Talk:Emergency Broadcast System

Priority Four Prerecorded Tapes
A memo contained in this PDF folder from Reagan Library mentions existence of prerecorded tapes stored at the FEMA Special Facility for use in nuclear war. Can someone with expertise editing this article possibly add the content about the tapes to this EBS article in the proper area with footnote? Thanks. I really am not skilled in editing. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/2022-03/40-654-6207642-019-002-2021.pdf — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.8.114.226 (talk) 04:22, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

Untitled
This article looks a lot like: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/ebs.htm (1999) I'm not sure if FAS released its stuff to the public domain. I doubt it, but I'm too lazy to look. I'm also too lazy to go through and rephrase the article. I'm pretty sure that the FAS had the content first, and it was copied to the Wikipedia from there. *sigh* I'm lazy. C17GMaster, July 12


 * Someone mentioned that the "voluntary" statement was inaccurate, since they were by law required to participate. However the text actually says that the DEVELOPMENT of the system was done voluntary...nitpicking maybe..but wanted to point it out.

NBC Report - Updated EBS/EAS - July 12, 2006
NBC Nightly News aired a segment mentioning that the EBS/EAS would be updated to include newer, personal technologies, during its broadcast on the evening of Wednesday, July 12, 2006 (video can be seen here - mms://msnbc.wmod.llnwd.net/a275/e1/video/100/nn_netcast_060712.asf - the segment is in the 2nd half of the broadcast, I think. There is a related text story here - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13833874/ ). I was just wondering if that information should or would be included in this article. In advance, thank you.

Digital_Guy, 07/13/2006 4:50 a.m. EST


 * Shouldn't the information you refer to be included in the article on the Emergency Alert System rather than in this article? This article should only be about the historical EBS. --Charlene.fic 10:25, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Up near the top of the page, it says that it was replaced by the emergency alert system in 1997. But down below the table of contents, it says it was replaced in 1994. Which one is correct? Or if it's more complex than that, what are the complexities?

Ryan, 07/26/2006 1:33pm PST


 * The implementation began in 1994 and ended in 1997. It took three years to fully implement the new EAS simply because it took three years to get every station on the system. Most of the big stations could afford to change right away, but there were still thousands of individually owned radio stations out there that couldn't afford to go out and buy an EAS transmitter the day the FCC handed down the new rules. The FCC gave them three years to change over. (Also, the FCC wasn't quite sure if the manufacturers of the decoders could provide enough decoders by 1994.) Many FCC rule changes are implemented over a period of years for these two reasons - owners are often unable to immediately afford changes that may cost money and new technology may not be immediately available for practical reasons. --Charlene.fic 10:54, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I edited in a video of an Emergency Broadcast System test, go check it out if you want to. RedAlpha

False alarm
In the article it says:

Despite these safeguards, the system was inadvertently activated at 9:33 AM EST on February 20, 1971. A system operator accidentally "played the wrong tape" during a test of the system. As a result, an EBS activation message authenticated with the codeword "HATEFULNESS" was sent through the entire system, ordering stations to cease regular programming and broadcast the alert of a national emergency. A cancellation message with the wrong codeword was sent at 9:59 AM EST; a cancellation message with the correct codeword was not sent until 10:13 AM EST. This false alarm demonstrated major flaws in the EBS system. Many stations had not received the alert, but more importantly, the vast majority of those that did ignored it. The only station in the country that shut down as mandated by FCC rules was WSNS-TV (Ch 44) in Chicago. Numerous investigations were launched, and several changes were made to the EBS. Among them, the on-air alert announcement was streamlined, eliminating language that warned the audience of an imminent attack against the country.

According to http://stlradio.net/pix/ebsaccident2.jpg and http://stlradio.net/pix/ebsaccident3.jpg, the first message had the codeword "HATEFULNESS" and the second one "IMPISH". So was the one with the correct codeword sent first or were there different codewords for starting and stopping the alarm? --91.141.23.149 23:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

There were two codewords: HATEFULNESS to activate the alert, and IMPISH to terminate it. After realizing that an alert had been inadvertantly sent out with the real confirmation codeword, the folks in charge sent out another notice cancelling it, but once again used the activation codeword (HATEFULNESS). While nearly everyone had figured out by that point that there'd been a screwup, the government realized that it should have sent the termination codeword (IMPISH) instead, and did so in the third transmission. Technically, the alert was still in effect until that point. --207.230.140.240 15:36, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

External link trouble
The article currently contains a link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecsu13U5VuI under the title "A 1984 EBS Test on WFLD-TV, Chicago". However, when I click on it, YouTube says "This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request." Shouldn't a linked media file be readily available, or is this OK? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.13.240.14 (talk) 06:25, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Any photos of the WXYZ test card available???????????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.168.67.38 (talk) 03:36, 4 March 2008 (UTC) Calm down, 66.168.67.38. Chances are, if you contacted WXYZ, they would be able to provide a picture. --68.149.121.27 (talk) 22:50, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

that video has been recently deleted due to terms of use violation.71.188.42.188 (talk) 19:28, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Contradictions
What are the contradictions with the other article that we are warned about by the banner?Ccrrccrr (talk) 02:48, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

In this artice, it says that the Emergency Broadcast System was replaced by the Emergency Alert System in 1997. In the EAS article, however, it says that the replacement took place 1994. There may be more, but that's the one I initally noticed. 68.149.121.27 (talk) 22:45, 16 March 2009 (UTC)
 * BTW, both are, technically, correct. 68.149.121.27 (talk) 14:28, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

This has been changed back by someone. Now removing. MWOAP (talk) 22:09, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

external link removal
1)removed youtube and retrojunk links.it does not have any infomation. 2)removed sound effects websites.these websites is not either.71.168.195.86 (talk) 19:51, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

False alarm codewords
In the article, the codewords for the 1971 false alarm (ie "hatefulness" and "impish") keep changing back and forth between all caps and all small letters. Is it possible to decide on one size of letters? 68.149.121.27 (talk) 22:41, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

It's a major second
The article calls 853 Hz and 960 Hz "a completely disharmonic combination". I plugged them into my calculator, and 960:853 looks pretty close to the 9:8 ratio of a just major second. So do we have any reliable sources about the choice of frequencies? --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 13:55, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Why discontinued?
Came here to look for information on why the name was changed only to discover that the underlying system was "replaced," although there seems to be little explanation of what's new or/why here or on the "EAS" page; wish they'd kept the original name... --Belg4mit (talk) 04:37, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Latest Hacking Incidents involving the EBS System and Zombies
This has been in the news of late. I was wondering if this should be included in the article. I am not good at editing and have not edited since I retired so I hope someone else can include this in a proper mannor. Thank you. Magnum Serpentine (talk) 20:34, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Scared of the EBS test?
Can we have references that document people being scared of the EBS tests? MightyArms (talk) 20:13, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

France
A nuke is coming 2A01:CB1D:8287:8A00:3056:C8C3:DB24:258 (talk) 18:46, 25 January 2024 (UTC)

Another mistake
https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/215025 Victor Grigas (talk) 14:10, 26 April 2024 (UTC)