s most looking forward to the collaborating with colleagues across the government and within different industries to further advance the capabilities of FEMA IPAWS.

The complete IPAWS subcommittee list: 

State and Local Governments; Emergency Management Agencies; Emergency Response Providers
Samantha Brear, Alert Iowa Program Manager and E911 Program Planner
Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Benjamin Krakauer, Assistant Commissioner, Strategy & Program Development
New York City Emergency Management

Francisco Sánchez, Liaison and Public Information Officer
Harris County (Texas) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Art Botterell, Senior Emergency Services Coordinator
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services

Michael Sprayberry (NAC Member), Director
North Carolina Emergency Management, North Carolina Department of Public Safety

Gerard Dio (NAC Member),(Retired) Fire Chief
Fire Department City of Worcester (Mass.)

Federally Recognized Indian Tribes and National Indian Organizations
Robert Deleon, Emergency Manager /Emergency Operations Director 
Gila River Indian Community 

Michael Fila, Emergency Manager/Public Health Officer
Office of Emergency Management, Cocopah Indian Tribe

Communications Service Providers 
Thomas Crane, Senior Solutions Consultant 
Everbridge Inc.

Don Hall, Government Solutions Director 
OnSolve LLC

Vendors, Developers and Manufacturers of Systems, Facilities, Equipment and Capabilities for the Provision of Communications Services
Edward Czarnecki, Senior Director, Strategy and Government Affairs 
Monroe Electronics Inc.

Harold Price, President
Sage Alerting Systems Inc.

Mark Demski, Senior Client Services Manager 
WebEOC Intermedix Corp.

John Lawson, Executive Director 
AWARN Alliance

Hutch McClendon, CEO and President 
Advanced, Computers and Communications LLC

Third-Party Service Bureaus
Richard Strack, Chief Engineer
Boise State Public Radio

Broadcasting Industry, Including Public Broadcasting
Suzanne Goucher, President and Chief Executive Officer 
Maine Association of Broadcasters

Sam Matheny, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer 
National Association of Broadcasters

Dana Golub, Senior Director, Public Programs 
Public Broadcasting Service

Commercial Mobile Radio Service Industry 
Brian Josef, Assistant Vice President Regulatory Affairs 
CTIA

Cable Industry 
Craig Saari, Principle Video Engineer II 
Charter Communications

Andy Scott, Vice President of Engineering
NCTA – The Internet & Television Association

Satellite Industry
John Archer, Vice President and General Manager Operations 
Sirius XM Satellite Radio

Steven Hill, Chief Executive Officer
Satellite and Broadcast Communication Association

National Organizations Representing Individuals With Disabilities; Blind, Deaf and Hearing-Loss Communities; Individuals With Access and Functional Needs; Elderly
Donna Platt, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator 
North Carolina Division of Services for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing

Bryen Yunashko, Owner 
Access256 Productions LLC

Consumer or Privacy Advocates
Harold Feld, Senior Vice President 
Public Knowledge

Organizations Representing Individuals With Limited-English Proficiency
Lillian McDonald, Managing Director Emergency Response Services 
Twin Cities PBS

Jacqueline Nguyen, Senior Project Specialist 
CalOptima

Other Stakeholders and Interested and Affected Parties
Dennis Mileti, Professor Emeritus, Director of the Natural Hazards Center 
University of Colorado at Boulder

Frank Mark Lucia, Independent Telecommunications Professional, and Consultant 
Georgia Tech Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center

Tafaimamao Tua-Tupuola, Director of University Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities
American Samoa Community College

Darrell Darnell, Senior Associate Vice President for Safety and Security 
George Washington University

Dr. Meloyde Batten-Mickens(NAC Member), Interim Chief/Director of Public Safety 
Simmons College

Capt. William “Brett” Bailey (NAC Member), Investigations Commander 
Tulsa Police Department

Jeanne-Aimee DeMarrais (NAC Member), Senior Director U.S. Emergencies
Save the Children

Senior Federal Leaders (or Their Designees)

The Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission 
The Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce 
The Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce 
The Under Secretary for Science and Technology of the Department of Homeland Security 
The Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate 
The Director of Disability Integration and Coordination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
The Chairperson of the National Council on Disability

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

WASHINGTON—The nation’s largest originators of emergency alerts have come together to advise the industry group behind the Advanced Warning and Response Network. Designed to work synergistically with existing alerting systems, AWARN will provide major new capabilities to improve disaster warning and recovery information for the American public.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, the National Weather Service, and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials have joined the new AWARN Advisory Committee to provide technical and operational input to the AWARN Alliance.

