1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and I Heart Radio and I love 5 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: all things tech. Today, it's time for another classic episode 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff. This one originally aired on August one, 7 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, and it is titled tech Stuff Tests 8 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: the Emergency Broadcast System. Chris Pilette and I decided to 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: sit down and really learn about the history of the 10 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: emergency broadcast system. What does it really mean? And maybe 11 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: you've actually turned on the TV when one of those 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: tests were going on and wondered what the heck is happening. 13 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: This show should answer all those questions, So take it away, 14 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: Chris and younger me. So, we wanted to do an 15 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: episode about the emergence see broadcast system. This was actually 16 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: a request that was sent in by a couple of 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 1: different listeners, which is interesting because it doesn't really technically 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: exist anymore. Now we have a new system in the 19 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: United States called the Emergency Alert System. Also, I should 20 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: apologize to all of our listeners from places other than 21 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: the United States. This is a very United States centric podcast. 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: But it's interesting anyway, trust me. Well it's it's become 23 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: something that's, uh, that's important in most situations too. I 24 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,119 Speaker 1: mean they're they're uh tragedies and big events that happen 25 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: in places all over the world, so that the question 26 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: is you've got a country, um, you know, it doesn't 27 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 1: have to necessarily be the United States. We have a country, 28 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: have millions of people living there, and something is happening, 29 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: there's an earthquake or a tsunami or uh, some other 30 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: kind of accident um or another country is invading or 31 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: something like that. You know, something big where you need 32 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: to tell people, Hey, look out, there's something you need 33 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: to evacuate, you need to get out of there. How 34 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: do you address so many people in a short time? Now, 35 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: for the United States, what inspired this was the need 36 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: to reach out to people during World War two, um, 37 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: and there wasn't a system and subsequently the Cold War. 38 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, well, I mean the the whole uh, the 39 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: end of the the Second World War and it of 40 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: course with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan 41 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: and um, you know, it was apparent because other countries 42 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: had that technology pretty much right away, and that that 43 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet 44 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: Union began shortly after that, and then there was a 45 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: UM there was a big fear in the United States, 46 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 1: but about um, what would happen if the Soviet Union 47 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: launched a nuclear attack on the United States? How do 48 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: you warn people? And they said, well, you know, judging 49 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: by what we did in World War Two, that was 50 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: fairly effective. But we need a system, we need we 51 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: need to plan, we need to figure out how we 52 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: can do this effectively and let everybody know in a 53 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: short period of time because we're not going to have 54 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: long we need to have a short period of time, 55 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: a message in place. How can we reach out to people? 56 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: And that was basically the birth of UM what now 57 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: is the Emergency Alert System, but at that point was 58 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:19,240 Speaker 1: known as connal rad yes uh in fact, which wasn't 59 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 1: by the way, kind of sort of an acronym for 60 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: a control of electromagnetic radiation which is kind of terrifying, right, 61 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: But that was established in ninety one by under the 62 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: administration of Harry S. Truman. Quick Quick Quick Trivia was 63 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: the S stand for nothing. That's right, Harry S. Truman 64 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: stood for nothing. Wait, no, that's not right. Nothing. He 65 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: just wanted it. He liked it sort of, you know, 66 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: like Michael J. So you don't say like the S 67 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: stands for nothing, like nothing isn't spelled with S. I 68 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: don't mean to confuse you. The S doesn't mean anything. 69 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: So control of electromagnetic radiation getting back on track. Prior 70 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: to ninety one, these alerts went out over radio station. 71 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: They would get like an emergency bulletin, and it was 72 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: pretty much up to the station whether or not they 73 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: read it. Um conal Red kind of established a specific 74 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: protocol that needed to be followed in the event of 75 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: an emergency, and originally the idea was that it would 76 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: alert citizens of the United States of an impending attack 77 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: from the Soviet Union. In those days, we're talking about 78 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: before intercontinental ballistic missiles, so these attacks would take the 79 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 1: form of bombers flying overhead, and so conal Red had 80 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: two main purposes. Really, one was to issue alerts to 81 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: citizens to try and get them to safety as soon 82 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: as possible in the case of the attack, and the 83 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:42,039 Speaker 1: second was to minimize the ability of the Soviets to 84 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: target UH specific areas based on radio frequencies. So part 85 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,119 Speaker 1: of the connal Red protocol was that radio stations would 86 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: shut down and they would only uh broadcast in a 87 00:04:55,600 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: certain amount of time and under certain frequencies. So under 88 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: the Comrade protocol you essentially had this. This is what 89 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: would happen if if someone were to issue alert. By 90 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: the way, no alert was ever issued. It was originally 91 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: called a key station system, and the idea was that 92 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: you had these dedicated telephone circuits that connected the Air 93 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: Defense control centers to certain key radio stations called basic 94 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: key stations. If there were an appending attack, the Air 95 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: Defense Control center would issue the alert to the key 96 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: radio stations, these basic key stations that would then issue 97 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: that same alert to relay key stations. These would be 98 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: smaller regional radio stations. Uh so they it was sort 99 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: of a hierarchy, right, It went from Air Defense Control 100 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: centers to a certain number of basic radio stations to 101 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: every other radio station. Once they received the alert, the 102 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: radio stations would then broadcast a predetermined message out to 103 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: the listeners. And the way it would work is that 104 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: the stations would turn off for five seconds, so they 105 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: had stopped transmitting for five seconds, come back on for 106 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: five seconds, go off for five more seconds, then come 107 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,600 Speaker 1: on and transmit a tone for fifteen seconds. Now, this 108 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: was the the audible alert saying something is up. You 109 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: get the predetermined message. Uh, actually we're really What you 110 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: had to do was tuned to one of two frequencies. 111 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: There was a frequency kill hurts frequency and the forty 112 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: kill hurts frequency. Now, these two frequencies were the only 113 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: two that were authorized to broadcast during one of these emergencies. 114 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: And uh, on radios at the time, you would see 115 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: this little symbol over those those frequencies and it was 116 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: a triangle inside a circle, and that's the Civil Defense mark. Yeah, 117 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: you might remember the symbol sort of red, white and 118 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: blue if you've seen it around and uh it's still 119 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: not terribly uncommon to see it every once in a 120 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: while someplace. So yeah, but that was that was saying like, 121 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: these are the two frequencies. If you if your favorite 122 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: radio station isn't on, tune into this station because this 123 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: is where the information is going to come from. Uh. 124 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: It was not the best system for a couple of 125 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: different reasons. One was that it was prone to false 126 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: alarms if like an electrical storm could set off a 127 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: false alarm, because you're talking about electricity and radio frequencies. 128 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: There is a relationship there and we have talked about 129 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: that extensively on this podcast. So listen to our episodes 130 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: about radio to learn more about electromagnetism, radio waves, and 131 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: electricity because I can't go into it here. But the 132 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: the lightning strikes could cause false alarms, which is, you know, 133 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: a bad thing if if you've been told that this 134 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: alert system means that there's an impending attack from Soviet planes, 135 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: it might cause a little stress. Also, the switching mechanism, 136 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 1: because it would make transmitters switch on and off in 137 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: this this UH, the sequence could cause transmitters to fail 138 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: over time, just from powering up and powering down so 139 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: frequently within a certain amount of time. And then of 140 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: course UH this whole system, this idea of cutting off 141 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: radio contact so that you could minimize the ability for 142 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: Soviets to target in on specific regions. It became meaningless 143 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: once intercontinental ballistic missiles became a real thing, right because 144 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: now you're not talking about planes anymore. You're talking about 145 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: guided missiles and uh or at least targeted missiles. So 146 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: it became clear that connal red was starting to no 147 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: longer be very relevant. So they the government started to think, well, 148 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: what can we do that will provide a similar method 149 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: for us to message out emergency notices, but use a 150 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: different approach, and that was what sort of led into 151 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: the development of the Emergency Broadcast System e B S. 152 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: YEP in ne EBS made its debut um and uh 153 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: again it it never was used, of course, to uh, 154 00:08:55,880 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: to communicate the threat of war. Not on purpose. We'll 155 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: get but I'm assuming that you listened to the w 156 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 1: O w Um. We'll get to that. But yeah, I 157 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: mean it was a much more robust system. Um. And 158 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: it's during the Kennedy administration for those of you keeping track, yep, 159 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: yep and um. One of the nice things about it 160 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: is uh here again, well you could kind of tell 161 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: kind of judge the mood too. Um. If you had 162 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: heard something come over conald Rad, you probably immediately would 163 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: have thought war. But EBS was actually used for other 164 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: things too. I remember weather alerts coming in using the 165 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: exact same thing, and so you would hear and this 166 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: was used on multiple radio stations. You didn't necessarily have 167 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: to tune into one radio station to get your information. 