EAS Test Wednesday

There will be a test of national Emergency Alert System tomorrow. It is being conducted jointly by the FCC and FEMA at 2 pm, Eastern. As we told you last week, all TV and radio stations will participate in the test, which is scheduled to last one minute, including the usual announcement that “This is a test,” followed by electronic tones. The EAS has never before been tested nationwide. This will help the FCC and FEMA to identify any problems in the alert system. On TV, the onscreen announcement will read "This is an Emergency Action Notification," but not necessarily that it is a test. Whether it does will depend on the resources of individual stations.