By leveraging the powerful new features of next-generation broadcasting, the AWARN Alliance is creating a system that can deliver geo-targeted, rich-media emergency messages to a wide range of enabled consumer devices, including 4K UHD TVs, tablets, smart phones and even connected cars. Television broadcasters and consumer technology companies are planning for the voluntary adoption of Next-Gen TV transmission, based on the new ATSC 3.0 technical standard, pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission, expected later this year.

“Our goal in developing AWARN is to create the world’s most advanced emergency alerting system, and Next-Gen TV provides the tools to do that,” said John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance. “Our public safety partners will help us define how to use those tools to create messages that save lives and speed recovery,” he said.

“Without broadcasters, AMBER Alert would not be the successful system we have today. Once again, broadcasters will enable the growth of AMBER Alerts and enhance the current alerting system by adopting new technology,” said Robert Lowery Jr., vice president of the Missing Children Division of the NCMEC. “Alerts through ATSC 3.0 will provide rich, useful information to the public, whom law enforcement depends on to be their eyes and ears during the most critical child abductions. We are looking forward to working with AWARN to help define and implement these next-generation protocols.”

NWS Meteorologist Mike Gerber recognizes the promise of advanced emergency alerting with ATSC 3.0. “The National Weather Service is pleased to serve as a technical adviser on the AWARN Advisory Committee as we work collectively to build a Weather-Ready Nation,” he said.

Examples of the rich media alerts enabled by the AWARN system include photos, surveillance video, storm tracks, inundation maps, evacuation routes, road hazards, airborne chemical plume models and safety instructions. AWARN can provide post-event information, such as shelter locations, hospital wait times and other recovery notifications—even if cellular networks and the electric grid are down. AWARN may also deliver Blue Alerts and other law enforcement messages.

APCO International is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals, including those at Public Safety Answering Points who issue local emergency alerts. FEMA manages the current Emergency Alert System, including the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. NCMEC issues AMBER missing child alerts in cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies. The National Weather Service issues severe weather alerts, accounting for 90 percent of EAS activations each year.

The AWARN Alliance membership includes commercial and public broadcasters who reach over 85 percent of U.S. households, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Consumer Technology Association, the Interactive Television Alliance, and a growing number of U.S. and Korean technology companies and service providers.

AWARN Alliance and Advisory Committee members plan to convene working groups in the second half of the year. The Alliance’s goal is to have a beta version of AWARN alerts available for early adopter television stations that launch Next-Gen TV transmission in 2018.

Members of the AWARN Alliance, as of July 7, 2017
Broadcasters (Commercial)
Capitol Broadcasting Company
Pearl TV
Sinclair Broadcast Group

Broadcasters (Public)
Kentucky Educational Television
KPBS/California State University-San Diego
UNC-TV/University of North Carolina
WKAR/Michigan State University
WNET/New York

Technology Companies
Aircode
Airwavz
LG Electronics/Zenith
Lokita Solutions/DigiCap
ONE Media
Monroe Electronics/Digital Alert Systems
Triveni Digital

Trade Association
Consumer Technology Association
Interactive Television Alliance
National Association of Broadcasters

Service Providers
AEA Implementation Team (ATSC)
Convergence Services, Inc.
MHz Networks
Wiley Rein, LLC

WASHINGTON—The first national test of the emergency alert system in five years—and the first ever using the IPAWS infrastructure as an overlay on EAS—has been deemed a success based on initial feedback from the field.

FEMA headquarters during the national EAS test on Wednesday.

The one-minute test was conducted Wednesday afternoon by the Federal Emergency Management Agency with radio, TV and cable stations around the United States. The test verified the successful transmission and broadcast of a national test message. The ability of the U.S. President to send such a message remains an important part of the nation’s alerting infrastructure, though such a real message has never been sent.