168 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: It would be broadcast over TV and radio. Because you 169 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: no longer had to worry about that targeting issue. Then 170 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: meant that all the stations could be used instead of 171 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: having to tune into a specific one while everything else 172 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: is turned off. And hey, that's more effective anyway to 173 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: reach people. Um. But yeah, you would hear this this 174 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: tone which it's hard to explain it if you've never 175 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: heard it. You're splitting other than you're splitting and annoying 176 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: between it does get your attention. Apparently, it's the combined 177 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: the sign waves of eight hundred and fifty three hurts 178 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: and nine sixty hurts specifically chosen because it does grab 179 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: your attention because it's very jarring to hear it. It's 180 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: just you you can't ignore it. If you can hear 181 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: you can't ignore it. That's that's true. Um. And of course, uh, 182 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: those of us who are familiar with it other than 183 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: you know, being living somewhere where they're multiple weather uh 184 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: situations like tornadoes or tornadoes. Yeah, no kidding, Um, you 185 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: would probably have heard this through the the alerts which 186 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 1: Jonathan and I grew up with, which was testing. Yeah, 187 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: they would say they would come on and say, well, 188 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: this is a test of the emergency broadcast system and 189 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: the next sixty seconds, we will be testing out the 190 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: emergency broadcast system. It would there was actually a very 191 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 1: specific script that would fall and then there would be 192 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: after they would tell you there's a test coming. They 193 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: would play this tone, and then there'd be another message 194 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: that would appear at the end saying this was a 195 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: test the emergency broadcast system. If this had been a 196 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: real emergency, you would have received more information at this 197 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: point alerting you to blah blah blah, blah blah, we 198 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: now return you to your regularly scheduled programming type stuff. 199 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,199 Speaker 1: And they were required to do this test once a week. Yeah, regular, 200 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: on a regular basis. I didn't think it was quite 201 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: that frequently. It was once a week unless you had 202 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: actually had to issue a real alert. If you had 203 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,319 Speaker 1: to issue a real alert, could skip over some time. 204 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: But it was once a week at essentially a random 205 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: time between eight thirty in the morning and sunset at night, uh, 206 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: sometime during the week. So it wasn't that we'll get 207 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: into this too. There wasn't a time where every single 208 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: station had to do it at the same time. It 209 00:11:55,280 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: was unique to the various stations. And like you were saying, us, 210 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: you know these alerts went out not just for a 211 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: national emergency. In fact, they never went out on purpose 212 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: for a national emergency instead. Uh so so never it 213 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 1: was never used purposefully For that reason, even though that 214 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: was the genesis of this system, it was used more 215 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,199 Speaker 1: than oh, I don't know, several thousand times to alert 216 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: for civil emergencies, sometimes an alert about to be on 217 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: the lookout for a suspect in a in a particularly 218 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: nasty crime that could be an alert, or for the 219 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: weather alerts like the ones that Chris and I grew 220 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: up with. I can remember that happening so many times. Well. 221 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: The uh the way the emergency broadcast system worked was 222 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: that the only message that no station could ignore or 223 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: was supposed to ignore, was a national one. Right, So, 224 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: if you are a radio station in the middle of 225 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: nowhere and the national alert goes out, you were supposed 226 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: to to broadcast it just like every other station in 227 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: the country, whereas if it were a local or regional 228 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 1: you may or may not have been able to ignore 229 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: that message and not broadcast it. The way it worked 230 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 1: was that, again like the Connell red system, where you 231 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: had the key stations, the basic key stations, and the 232 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: relay key stations. There was a similar setup for the 233 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:26,119 Speaker 1: emergency broadcast system. You had these primary points of contact, 234 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: which would be major broadcast stations usually, but these primary 235 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,560 Speaker 1: points of contact had to issue all broadcast all the 236 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: alerts they got. They had no choice because they were 237 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: a primary point of contact. But if you were further 238 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: down the chain, like you are a secondary point or 239 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: further down, then you could elect whether or not to 240 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,680 Speaker 1: broadcast that alert, assuming it wasn't a national alert that 241 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: was the only one. Of course, everyone had to broadcast. 