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'[[Image:EAStest.jpg|thumb|Screen seen on cable TV systems announcing a national test of the Emergency Alert System using the Emergency Action Notification protocol, November 9, 2011]][[File:U.S. presidential mobile phone alert (animated).gif|thumb|An emergency action notification test on an Android smartphone; October 2018.]] An '''Emergency Action Notification''' ([[Specific Area Message Encoding|SAME]] code: EAN) is the national activation of the [[Emergency Alert System]] (EAS) and is used to alert the residents of the [[United States]] of a national emergency such as a nuclear war or any other mass casualty situation. Emergency Action Notifications can only be activated by the [[President of the United States|President]] or the President's representative (i.e. the [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=FCC Rules Part 11 Subpart D § 11.53 |url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.11.4.239.3&idno=47 |work=Electronic Code of Federal Regulations |accessdate=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009064407/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47%3A1.0.1.1.11.4.239.3&idno=47 |archivedate=9 October 2012 }}</ref> The [[Emergency Broadcast System]] (EBS) also carried the Emergency Action Notification. No situation since the alert's creation has been serious enough to cause a [[US President]] to broadcast it. ==Operation== EAN messages are treated similarly to other EAS messages. When a message is received, the receiver is to open an audio channel to the originating source until the '''[[End of Message]] (EOM)''' tones are received. After the EOM is received, the station is then allowed to resume normal programming.{{efn|Unlike other messages EANs do not time out after two minutes}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Review of the Emergency Alert System A Rule by the Federal Communications Commission on 03/22/2012|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/03/22/2012-6601/review-of-the-emergency-alert-system#h-14|work=Federal Register|accessdate=1 September 2013|author=FCC}}</ref> ==The order of broadcast== On participating stations, the following message would be read: {{Quote |text=“ This is an Emergency Action Notification requested by the White House. All EAS participants will follow activation procedures in the EAS Operating Handbook for a national level emergency. The President of the United States or his representative will shortly deliver a message over the Emergency Alert System. Please stand by. We interrupt our programming; this is a national/global emergency.” }} After the header codes and attention signal are sent, the participating station reads an introductory script. Emergency messages are then read in this order: # This is an Emergency Action Notification. All broadcast stations and cable systems shall transmit this Emergency Action Notification message. This station has interrupted its regular programming at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System. During this emergency, most stations will remain on the air to provide news and information to the public in assigned areas. This is (STATION NAME). We will continue to serve the (CITY NAME) area. If you are not in this local area, you should tune to stations providing news and information for your local area. You are listening to the Emergency Alert System serving the (CITY NAME) area. Do not use your telephone. The telephone lines should be kept open for emergency use. The Emergency Alert System has been activated." # The following message is transmitted at the request of the United States government, this is not a test. Please pay attention to this alert, as this is pertaining to an ongoing global emergency. # The ongoing event is then spoken about. # National Information Center messages A standby script is used in the case of there being no new information available. The end-of-message codes are transmitted after presidential messages are read. The operator logs the time and date the Emergency Action Notification was received, and monitors their EAS source, awaiting an Emergency Action Termination message. If the world is coming to an end, the station reads a bible phrase and says: “This station will sign off for the final time, with the playing of our national anthem. Please stand by, as we conclude the final activation, of the Emergency Alert System.” <ref name="eas">{{cite web|title=Emergency Alert System - 2007 TV (including Digital TV) Hndbook|url=https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278628A5.pdf|accessdate=30 December 2017}}</ref> ==Background== [[Image:WGN EBS EAN.JPG|thumb|200px|Video slide from a prerecorded announcement of the beginning of an EAN from [[WGN-TV]], [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], in 1985, during the period of the Emergency Broadcast System. This EAN announcement was never seen on the airwaves of WGN-TV itself, but was posted to [[YouTube]] in March 2017.<ref>{{Citation|last=The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV)|title=WGN Channel 9 - Emergency Broadcast System - "This is NOT a Test" (1985)|date=2017-03-03|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TTEWRKnRC0|accessdate=2017-04-26}}</ref>]] The term "Emergency Action Notification" was created when the Emergency Broadcast System went into place in 1963. Before the mid-1970s, this was the only non-test activation permitted (the same rule also applied to the earlier [[CONELRAD]] system). The EAN signifies of a national emergency, as the wording shows. The [[Office of Civil Defense]] originally created the term for the national emergency notification enactment. FEMA soon took over after its creation. ==Past operation== Unlike other messages, the EAN was not the alert itself, but rather a notice that the activation is beginning.<ref>{{cite web |title=FCC Rules Part 11 Subpart D § 11.13 |url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.11.1.239.5&idno=47 |work=Electronic Code of Federal Regulations |accessdate=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009064413/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47%3A1.0.1.1.11.1.239.5&idno=47 |archivedate=9 October 2012 }}</ref> After the [[End of Message]] (EOM) tones were sent, normal programming did not resume. Instead, most stations were to broadcast emergency information in a specific priority order. Messages from the President are always broadcast first. Next comes local messages, statewide and regional messages, and finally national messages not originating from the President.