Radio World was invited to attend and watch the launch of the test at a FEMA technical facility in Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C. Gathered via a webinar and conference call were officials with FEMA’s alerting partners at the Federal Communications Commission, National Weather Service and the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, as well as the chairs of the state emergency communications committees.

Prior to the 2:20 test, the staff (shown in photo) tested the integrity of the audio files at the Amazon Web Services server, then conducted final checks with the federal partners to confirm there were no last-minute national events or weather complications that would warrant postponing the test. They made their “go” decision at 2:06 p.m.

The test was launched on the stroke of 2:20 p.m. (ET) from a laptop, in English and Spanish, and the results on local broadcast outlets were immediately monitored in the room. Shortly after the test concluded, IPAWS National Test Technical Lead Al Kenyon polled the SECCs and others on the conference call, and one by one they reported back — Wisconsin, Indiana, Alabama, Georgia/South Carolina, Nevada, SiriusXM, various EAS manufacturers...the reports were all similar: “everything sounded good... our experience in Austin was fine... everything came through.”

Kenyon (shown seated on the left side of the table) thanked the participants and said, “We seemed to have a large degree of success” based on immediate feedback, but said official results will have to wait for stations to fill out their required forms reporting results to the FCC.

Kenyon told Radio World, “My driving goal was to have clean audio, delivered timely, and closed out properly.” He said there had been few, if any, complaints about intelligibility or delays in delivery.

“This was the first time we’ve served every EAS device in the country at the same time.”

A separate debriefing call was scheduled late Wednesday by the FCC with state coordinators.

IPAWS Deputy Director Wade Witmer attended and told Radio World the test appeared to be a success, and he called the timing an appropriate tie-in for National Preparedness Month.

More national tests are expected in the future, but the timing and nature of the next one are yet to be determined. 

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

WASHINGTON—Think you have ideas to make the nation’s alerting system better? Here’s your chance.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has put out call for applicants who wish to serve on a new Integrated Public Alert and Warning System subcommittee to the National Advisory Council.

This subcommittee, as mandated by the IPAWS Modernization Act of 2015, will develop and submit recommendations on improving the IPAWS system to the NAC. Among things it is expected to consider are common alerting and warning protocol, standards, terminology and operating procedures for a national public alert warning system.

IPAWS is a way for federal, state, local, tribal and territorial alerting authorities to alert and warn the public about emergencies using the familiar Emergency Alert System, the newer system of Wireless Emergency Alerts, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Radio.

The IPAWS subcommittee is expected to be made up of officials from FEMA, the FCC, Homeland Security, the NOAA, the Department of Commerce and the National Council on Disability. Members will be selected from the following disciplines: Local, state and tribal government officials; emergency managers and first responders; vendors, developers and manufacturers of communications systems; broadcasting, cable or satellite industry officials; national organizations for the disabled, elderly, or limited English-speakers; and consumer privacy advocates.

The subcommittee is expected to meet four times a year, twice in person and twice via webinar.

Interested applicants can submit a résumé to the Office of the National Advisory Council by email, mail or even fax. Applications will be accepted until Oct. 6, with subcommittee appoint terms beginning in 2017; they will run until the termination of the IPAWS subcommittee in April 2019.

For information, visit www.fema.gov/national-advisory-council.

The author is broadcast chair of the Wisconsin State Emergency Communications Committee.

WASHINGTON—In February the annual EAS Forum, sponsored by the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and the National Association of Broadcasters, was held in Washington. In attendance were officials from the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service. A number of pertinent EAS issues were discussed.

NEXT NATIONAL EAS TEST
FEMA announced that the next nationwide EAS test will be conducted on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016 at 2:20 p.m. EDT.

This test will use the National Periodic Test (NPT) event code and the National location code, 000000. FCC rules becoming effective on July 30, 2016 require that all EAS Participants immediately relay this test.

Results of the test must be reported by each EAS Participant into the FCC’s Electronic Test Reporting System, which the FCC stated in the meeting they are targeting for launch in June. EAS Participants will then have 60 days to enter their initial data described in the EAS rules, in advance of the national test.

