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Emergency Broadcast: Difference between revisions
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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.
Needless to say, [[Truth in Television]].
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== [[Emergency Broadcast]] systems by country ==
'''[[Eagle Land|USA]]:''' The first US Emergency Broadcast system was [
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.
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In addition, Environment Canada runs Weatheradio Canada, which disseminates weather warnings, alerts, and tests on VHF radio.
'''United Kingdom:''' [
'''Japan:''' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_8ZkBXVvMw The Emergency Warning System] is used primarily as a very short-fuse warning on earthquakes (e.g. 10 seconds or so between warning and quake at best) and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBzHak-4mY to warn for imminent evacuation due to tsunamis]. The tone will almost immediately be followed up with a broadcast from the NHK in both Japanese and English audio or subtitles. The more bells/more urgent the tone, the more urgent or severe the threat is, and its use is reserved for imminent danger and national tragedies (for example, the tone that was used to indicate the start of WWII has yet to be used again).
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]], obviously. Examples of some accidental [[Apocalypse How]] alert activations when no disaster really existed can be found on the [[Mass "Oh Crap"]] page.
* Any time a car radio is on in a 60s or 70s TV drama, chances are good that an EBS test is being broadcast. That's because the text of the EBS test is a work of the federal government and therefore in the public domain, so producers didn't have to pay royalties or license fees if they used it. Eventually, though, Washington asked the networks to cut down on the practice so that prime-time TV viewers wouldn't become overly used to the noise and simply tune it out.
* There is an ad for a business in the US called Lumber Liquidators that uses a beep very, very similar to that of the EAS that airs on at least CNN.
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== Film ==
* Subverted in the 2005 ''[[War of the Worlds]]'', when the standard American EBS announcement that it's "only a test", and not "an actual emergency", plays on the radio of the hero's car as he's driving through the decimated countryside. Presumably, as it ''is'' an extreme actual emergency, whoever was supposed to replace this generic transmission with warnings and/or instructions for the public is already dead. Also see the [[Shout
* Used dramatically in the [[Made for TV Movie]] ''Without Warning'', which interrupts the opening of another, ostensibly unrelated TV movie to inform the viewer that a meteor is headed towards Earth.
* Used to let us know when passing into the [[Dark World]] in ''[[Silent Hill (Film)|Silent Hill]]''. With a very creepy soundtrack, too...
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Played for drama in [[Modern Warfare]] 2, where the intro sequence to the mission "Of Their Own Accord" is an emergency broadcast system alert containing evacuation instructions for residents of Washington, D.C and its commuter belt. It also warns citizens to "remain alert" because the Ultranationalist troops assaulting the East Coast are killing any civilians they encounter in revenge for the [[False
* Is played with in the ''Emergency'' series of PC games, as you are the one who has to clean up the mess.
* [[Silent Hill]] uses an air raid siren, which does a similar thing, but without anyone talking. [[Hell Is That Noise]] ensues.
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[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Emergency Broadcast]]
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