242 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: So um, you know there were that That explains why 243 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: you might be in an area where a weather service 244 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: alert is being broadcast, asked, and you saw it on 245 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,280 Speaker 1: one channel, but you switched to another local channel, and 246 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: there's nothing that could be why. It may be that 247 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: that other channels not a primary point and therefore was 248 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: not required to broadcast it. Beebe. This is not a test. 249 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: This is actually us going into a commercial break. See 250 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: you on the flip side. Now, the the incident that 251 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan mentioned, famous incident. Now I read an account of 252 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: this from a person who was working at a radio 253 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:40,400 Speaker 1: station in St. Louis at the time it happened. Um, 254 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: at the time it happened, by the way, is February. 255 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: And what he had said was that every Saturday at 256 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: ten thirty three, the radio stations would receive a test 257 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: message from Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. And so basically it 258 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: would say and there was a code word that it 259 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: would include that would let you know that it was 260 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 1: was genuine. And so at ten thirty three, um, there 261 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: there was a teletype machine in the other room and 262 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: he heard it and and typically it would it would 263 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: dig a couple of times to let you know, hey, 264 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: there's something something on the wire, you know, a news 265 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: story on the wire. But this one rang ten times, 266 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: which he knew was a big deal. Um. And so 267 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: he ran into the other room and got a message 268 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: that said he needed to broadcast a warning that there 269 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: was an announcement coming from the national you know, from 270 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,520 Speaker 1: the federal government and it was something bad and impending, 271 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: and be on the alert because it was time to 272 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: broadcast a message. But they really weren't told what that 273 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: message was. What it was. Well, see here's the thing. Hateful, hateful, 274 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: the you know, which was a code word, meaning that 275 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: the code that was actually a code word. The hateful 276 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,080 Speaker 1: was a code word that meant there's a message is 277 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: coming up, there's an attack coming up, but more details 278 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: will follow. Go ahead and initiate the alert system. And 279 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: it was a mistake that was made by a teletype 280 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 1: operator who sent this authenticated code out to the system, 281 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: which meant it went to all those those primary points 282 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 1: of contact, and it didn't say it didn't say a 283 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: minute later, oops, my bad. No, no, it took a while, 284 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: and in fact, the first time they tried to resend it, 285 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: they sent the wrong code, so it didn't resend the message. 286 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: It was only forty minutes after the initial message was 287 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: sent out that the cancelation, the correct cancelation went out. 288 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,359 Speaker 1: So what happened was actually very telling in a way 289 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: because some radio, radio and television stations, actually a lot 290 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: of them, didn't do anything at all, so they did 291 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: not broadcast this message, and that, in a way is 292 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: a problem because the whole purpose of the system is 293 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: to relay a national emergency to everybody. Now. Now, in 294 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: many of these cases, it may be that the people 295 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: in charge said, there's no information here, we have no 296 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: real I mean, it's a confirmed code, but there's no 297 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: confirmed information and we have nothing to share with people. 298 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: So Why would we go ahead and do this when 299 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: we don't have any information we could give them. Yeah, 300 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,639 Speaker 1: they were standing by to broadcast whatever the major announcement 301 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 1: was about the attack. Right. Some of them hadn't even 302 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: signaled the alert, right, They just the programming just kept 303 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: on going. But other stations did. Some of them didn't 304 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: know what to do, so some of them weren't doing 305 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,400 Speaker 1: it on purpose. Some of them weren't doing it because 306 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:35,119 Speaker 1: they didn't know what they were supposed to do. And 307 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: a few actually broke into programming and said, we've received 308 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: an alert from the Emergency Broadcast System. We know that 309 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,959 Speaker 1: there is a national emergency. We're a waiting for more information. 310 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: Please stand by. And what Chris was talking about earlier 311 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: was there are a couple of recordings on the internet 312 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: you can listen to that were taken from that day. 313 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: And one of them is from an radio station from 314 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: Fort Wayne, Indiana called w ow OH, and you can 315 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: listen to that and you can find it on the internet. 316 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: The actual it's snippets from that. It's it's been edited. 