STATE EAS PLANS
In the current EAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released on Jan. 29, 2016, the FCC proposes to have all State EAS Plans submitted online. In the meeting, the commission stated that they want State Emergency Communications Committees to continue to submit updated State EAS Plans, and if the online plan proposal is adopted they will ingest the current plan files into the online portal.

The NPRM proposes to widen the scope of State EAS Plans by including details on state use of Wireless Emergency Alerts, highways signs and social media. The FCC clarified that it doesn’t intend to require all states to implement these alerting methods, but wants to leave room for innovation by states that want to do so. The FCC also noted that it is concerned about the lack of cable operator participation on many SECCs.

The commission agreed with a suggestion that the topic of drafting needed members onto SECCs be taken up by a future Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council, which is an FCC federal advisory group that provides recommendations to the commission.

NWS EAS ALERTS VIA THE IPAWS EAS FEED
Currently, the NWS is not sending weather alerts over the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) EAS feed, because of issues with the inability to detect duplicates of the same alert issued in legacy EAS over NOAA Weather Radio vs. the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) version.

Although NWS is currently deploying new software for controlling NWR, called Broadcast Message Handler (BMH), this upgrade will still only be a partial step to curing the duplicate alert detection issue. NWS is interested in a recommendation by a past CSRIC group to add an identification tag to EAS messages to cure this issue, and will likely propose such a solution in its NPRM comments.

NWS was also questioned as to whether the new BMH software will now allow NWR to carry the president’s Emergency Action Notification (EAN) EAS message. NWS responded that BMH is a stepping stone, but not a full solution. However, NWS, FEMA and FCC will continue to work toward that goal.

CSRIC EAS PROGRESS
The current CSRIC Working Group is making progress with recommendations to the commission on three EAS topics: fostering adoption of EAS security best practices by EAS Participants, updating the EAS Operating Handbook and multilingual EAS alerting. The reports of these groups will be delivered to the FCC at the March and June CSRIC meetings.

PEP UPGRADES
FEMA reported that some new Primary Entry Point stations were added over the last two years, and now the focus is on modernizing the 30-some original PEP stations to replace their aging equipment. In addition, FEMA has now transitioned to satellite-based delivery of the EAN message to PEP stations, which also allows two-way communications with individual stations.

FILE YOUR COMMENTS
The FCC acknowledged that there are a lot of proposals and requests for comment in the current EAS NPRM, and at many points during the meeting stressed that they want official comments submitted by all parties in the EAS community.

The commission has stated many times in the past that they do not make decisions on adopting new rules based on their own judgement; decisions are always based on the comments received—whether for or against any particular FCC proposal.

Don’t just sit in your chair saying, “That’s a great idea” or conversely, “That’s a terrible idea” — make your comments known. Especially, don’t presume that something is so obviously right or wrong that comment isn’t needed; the EAS community has gotten caught in the past by not commenting and after the FCC implemented the rule they rescinded it after an uproar.

State your opinions at www.fcc.gov/ecfs. Comments are due May 9; replies are due May 7. Use proceeding number 15-94 for EAS and 15-91 for wireless alerts when filing comments.

WASHINGTON—A new year brought new deadlines and requirements for U.S. broadcasters in the realm of emergency alerting, including an important July 30 date.

iStockphoto/adventtr

A new set of rules and guidelines were adopted when the Federal Communications Commission released its Emergency Alert System Sixth Report and Order in July of last year. Among other things, it established a new national location code, a new EAS Test Reporting System and rules for visual EAS messages. It also formalized requirements for the national periodic test event code. The Report and Order on EAS testing becomes effective July 30.

To prep for the upcoming changes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency officially began rolling out use of the “000000” national location geocode on Jan. 1. The adoption of the six-zero national location code helps provide authorities with the ability to send an Emergency Alert Notification or National Periodic Test nationally, or to focus an alert into a regional level.

Recognizing that transitions like this take time, the code is simultaneously being used alongside the existing Washington geocode, the previous means of communicating a nationwide EAN. Creating this transitional window — in which any EAN will include both the all-zero geocode and the Washington geocode — gives broadcasters a period in which to update equipment or software to ensure that their EAS equipment complies by the July 30 deadline.

