Public TV connects to feds’ new emergency alert system

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has tapped local stations as backups for delivering public safety messages.

A $56.8 million technology project equipping public television stations to help deliver geo-targeted emergency messages to mobile devices has reached an important milestone. PBS WARN (Warning Alert and Response Network) connected to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s alert aggregator on Aug. 6, “the last step in the process of putting all of the pieces in place for the system to work,” said Dana Golub, PBS WARN executive director. The network uses PBS’s interconnection system to create a redundant path for FEMA wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages, 90-character text warnings from government entities such as the National Weather Service, local and state disaster agencies and the White House. The messages alert recipients to specific emergencies in their area and direct them to local media for more information. The Federal Communications Commission, through its Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, is overseeing implementation of the overall project.