Emergency Broadcast System
The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an emergency warning system used in the United States. It was the most commonly used, along with the Emergency Override system. It replaced the previous CONELRAD system and was used from 1963 to 1997, at which point it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.
Not to be confused with Emergency Warning Broadcast system, Emergency Warning System, or Emergency Alert System.Type
Nationwide
1963 (as Emergency Action Notification System)
1976 (as Emergency Broadcast System)
1997
Purpose[edit]
The system was established to provide the President of The United States with an expeditious method of communicating with the American public in the event of war, threat of war, or grave national crisis.[1] It was modeled after Civ-Alert, an emergency warning system in Hawaii.[2] The Emergency Broadcast System replaced CONELRAD on August 5, 1963.[3] In later years, it was expanded for use during peacetime emergencies at the state and local levels.[1]
Although the system was never used for a national emergency, it was activated more than 20,000 times [4] between 1976 and 1996 to broadcast civil emergency messages and warnings of severe weather hazards.
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National level EBS[edit]
An order to activate the EBS at the national level would have originated with the president and been relayed via the White House Communications Agency duty officer to one of two origination points – either the Aerospace Defense Command (ADC) or the Federal Preparedness Agency (FPA) – as the system stood in 1978. Participating telecommunications common carriers, radio and television networks, the Associated Press, and United Press International would receive and authenticate (by means of code words) an Emergency Action Notification (EAN) via a teletypewriter network designed specifically for this purpose. These recipients would relay the EAN to their subscribers and affiliates.[1]
The release of the EAN by the Aerospace Defense Command or the Federal Preparedness Agency would initiate a process by which the common carriers would link otherwise independent networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC into a single national network from which even independent stations could receive programming. "Broadcast stations would have used the 2-tone Attention Signal on their assigned broadcast frequency to alert other broadcast stations to stand by for a message from the president."[1] The transmission of programming on a broadcast station's assigned frequency, and the fact that television networks/stations and FM radio stations could participate, distinguished EBS from CONELRAD. EBS radio stations would not necessarily transmit on 640 or 1240 on the AM dial, and FM radio and television would carry the same audio program as AM radio stations did.
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Though it was never used, the FCC's EBS plan involved detailed procedures for stations to follow during an EAN. It included precise scripts that announcers were to read at the outset of the emergency, as well as whenever detailed information was scarce. Among other things, citizens were instructed not to use the telephone, but rather continue listening to broadcast stations for information.
The initial scripted announcement was: "We interrupt this program. This is a national emergency. The President of the United States or his designated representative will appear shortly over the Emergency Broadcast System."
As official information began to emerge from various sources, non-primary stations were to broadcast it according to the following priority list:
A presidential message was always required to be aired live during an EAN. For other information, stations were to follow the priority list to decide what should be disseminated first. Lower priority official programming - such as an address by a State Governor - was to be recorded for the earliest available rebroadcast unless it were to be an 'unusually long' message, in which case it would be carried live.[14]
Participation in EAN emergency broadcasting was done with the "voluntary cooperation" of each station (as noted in the classic test announcement). Stations that were not prepared to be part of the national EBS network were classified as "non-participating" by the FCC. During an EAN, a non-participating station was required to advise listeners/viewers to tune elsewhere to find emergency bulletins. The station's transmitter would then be turned off. Non-participating stations had to remain off the air until the EAN was terminated. Under no circumstances could any broadcast station continue with normal programming during a national emergency.
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