“This change simply assures that national-level EAS will not lose any functionality during the implementation period,” said Al Kenyon, national test technical lead for FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS. “Older, non-updated devices will still see what they expect in an EAN, and updated devices will see the All-US geocode and respond accordingly.”

REGIONAL TESTS
On the testing front, FEMA has spearheaded a number of EAS tests over recent months in an effort to ensure that broadcasters are prepared.

Up next: a February regional test that will cover a wide swath of the East Coast and parts of the Midwest and Gulf Coast. The test is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 2:20 p.m. EST, and will include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Virginia.

The test will help participants confirm how systems will respond to an NPT. To get stations up to speed on what will be required in the Feb. 24 test, FEMA organized several non-technical and technical webinars. (For information about the Feb. 9 Webinar on technical aspects, see tinyurl.com/rw-eas4.)

Recent tests of the nation’s EAS system have proven successful. The most recent NPT test — sent on Nov. 17 — included the first bilingual alert message via EAS, with information blocks in English and Spanish. These test sequences were sent to stations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada. According to test organizers, full-message text and voice-spoken audio messages were sent, received and broadcast by the participating test partner stations. Before that, a round of IPAWS tests on Sept. 16 tested the NPT code across six New England states.

Looking ahead to the July 30 deadline, EAS equipment manufacturers and broadcasters have begun the process of updating devices and ensuring their own awareness of the rule changes. Device manufacturers have begun to release software and firmware updates that will enable their devices to comply with the new set of EAS rules established by the Report and Order. According to one observer, EAS device manufacturers are at “varying points” in their efforts to distribute firmware and software updates necessary for full compliance.

Radio World has found that several manufacturers are providing upgrades to existing equipment that will allow compliance with the new EAS rules, while others expected to announce new equipment soon.

Solutions like those from Gorman-Redlich, Digital Alert Systems, Sage Alerting Systems and Trilithic are capable of meeting the technical requirements of the Sixth Report and Order.

The DASDEC-11 emergency communications platform from Digital Alert Systems is programmed for both the “000000” and NPT code, the company said. Its EAS encoder/decoder was used successfully by a number of stations during the November multilingual EAS test.

“However, the FCC’s latest Report and Order mandates some fundamental changes to how the NPT must be handled,” said Edward Czarnecki, senior director of strategy and global government affairs for Digital Alert Systems/Monroe Electronics. These required changes will be included in a forthcoming version DASDEC 3.0 software update, he said.

Gorman-Redlich has upgraded its model EAS-1 system to meet the requirements, including accepting the six-zero location code as the national location code and including the NPT event code as a required event code by default. Units with certain devices are capable of handling these new requirements. “The V9.8 will handle the six-zero code,” said Jim Gorman, president of Gorman-Redlich. “We can also keep the EAS log on the CAP unit so that a printer is no longer required.”

The CAP-DEC 1 common alerting protocol standalone unit from Gorman-Redlich is able to translate received CAP alerts into EAS headers, which are transmitted by an EAS device. The system is a CAP-to-EAS converter unit that treats the 000000 location code as a wild-card location; when an alert is received with the all-zero code included in it, it marks it as “in area” and continues processing the alert as usual for transmission to the attached EAS device.

Sage Alerting Systems will update its firmware to allow Sage Digital ENDEC model 3644 users to comply with the rules. The software update is expected in February and will add 000000 support, said President Harold Price. ENDEC offers text-to-speech capabilities for English, French and Spanish, and is designed for single or clustered analog and HD Radio stations.

Likewise, the Legacy EAS systems and EASyCAP system from Trilithic are equipped to handle the all-zero geocode, said Adam Jones, EAS sales manager for Trilithic. “With Trilithic EAS products this is a simple IP-based upgrade,” he said. ”As far as configuration changes are concerned, our users only need to check mark the ‘Enable National Location Code’ in our software to be complaint.”

It’s unclear how many users of existing EAS gear, if any, will incur costs to comply.

“We haven’t made any pricing decisions, including even if there would be a charge,” Czarnecki said. “Version 3.0 will be, however, a very significant system upgrade. The FCC is mandating some truly fundamental changes to EAN and NPT behavior.”

