Qlandav2ex_small
Reputation: 4209
Follow 5
Follow 1

Why are Emergency Alert System messages so difficult to understand?

In this day and age of digital media and clear recording and transmission, why are the EAS messages so garbled?

During the last AMBER alert message I was barely able to understand the audio information that was broadcast over my television. It sounded like someone had called it in via CB radio, recorded it on an old cassette deck, then played that tape over a poor telephone connection to a hand held microphone connected to the system that was patched to the television broadcast station. If you weren't fast on the volume control and didn't lean into the speaker there was absolutely no way to understand the details of the message.

I would also expect it would be reasonable and not too difficult to have text captioning of the message scrolling on the screen or appearing like the closed captioning that many folks use. It seems like we are broadcasting new century concerns using 1960s radio technology.

Russ Campbell, NWEBS asked in Other Government 4 months ago | Report

Answer this question or share it with a smart friend:

Avatar_default
Type your answer here…

Asker's Favorite

  • Spaceship_small
    Reputation: 1812
    Follow 3

    Right you are, Russ...it IS 1960s radio technology.

    And many of the dispatchers who are transmitting this information,
    1) Don't know how to use it
    2) Don't have systems that have been "zeroed out" to match levels with the automated system
    3) Aren't listening to the product
    4) Aren't concerned about the message...they just have to log that they "Sent it".

    Sad, I know... but that's what you get with non-technical people programming a system that's already in place...to service the new age.

    PS: The EAS system was never intended to handle police dispatch voice nor "Amber Alerts". That's an add-on that politicians thought would be a good crowd pleaser.

    O my captain answered in Other Government 4 months ago | Report
    2 comments by Russ Campbell, NWEBS and O my captain…
    Share this answer with a friend: