FCC Tweaks Nationwide EAS Test

On November 9, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time1 (EST), the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The purpose of the test is to assess the reliability and effectiveness of the EAS as a way to alert the public of national emergencies. After a careful review of the technical elements of the test, FEMA and the FCC have concluded that a thirty-second test will allow the agencies to effectively assess the reliability and effectiveness of the EAS as a way to alert the public of national emergencies with limited disruption to the public. The test was planned to be 3 minutes long. According to a source, shortening the duration is so that nobody will mistake it for an actual emergency, something some industry players had suggested might happen with such an extended warning.