317 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: It's sorry, it's been edited down so that you get 318 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,679 Speaker 1: uh sections, the important sections of of the broadcast. It's 319 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,360 Speaker 1: about what six minutes or so long, keeping in mind 320 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: that that whole window was more like forty minutes. So 321 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: this is six minutes of footage footage from six minutes 322 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: of content from that forty minute window. Yeah. So basically 323 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,440 Speaker 1: what it said was, you know, hey, there there's something 324 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: coming up. It's it's um. It's one of those things 325 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: that would be funny. If it weren't, if you don't 326 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: put yourself back at that time, I would have been terrifying. 327 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,360 Speaker 1: It would have been terrifying because he's the person who 328 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: was on the air. Was a you could tell, was it, uh, 329 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: seasoned newsperson? Yeah, yeah, he Uh. He was very serious 330 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: and said, you know, there's there's been a message. We're 331 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: waiting word for what's going on. Uh. If you are 332 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,919 Speaker 1: listening and you are one of our reporters, come here immediately. 333 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,240 Speaker 1: We need you here right now. And and basically was talking, uh, 334 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 1: not only to the audience, but to the the other 335 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: reporters who might be listening. The message itself actually said, 336 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 1: UM message authenticator, hatefulness, hatefulness. This is an emergency action 337 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: notification directed by the President. Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. 338 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: All stations will broadcast e A N message one preceded 339 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: by the attention signal. Per FCC rules, only stations holding 340 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,320 Speaker 1: nd N D E A may stay on the air 341 00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: and according and accord with State E B S plan. 342 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:33,960 Speaker 1: And uh that would have scared the pants off of me. Um. 343 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: And it took a while, as Jonathan said, uh, you know, 344 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: kill e A N message. It was sent in error 345 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: and it took a while for it to uh to 346 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: show up. But the person he the person who I was, 347 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,399 Speaker 1: I was reading, I should have gotten the the U 348 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: R L if I can find it real quick for 349 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,639 Speaker 1: you guys, I will um. The the person who was, 350 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: who has actually posted photos of scans of his copies 351 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 1: of these messages, was saying, excuse the burn marks. I 352 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: was smoking pretty heavily through this incidents. It was kind 353 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: of stressed out. If you listen to the recording from 354 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: the w O w oh incident, you actually hear the 355 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: the newscaster kind of chuckling once the once the order 356 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: was sent out about this was a mistake, and you know, 357 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: kind of kind of because you know, clearly it was 358 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: one of those stressful things and the chuckling is him 359 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: releasing that stress, and it is an interesting moment in 360 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: history to kind of pick up on that. Um So, yeah, 361 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,679 Speaker 1: not that was the only time that a national alert 362 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: went out across the system. And again it wasn't a 363 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,360 Speaker 1: real one, it was a mistake. UM. And then what 364 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: was supposed to happen is that, depending upon the nature 365 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: of the emergency UH, stations are supposed to read from 366 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: a predetermined script like it's it's They're not supposed to 367 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: just you know, kind of provide commentary on it. There's 368 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: a specific message that needs to be relayed and um. 369 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,840 Speaker 1: So that was the general purpose of the Emergency Broadcast System, 370 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: but it was starting to show its age, UH, particularly 371 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: in the nineties, because you started to have other methods 372 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:17,159 Speaker 1: of getting content on your television besides broadcast TV, and 373 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: the Emergency Broadcast System really affected radio and broadcast television. 374 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: So there needed to be an overhaul of the system, 375 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: and that's what happened in the late nineties, and in 376 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: ninety eight you had the Emergency Alert System take its place. 377 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 1: And now you might say, well, what's the difference. Well, 378 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: for one thing, it doesn't just include broadcast stations. It 379 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 1: also includes cable and participating satellite systems. So now you've 380 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 1: got other methods of broadcast or or you know, other 381 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: methods of getting content over your television included in this. 382 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: So that way, if a citizen is watching cable television 383 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: or something on satellite TV, they could still have access 384 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: to an emergency message because clearly, you know, you don't 385 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: want to leave everybody out. As as people have more 386 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: and more ways of watching stuff, it's harder to reach 387 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: them in a centralized way. Yeah, these these systems were 388 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: developed to run on AM and FM radio and the 389 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: local broadcast stations. So now we've gone from in the 390 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: United States, UM, let's say, on average, probably three or 391 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 1: four regular network broadcast stations, maybe a couple independence in 392 00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 1: the larger you know, larger cities, something in the ultra 393 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: high frequency. Yeah, you know, maybe six or six to 394 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: ten stations in big big