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Emergency Broadcast: Difference between revisions
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Needless to say, [[Truth in Television]].
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== [[Emergency Broadcast]] systems by country ==
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All TV and radio stations are required to test their EAS systems at least once a month, with weekly tests required for feeder stations. Of course these tests usually warn that there's no actual emergency going on first. This has resulted in the phrase "This is a test. This is only a test" and the old two-tone EBS attention beep [[Memetic Mutation|becoming a part of popular culture]]. The new EAS alerts may or may not include a two-tone attention beep but always include an encoded ASCII string, repeated three times, which sounds like an old-school modem and is called a "chirp" or "duck farts" in the business. The string contains specific information as to the type of alert (or test) and the location of the emergency. Some modern weather radios can be programmed to only activate the alarm for alerts that apply to where the radio's installed and only for hazards that would actually be of concern to the area. In some areas the EAS test is unannounced and contains only the three ASCII chirps.
The EAS is usually activated locally for tests and missing children/Amber Alerts. Tornado and severe thunderstorm/ [[Kill It With Water|flash flood]] warnings are also common reasons for activations, occasionally leading to a [[Emergency Broadcast/Awesome|Crowning Moment of Awesome]]. Less commonly, [[Kill It With Fire|fires]], [[Giant Wall of Watery Doom|tsunamis]], chemical spills or other local disasters can result in an activation. State and especially national activations are usually reserved for [[Atomic Hate|nuclear]] [[Nuke
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.
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