Emergency Management Officials, Broadcasters to Convene for AWARN Roundtable

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The AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable takes place December 7-8 at the NAB headquarters

AWARN Alliance
(Image credit: AWARN Alliance)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—AWARN has announced that local TV broadcasters and emergency managers  from the Washington, D.C. metro region will be convening December 7-8 for the AWARN  Washington, D.C. Roundtable. 

The goal of the event, which is the third in a series, is to lay the groundwork for the voluntary use of  NextGen TV Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) and “reboot” the historic  partnership between broadcasting and public safety, AWARN said. 

“We’re gratified with the range of broadcasting and emergency management  organizations that have come together for these discussions. Our focus is regional, but the implications are national. The power of these meetings comes from bringing together TV broadcasters, who’s signals have tremendous reach, with local alerting  authorities, who ‘push the button’ for delivering local alerts,” according to AWARN  Executive Director John Lawson. “The educational sessions and off-the-record discussions create an opportunity to  explore ways to work together. The pay-off is the capacity to deliver geo-targeted, rich  media emergency information across multiple platforms.”

The AWARN Washington, DC Roundtable will cover an afternoon and part of a second  day. It will be hosted at the new offices of the National Association of Broadcasters. 

The  following organizations are co-hosts for the Roundtable: 

  • The AWARN Alliance 
  • ONE Media 3.0 
  • National Association of Broadcasters 
  • Maryland, DC, and Delaware Broadcasters Association 
  • Fairfax County Department of Emergency Management and Security
  • Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (coordinating alerting for 18  jurisdictions in the National Capital Region) 
  • Radio Television Digital News Association 
  • WHUT-TV at Howard University 
  • Virginia Association of Broadcasters 

 In addition, a number of groups and companies are sponsoring the event. These include: 

  • Advanced Television Systems Committee 
  • LG Electronics/Zenith R&D Lab 
  • National Association of Broadcasters 
  • Sinclair Broadcast Group 
  • The Weather Company, An IBM Business

To register, or for more information, contact John Lawson, executive director, AWARN Alliance at Jlawson@AWARN.org or (202) 302-1654.

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George Winslow
George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.