markets. Um. Then you go 395 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:40,840 Speaker 1: to dozens or even hundreds of stations now with cable 396 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: and satellite UM, you know, plus uh, you know the 397 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: radio stations which have exploded in number, um, satellite radio 398 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: and all the other media that we listen to. Now. 399 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: So yeah, the system, there's a lot of people, know, 400 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 1: the system needed to to evolve with that development, and 401 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,240 Speaker 1: of course even now we're still we're already seeing a 402 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: need for that too, find another way of reaching people, 403 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 1: because as people start to use the Internet to get content, 404 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: now there's yet another avenue for information to get to them. 405 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 1: But you know, this system was not designed with that 406 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: in mind, so there's already another need coming out. Chris 407 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: and I have a bit more to say about the 408 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: emergency broadcast system, but first let's take another quick break. 409 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 1: The way it works now, the National Weather Service actually 410 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:39,120 Speaker 1: has specific codes that they can attached to notices so 411 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:43,119 Speaker 1: that those digital codes will send the message just to 412 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: the relevant regions. So that way, if there if the 413 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: National Weather Service detects that there's going to be you know, 414 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: a massive hurricane hitting the panhandle of Florida, it can 415 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:59,879 Speaker 1: send an alert to say, Texas and Florida and you know, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, 416 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 1: all those areas that could potentially be affected by heavy rains, winds, 417 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, and the rest of the nation 418 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: is unaffected, or even the rest you know, the rest 419 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: of certain states, like the northern part of the state 420 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,959 Speaker 1: might not be affected because they're far enough away from 421 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,679 Speaker 1: the coast where at least it's not gonna be an 422 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: immediate effect, they might not get the message either. Uh. 423 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: And it's so that the right information gets to the 424 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: right people. And it makes sense, you know, you don't 425 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: want to send out a message to the entire nation 426 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: that for something it's just going to affect a relatively 427 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 1: small um area of the nation as a whole. United 428 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: States is big, so uh, yeah, it was. It's something 429 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,239 Speaker 1: that that has evolved over time. The and the other 430 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: thing I was going to talk about was what happened 431 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: on November nine. Yeah. Um, there is one sort of 432 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 1: interesting footnote UM to the the e B S ERA 433 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: passing from to the e A S era. UM. E 434 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: B S was not activated during the September eleven, two 435 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: thousand and one attacks. Um, which is kind of interesting 436 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: that they chose not to do, uh to use the 437 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: alert at that time, particularly since the attacks affected multiple 438 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: targets in multiple cities. So it is would have affected 439 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: even more had not the flight in Pennsylvania gone down. 440 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 1: So just just sort of an interesting footnote there. Um. 441 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: But Yes, on November nine, uh, the e A S 442 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: made its debut. Yeah, and the system had been in place, 443 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: but what happened was because the system was fail the 444 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 1: E A S was actually what would have been used 445 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: in September eleven, right, So, so on November what happened 446 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: was it was tested nationally and this was the first 447 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: time any of these systems had ever been tested on 448 00:25:54,920 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: a national level, meaning that every participating station was going 449 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: to display the test at the same time, and that 450 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,679 Speaker 1: time was going to be UM. It was two pm 451 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:12,359 Speaker 1: Eastern for on November, which means that if you didn't 452 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,200 Speaker 1: know about it ahead of time and you turned on 453 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,840 Speaker 1: your television, you would see this alert and you think, oh, 454 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: this is irritating this that one of those stupid tests. 455 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: Change the channel and that alert is still going and 456 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: it's going on this ocean. Oh, this is something. And 457 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,640 Speaker 1: so there were a lot of messages that were sent 458 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: out before two pm November to let people know, Hey, 459 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: this is gonna happen. Don't worry, the zombies aren't here yet, 460 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,160 Speaker 1: right or whatever other national emergency you might be able 461 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: to conjure up in your mind. I just cannot imagine 462 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,400 Speaker 1: a national emergency at this point that does not involve zombies, 463 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:48,840 Speaker 1: right right, Well, there are According to the Christian Science 464 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: Monitor UM, there were fourteen thousand and more broadcast stations, 465 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: both for TV and radio plus more than uh ten 466 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: thousand cable TV station So this is all being done 467 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,199 Speaker 1: at the same time. UM. And uh, it's able to 468 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: reach a lot more people. But they're already talking about 469 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,720 Speaker 1: how they can reach people via text message and in 470 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: other locations. UM. You know, they're they're already talking again 471 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: about how they can improve this this system to make 472 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:26,320 Speaker 1: it reach more people. UM, which is uh, you know, 473 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: kind of funny since it probably reaches more now than 474 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: it ever has before. UM. But I can imagine that 475 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: to improve it's going to do things like promoted tweets. Yeah, yeah, 476 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,239 Speaker 1: well there you laugh. But I can easily imagine that. 477 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: It's just you know, and I absolutely see it. Um 478 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: and it Uh. It's also important to to realize that 479 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: this does more than just announced state an attack like 480 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: connal rad would. Um. There are more than I believe 481 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: eighty different kinds of messages they can use. The e 482 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: A s were including things like childhood abduction alerts seen those, yes, 483 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,639 Speaker 1: And here here in Atlanta, we have a highway that 484 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: goes around the outside of the city known as the 485 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:13,439 Speaker 1: Perimeter Obvious Reasons Highway or Interstate eighty five, and there 486 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: are electronic signs that they can use a lot of 487 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: a lot of times you'll see stuff like, well, there's 488 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: a traffic up ahead, or be you know, be aware 489 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: there's an accident, um. But they also use this messaging 490 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: on those signs as well. So that's a way for 491 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 1: people to uh, for the authorities to reach us with 492 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: these kinds of messages. On the side, note, how can 493 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: a highway that encircles a city that's all within one 494 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: state be an interstate? Jonathan, I'm just asking these are 495 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: questions that have that that happened in my head, and 496 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 1: I want to know why do you drive on a 497 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: parkway and parking and driveway? I also want to know 498 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: that I don't name these things, I just report them. 499 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: If our legs bent backwards, what would a chair look like? 500 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: What if there were no hypothetical questions? Oh that's terrible, 501 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: all right, So now now that we've totally killed that. 502 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: But yeah, the the ass is supposed to be able 503 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: to turn on certain types of radios and TVs and 504 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: other devices to allow people to receive these emergency messages, 505 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: which of course will inspire many people to go you know, 506 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: the government is trying to take over our world, um, 507 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 1: which is all right for them to say, I suppose, 508 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: but um, yeah, I mean they're they're ways for for 509 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: them to reach us in to let us know if 510 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: there's something important that we should be aware of. Um. 511 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: So you know, it really has involved quite a bit 512 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: since the nine fifties when the first system was put 513 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: into place, and similar systems to this are in place 514 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: in other countries around the world. We specifically focus on 515 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: this one because it's the country we live in. So again, 516 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: apologies to all of our listeners overseas. Hopefully this was 517 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: interesting to you, just on on the level of how 518 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: do you take something as simple in in concept as 519 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,200 Speaker 1: getting a message out? How do you take that and 520 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: then apply it to a very complex world. And Uh, 521 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: it's an interesting approach. It's not necessarily the best one either. 522 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 1: There may be other approaches that would be um that 523 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,959 Speaker 1: would be more efficient and more effective than the emergency 524 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: alert system, but you know, that's what we have. So 525 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: if you guys live in a country that has a 526 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: similar system but it works on a different way, let 527 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: us know, tell us tell us about it, you know, 528 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,239 Speaker 1: if you're familiar with that kind of thing, because I 529 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: find it really interesting. I mean, it's a very important concept. 530 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: And it's, like I said, this is not the only 531 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:40,719 Speaker 1: way to get it to work. Yeah, and it's it's 532 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: a challenge to reach that many people UM in a 533 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: in a very short time to let them know that 534 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,719 Speaker 1: there's something big and important that they need to know 535 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: it's a matter of public safety or a public concern. 536 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: We've definitely come a long way from a guy on 537 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: horseback writing yelling out the British are coming, the British 538 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: are coming, or or fetivities. Yeah, could you run these 539 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: twenty six miles right come on between marathonors? Yeah. And 540 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: if you are interested in uh in hearing the bits 541 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: about the the e B S accident um search for 542 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: w O w O U e B S and you'll 543 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: probably come up with it pretty quickly. Um. The website 544 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,280 Speaker 1: I mentioned before it is actually STL Radio dot net, 545 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 1: slash pages slash e B S accident dot htm. Well 546 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: that wraps up this discussion about emergency broadcast system and 547 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: this classic episode from two thousand twelve. I hope you 548 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 1: guys enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions for future 549 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff, send me an email. 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