Emergency Broadcast: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{Useful Notes}}
[[File:tor warn 2789.jpg|frame|[[Oh Crap]]! [[Death From Above]]!]]
[[File:tor warn 2789.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Oh Crap]]! [[Death From Above]]!]]


The Emergency Broadcast is a means of public warning and public annoyance alike. Hearing an '''Emergency Broadcast''' warning of actual danger may lead to [[Oh Crap]], [[Mass "Oh Crap"]], the need for [[Bring My Brown Pants|one's brown pants to be brought]] - in that way it may be the ultimate [[Brown Note]]. On the other hand, a test or a warning of something that doesn't affect you (e.g. a missing child warning, a flood when you're on high ground, a tsunami when you're 100 miles inland) may be a [[Berserk Button]] and lead to frustration with [[Crying Wolf]]. Another frequent frustration is when an actual alert has such horrible sound quality you can't understand what's being said. In many countries, [[Atomic Hate]] was the primary reason for the system's creation, and it eventually (and thankfully) ended up never being used for that purpose and being used for many others.
The Emergency Broadcast is a means of public warning and public annoyance alike. Hearing an '''Emergency Broadcast''' warning of actual danger may lead to [[Oh Crap]], [[Mass "Oh Crap"]], the need for [[Bring My Brown Pants|one's brown pants to be brought]] - in that way it may be the ultimate [[Brown Note]]. On the other hand, a test or a warning of something that doesn't affect you (e.g. a missing child warning, a flood when you're on high ground, a tsunami when you're 100 miles inland) may be a [[Berserk Button]] and lead to frustration with [[Crying Wolf]]. Another frequent frustration is when an actual alert has such horrible sound quality you can't understand what's being said. In many countries, [[Atomic Hate]] was the primary reason for the system's creation, and it eventually (and thankfully) ended up never being used for that purpose and being used for many others.
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A national EAS test was performed on November 11, 2011. It showed that nationally, the system needed a little work: Some cable providers switched to their EAS feed station (usually QVC or another [[Home Shopping]] channel) without showing the test, others didn't state that a test was happening, and Direct TV viewers were hearing [[Lady Gaga]] instead of the test message.
A national EAS test was performed on November 11, 2011. It showed that nationally, the system needed a little work: Some cable providers switched to their EAS feed station (usually QVC or another [[Home Shopping]] channel) without showing the test, others didn't state that a test was happening, and Direct TV viewers were hearing [[Lady Gaga]] instead of the test message.


{{examples|Emergency Broadcasts can be found in the following works:}}
{{examples}}

== Comic Books ==
== Comic Books ==
* An early issue of ''Epic Illustrated'' has a one-page strip in which a couch potato is lazing in front of his TV set with a beer. A voice from the TV announces a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The guy swigs a beer as the warning tone sounds, then starts to look uncomfortable and sweat, before finally writhing in agony and melting into a skeleton. In the final panel we see that the world outside has been incinerated. Meanwhile the voice on TV blithely announces "this was only a test."
* An early issue of ''Epic Illustrated'' has a one-page strip in which a couch potato is lazing in front of his TV set with a beer. A voice from the TV announces a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. The guy swigs a beer as the warning tone sounds, then starts to look uncomfortable and sweat, before finally writhing in agony and melting into a skeleton. In the final panel we see that the world outside has been incinerated. Meanwhile the voice on TV blithely announces "this was only a test."