Customers running Trilithic will not have to pay anything to be in compliance with any of the new rules and regulations, Jones said.

The question of possible costs to make this transition has raised the ire of some. “I support the use of the latest technology to notify the public concern emergencies. However, this could provide a financial hardship to low-power FM broadcasters,” said John Broomall, co-founder of Christian Community Broadcasters, an organization that assists local community organizations in operating low-power FM stations. “LPFM stations are at the bottom of the broadcasting ‘food chain.’ Some only have one watt power, all are limited to 100 watts and as NCE broadcasters they cannot generate revenue by selling advertising.”

In any event, Broomall is one broadcaster who plans to reach out to his local emergency operations center for contributions to any costs to upgrade his LPFM station’s EAS system. As licensee of low-power FM station WPCG, he is also considering submitting an FCC waiver to request that the commission consider allowing new low-power stations to delay purchase of EAS equipment until all technical details in the Report and Order have been finalized.

Meanwhile state broadcast associations have been reminding members of the process. Radio World asked one large group, the Texas Association of Broadcasters, if it had received any complaints from among its 1,000 member stations about steps or costs to upgrade. It had not, said Michael Schneider, vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs for TAB.

To prep its stations, TAB has periodically sent out updates to its members concerning EAS. “For most stations it’s a matter of checking the station EAS unit to ensure it will recognize the national location and national periodic test codes,” Schneider said. The association has informed its stations via weekly emails and a newsletter bulletin that Texas stations will be part of the February IPAWS test.

To ensure that the nation is keeping abreast of emergency alerting technologies across the board, the FCC has also addressed the nation’s wireless emergency alert system. The commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking in November 2015 that proposes to improve the usefulness of the nation’s wireless emergency alert system.

The NPRM is asking for industry comments on a string of proposals, including increasing the length and complexity of WEA messages, improving the geo-targeting of wireless emergency alerts and allowing for local WEA system testing. In the commission’s November Open Meeting, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel pressed the industry to consider the power of activating FM chips in smartphones in an effort to strengthen emergency alerts.

WASHINGTON —The federal agency in charge of managing national emergencies will conduct tests on the advanced alerting capabilities of ATSC 3.0, the new broadcast transmission standard now under development.

The Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency National Continuity Programs’ Integrated Public Alert and Warning System—IPAWS—Division said it has “begun to assess the feasibility of a public alert and warning capability that is being developed in the private sector.”

This technology, the Advanced Warning and Response Network, or AWARN, works by using advanced capabilities in ATSC 3.0, which provides for the transmission of large media-rich, data messages over-the-air to mobile, portable, and fixed TV devices without interrupting the programming.

The new technology could deliver detailed emergency information to the public with pictures and videos of evacuation routes, storm tracks, and shelter information – increasing community preparedness before, during, and after a disaster. The media alerts will be able to include multilingual and multi-format information to warn non-English speaking populations and people with access and functional needs.

AWARN capitalizes on existing emergency alerting standards and builds upon the Mobile Emergency Alert System, or M-EAS, developed during a pilot project and standardized by the Advanced Television Systems Committee.

FEMA’s testing, in the IPAWS Lab located at the Joint Interoperability Test Command in Indian Head, Md., will demonstrate the feasibility and operational deployment of AWARN within the IPAWS suite of technologies and allow public safety officials to gain confidence using IPAWS in a secure environment, according to FEMA.

“FEMA is committed to working with the private sector to examine and improve future alerts and warnings,” said Roger Stone, acting assistant administrator for National Continuity Programs. “New systems could someday include pictures and video as part of the advanced alert and warning information provided to the general public.”

FEMA’s IPAWS is a national system for local alerting. IPAWS enables authorities at all levels of government to alert and warn people in areas endangered by disasters. IPAWS is used by federal, state, and local authorities to send emergency alerts to cellular phones as Wireless Emergency Alerts, to radio and television as Emergency Alert System broadcasts, to NOAA Weather Radios, and to an All-Hazards Alert and Information Feed for Internet applications, services, and Websites.

For more information on IPAWS, visit www.fema.gov/ipaws.