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Automatic
Radio Alarm "Turn-on" Capability
Sought for Emergency Alert System
by Don Farkas
September
19, 2003
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Automatic
Radio Alarm "Turn-on" Capability
Sought for Emergency Alert System
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Public Safety Committee of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood
Council (BABC) will give a report on its progress in seeking governmental
authorities to investigate the feasibility of creating an automatic
radio alarm "turn-on" capability for the Emergency Alert System,
at the next BABC general meeting to be held on Wednesday, September
24, 2003. Both public and governmental support for the idea is currently
being sought by the Committee. The BABC Board of Directors had previously
voted to endorse the Committee's efforts at an earlier public general
meeting of BABC held on May 28, 2003.
The BABC Public Safety Committee's most recent initiative in seeking
public and governmental support for studying the feasibility of
an "automatic turn-on" capability for the Emergency Alert System
was stepped up approximately six months ago, but began shortly after
the tragedy of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. However,
the original proposal to develop such an automatic warning capability
for radio receivers and televisions, was originally made several
years ago by now retired, KFWB news radio station Director of Engineering
Richard Rudman. When he first made the proposal, Rudman was serving
as a Vice-Chair of the Southern Region, FCC California State Emergency
Communications Committee.
The Emergency Alert System (EAS), as currently designed, can already
be used to broadcast warnings to the general public about known
and impending, natural or man-made emergencies. However, such broadcasts
can not be received when the radio or television receivers are turned
off and the intended recipient is not in a position to know they
should be turned on, such as may be likely during the significant
portion of the day when people are sleeping or working.
Many listeners and viewers of radio and television stations have
long been accustomed to hearing occasional tests of the EAS and
its heralding trademark, high pitched warning tone. These occasional
tests of the warning system, with the resulting short interruptions
of the normal radio and television station programming, are routinely
announced by broadcasters to be done "in voluntary cooperation with
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines." Under Rudman's
proposal, the warning capabilities of the EAS would be significantly
improved by giving the public the option of purchasing special radio
and television receivers that would have a built-in capability to
automatically turn-on with an alerting warning tone whenever an
EAS warning is activated. Such a receiver might possibly also be
designed to have an ability to automatically tune-in to the appropriate
EAS broadcast channels or frequencies, whenever such an EAS warning
is activated. This "automatic turn-on" capability would allow a
possible EAS warning to be received even if the radio, television,
or other electronic receiving device happened to be turned "off"
at the time.
Donald Farkas, Chair of the BABC Public Safety Committee, has recently
been communicating with federal Congressional, State legislative,
and local City representatives to request that Rudman's proposal
be studied by local, state and federal authorities. Many people,
he asserts, have come to the realization that there is an urgent
need for federal, state, and local authorities to create such an
automatic turn-on capability for EAS warning broadcasts due to increased
threats posed by terrorist groups or hostile foreign nations, as
suggested by current events. He points out that most of the old,
rusting "air raid" warning sirens that still dot the Los Angeles
landscape have not been used or tested in many years. Even if they
could again be made operable, the sirens may be somewhat obsolete
because they are expensive to maintain and can provide only a general,
non-specific warning to "take cover" and to turn on radio/TV receivers
to hear EAS broadcasts.
Except as used in some parts of the country to issue particular
types of alerts such as imminent tornado warnings or certain types
of nuclear power plant emergencies, "Air raid" sirens are generally
no longer very commonly used and are not well suited to provide
any specific information about the nature of an impending threat.
Although the old "air raid" sirens in Los Angeles were primarily
designed to provide warnings about impending bomber or missile attacks,
Farkas says those may no longer be the only, or even most likely,
types of threats our country and community is currently facing.
Giving an automatic alarm turn-on capability to the EAS, he says,
would greatly expand its usefulness and would provide flexibility
to those governmental agencies responsible for issuing public warnings.
Rudman believed that the commonly used analog radio frequency (RF)
transmission technology currently used in most radio broadcasts,
not to mention even more adaptable digital technology, might also
permit other ways to enhance the EAS in addition to providing a
general automatic turn-on/tune-in capability. For example, the current
EAS cannot be directed to broadcast warnings to only within certain
specifically selected, small geographic areas that are determined
to be at particular risk. However, specifically directed warnings
would be possible if the proposed special receivers also included
programmable circuitry designed to respond to EAS activation signals
coded for certain specific geographic areas.
Some of the anticipated benefits of having such a "specific geographic
area" EAS warning capability could include: (1) reducing the potential
number of curious "looky-loos" coming near or into a threatened
disaster area, (2) reducing the potential for mass flight or panic
due to circumstances which cause fear of imminent danger such as
biological attack, which might otherwise compound the very problem
the EAS warnings were intended to mitigate, (3) promote the ability
of authorities to conduct more orderly, sequential evacuations if
necessary in response to a disaster, and (4) reduce the "cry wolf"
effect which might otherwise tend to reduce the effectiveness of
future EAS warnings if they were to become too frequently broadcast
over large, otherwise unaffected areas.
In a paper called "EAS: Making Warnings Work", which he co-wrote
with meteorologist Tim McClung in 1997, Rudman suggested that the
specially designed radios having the proposed automatic turn-on/tune-in
capability could also be designed to have a switch allowing the
user to switch-off the automatic turn-on/tune-in capability if desired.
This would protect the sensibilities of those who might believe
such an automatic system would be too invasive of their privacy
or personal rights. Other types of radios and televisions, including
all of those which currently exist that do not have the automatic
turn-on circuitry would, of course, continue to be able to receive
EAS broadcasts just as they do now.
Farkas says he first heard Richard Rudman's proposal on November
2, 1999, when Rudman gave a presentation to the Crisis Response
Committee of the West Los Angeles Community-Police Advisory Board
(WLA C-PAB) that Farkas chaired at that time. Farkas says that Rudman,
then the Director of Engineering for local Los Angeles News Radio
Station KFWB, had sought WLA C-PAB support for his efforts to have
the feasibility of the proposal studied. The Crisis Response Committee
of WLA C-PAB, impressed by the idea, voted to support the proposal
at the time.
Independently, a federal advisory group later evaluated the proposal
for an automatic radio turn-on capability for the EAS, which may
have had its genesis with Rudman's proposal. A report issued in
November, 2000, by that federal advisory group called the "Working
Group on Natural Disaster Information Systems", a part of the National
Science and Technology Council created by former President Bill
Clinton, strongly endorsed the proposal. That group advised; "The
greatest potential for new consumer items in the near future is
development of a wide variety of smart receivers as well as the
inclusion of such circuits within standard receivers. A smart receiver
would be able to turn itself on or interrupt current programming
and issue a warning only when the potential hazard will occur near
the particular receiver."
The recommendation of the federal advisory panel to support the
concept of an automatic turn-on capability for the EAS, only one
of many contained in the report called "Effective Disaster Warnings",
was issued in the waning days of the Clinton administration. However,
there is no indication that this recommendation was ever seriously
followed up on after the new presidential administration of President
George W. Bush came into office on January 20, 2001, or even after
the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon occurred
on September 11, 2001.
The BABC Public Safety Committee has recently intensified its efforts
to try to re-kindle serious governmental interest in Rudman's proposal.
Farkas raised the issue during a public comment period at a meeting
of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on March 4, 2003.
In early April, 2003, Farkas also had the opportunity to discuss
the issue in Washington D.C. with certain federal lawmakers including
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, CA), U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
(D, CA), and U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff (D, 27th Congressional
District, CA). Congressman Henry Waxman (D, CA 30th District) sent
a letter to the BABC Public Safety Committee stating that he had
referred the proposal for review, to the Chairperson of the House
Select Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness and Response, which is a federal Congressional committee.
Attempts were made recently to get in contact with Rudman at KFWB
but Rudman reportedly retired in late 2002. The station would not
agree to forward any messages. Now, the BABC Public Safety Committee,
without having received any prompting or input from Rudman since
his original presentation in 1999, is seeking new governmental efforts
to develop Rudman's proposal. Because of the recently reported increased
risks and threats to public safety, the BABC believes the time is
right for Rudman's proposal to again be seriously considered by
governmental authorities responsible for maintaining the EAS. Public
support for the proposal was being sought. The BABC Public Safety
Committee is advocating the development of such an automatic radio
turn-on capability for the EAS on the grounds that it would be an
extremely useful public safety measure that could conceivably be
of life and death importance for a potentially large number of people.
The issue of seeking public and governmental support for Rudman's
proposal to develop an automatic turn-on capability for the EAS
will be discussed at the next general public meeting of the Bel
Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council, scheduled on Wednesday,
September 24, 2003, to be held at Wonderland School. The Bel Air-Beverly
Crest Neighborhood generally conducts public meetings at 7:00 PM
on the third Wednesday of the month at a local area public school
auditorium.
Anyone who has any questions, comments, or concerns about the proposal
is invited to attend, contact or call:
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Don Farkas
BABC Public Safety Committee Chairman
Email: donfarkas@belairmail.com
Phone - (310) 472-4822
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