On Wednesday, April 14, a session will be held at NAB called “Putting the Final Touches on Next-Generation EAS.” It is a joint presentation of the show’s Broadcast Management Conference and Broadcast Engineering Conference.
The session will begin with opening remarks by Damon Penn, assistant administrator of the National Continuity Programs (NCP) for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Rear Admiral (Ret.) James Barnett, chief, FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
Panelists for the session include Antwane Johnson, FEMA division director and program manager; Suzanne Goucher, president and CEO, Maine Association of Broadcasters; Thomas Beers, chief, FCC Policy Division and Wade Witmer, FEMA deputy division director.
The panel discussion, led by moderator Larry Walke, associate general counsel, NAB, will clarify the current role that broadcasters play in Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) and will explore whether station responsibilities will change as the government implements the next generation of EAS.
FEMA is rolling out a new Common Alerting Protocol that will allow the same warning message to be delivered for many different alert systems. The FCC is exploring a new process of required annual nationwide EAS testing. Attendees will learn what the impending changes could mean for broadcasters.