{{efn|Some documents refer to these as "messages from the National Information Center (or NIC)". While there is a SAME code for this type of message (NIC), there exists no FCC definition of the National Information Center.}}<ref>{{cite web |title=FCC Rules Part 11 Subpart D § 11.44 |url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.11.3.239.4&idno=47 |work=Electronic Code of Federal Regulations |accessdate=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009064424/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47%3A1.0.1.1.11.3.239.4&idno=47 |archivedate=9 October 2012 }}</ref> When an EAN was initially received, and during any time a new message was not available, an FCC mandated standby script was used (and repeated).<ref name="fcc1154">{{cite web |title=FCC Rules Part 11 Subpart D § 11.54 |url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.11.4.239.4&idno=47 |work=Electronic Code of Federal Regulations |accessdate=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009064429/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47%3A1.0.1.1.11.4.239.4&idno=47 |archivedate=9 October 2012 }}</ref> Other stations, which held special permission from the FCC, would sign off until the end of the EAN.<ref>{{cite web |title=FCC Rules Part 11 Subpart D § 11.41 |url=http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.11.3.239.1&idno=47 |work=Electronic Code of Federal Regulations |accessdate=1 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009064445/http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=043b8e5d0d80fd6dca6acf1f271b1cfc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47%3A1.0.1.1.11.3.239.1&idno=47 |archivedate=9 October 2012 }}</ref> Normal programming would not resume until the transmission of an [[Emergency Action Termination]] message (SAME code: EAT).<ref name="fcc1154"/> ==False alarms== A properly authenticated Emergency Action Notification was incorrectly sent to United States broadcast stations at 9:33&nbsp;a.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Standard Time]] on February 20, 1971.<ref name=conel>{{cite web|title=Code Word "Hatefulness": The Great EBS Scare of 1971|url=http://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/code-word-hatefulness-great-ebs-scare.html|publisher=CONELRAD Adjacent|accessdate=7 October 2013}}</ref> At the usual time, a weekly EAN test was performed. NORAD teletype operator W.S. Eberhardt had three tapes in front of him: a test tape, and 2 tapes indicating a real emergency, instructing the use of EAN Message #1, and #2, respectively. He inadvertently used the wrong tape, with codeword "HATEFULNESS". This message ordered stations to cease regular programming immediately, and begin an Emergency Action Notification using Message #1.<ref>(Timestamp to WCCO white card script instruction) {{Citation|last=2001scoop, W6LDS|title=1971 False Emergency Broadcast System EAN (Heard On WOWO-AM And WCCO-AM)|date=2012-09-16|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B1EAeh6H_I&t=384|accessdate=2018-05-22}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ebstest.stlmedia.net/pix/ebsaccident1.jpg|title=EAN Teletype message (February 20, 1971 09:33 EST)|date=2014-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016190942/http://ebstest.stlmedia.net/pix/ebsaccident1.jpg|archive-date=2014-10-16|url-status=dead|access-date=2018-05-22}}</ref> Message 1 states that regular programming has been interrupted at the request of the United States government, but is not specific about the cause.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ae5d.com/ebs.html|title=The EBS Authenticator Word List|website=www.ae5d.com|access-date=2018-05-22}}</ref> A cancellation message was sent at 9:59&nbsp;a.m. EST, but the message's codeword, "HATEFULNESS" again, was incorrect.<ref name="ebstest">{{cite web|url=http://ebstest.stlmedia.net/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121195955/http://ebstest.stlmedia.net/|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 January 2013|title=The Great Accidental Test Broadcast of 1971|accessdate=7 October 2013}}</ref> A cancellation message with the correct codeword, "IMPISH", was not sent until 10:13&nbsp;a.m. EST<ref name="ebstest" /> After 40 minutes and six incorrect or improperly formatted cancellation messages, the accidental activation was officially terminated. On June 26, 2007, an EAN was accidentally activated for the state of Illinois, when new satellite delivery equipment for the EAS was accidentally left connected to a live network during what was meant to be a closed-circuit test.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Emergency.Alert.System.2.337932.html |title=Emergency Alert System Activated By Mistake |website=cbs2chicago.com |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806205146/http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Emergency.Alert.System.2.337932.html |archivedate=August 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Inadvertent Activation of the Illinois Emergency Alert System |url=http://www.fema.gov/media/fact_sheets/eas.shtm |publisher=FEMA |date=June 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717212239/http://www.fema.gov/media/fact_sheets/eas.shtm |archivedate=July 17, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref> On October 24, 2014, [[Bobby Bones]]' [[The Bobby Bones Show|syndicated radio program]] broadcast audio from the 2011 national test of the EAS (the only one that was coded as an EAN), during a segment where he ranted over his local [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate's scheduling of an EAS test during a [[World Series]] game. The broadcast triggered the EAS on some broadcasters and cable systems; the program's distributor [[iHeartMedia]] was fined $1 million by the FCC for the incident.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/05/multi-state-cascade-of-false-emergency-alerts-nets-1-million-fine/|title=“Multi-state cascade” of false emergency alerts nets $1 million fine|last=Brodkin|first=Jon|date=2015-05-19|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref> In 2016 or 2017, [[KUCO-LD]] in the Sacramento Valley area of California conducted an unauthorized test of the EAS. However, the message read in Spanish said that the activation was for an Emergency Action Notification relaying from station K20FZ. It was due to a wrong video cartridge being inserted instead of an EAS test cartridge.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F8vwVx6QkhU Emergency Action Notification Mistake? (AKA: Spanish EAS?)] - ''YouTube'' (uploaded May 24th, 2017)</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Notes== {{Notelist}} [[Category:Emergency Alert System]]'