WASHINGTON—The FCC has cautioned broadcasters to check their EAS encoders/decoders to ensure the false alert that was coded for an Emergency Action Notification that went out in late October as part of “The Bobby Bones Show” is purged.
If not erased from the unit, the message may be waiting in the EAS encoder/decoder to deliver at a later date.
The FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau is concerned the incident revealed potential flaws in the EAS system, so the bureau has launched an inquiry to focus on improvements.
Among the issues the agency is looking at is how stations authenticate an alert message and what actions local public agencies take when faced with public confusion after an authorized alert is sent.
Comments on EAS are due to the FCC (Docket No. 14-200) Dec. 5.
