Starting in 1976, the old CONELRAD signaling method (the "EBS Stress Test") was scrapped in favor of the aforementioned two-tone attention signal. Stations were required to play the tone from the EBS encoder for 20 to 25 seconds. In mid-1995, a new rule was put in place that gave stations the option to transmit the attention signal for anywhere from eight to 25 seconds. Noncommercial educational FM radio stations operating at 10 watts or less and low-powered TV stations were exempt from transmitting the Attention Signal.[16][17]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
This quick off-and-on became known to broadcast engineers as the "EBS Stress Test", as older transmitters would sometimes fail after the quick cycling on and off.[15] This became unnecessary as broadcast technology advanced and the two-tone alarm was developed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
Some stations even had multiple slides that they used for their tests in rotation, one for the opening announcement, another for the attention signal transmission, and another for the closing announcement. One of the following announcements was transmitted:
- "This is a test. For the next sixty (or thirty) seconds, this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
- "(name of host station in a particular market) is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test." (mainly radio stations used this particular announcement)
- "This is a test. (Name of Host Station) is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
- "This is a test. This station is conducting a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
- "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test."
- "The following is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System."
- "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Important information will follow this tone."
Alternatively, the name "Emergency Broadcasting System" could be used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
By the early 1980s, it had become easier for stations to record and relay messages from a primary station, and the risk of hostile bombers using broadcast signals to navigate lessened due to the development of ICBMs, as well as more capable on-board navigation systems for manned aircraft. As a result, the requirement for non-primary stations to shut down during an activation of the system was dropped, and the message became:
- "If this had been an actual emergency, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by official information, news, or instructions."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
As the EBS was about to be replaced by its successor, the afore-mentioned Emergency Alert System in the mid-1990s, some stations used the following message:
- "This station is testing its Emergency Broadcast System equipment. The EBS will soon be replaced with the Emergency Alert System; the EAS will provide timely emergency warnings."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
These variations were heard in different parts of the country throughout the years depending on FCC regulations at the time, local preferences, and whether the specific station performing the test was a primary EBS station or not. The announcement text was mandated by the FCC. Stations had the option of either reading the test script live, or using recorded versions. WHEN radio in Syracuse, New York and WGR radio in Buffalo, New York both had a sung version of the most common script.[20] There was also a version done by Los Angeles-based Cheap Radio Thrills, as well as another by the comedy team of Bob and Ray. The FCC declared it illegal to sing the test message, or read it as a joke. However, it was acceptable to read it in another language (for example, French or Spanish), if a station broadcast in a language other than English, as was done on KWEX-TV in San Antonio, Texas.[21] Copies of the warning message script had a note saying that it was acceptable to broadcast in any other language, so long as it was broadcast in English as well.[22]
Additionally, for a time during the 1980s, WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut had a woman appearing onscreen to deliver the opening and closing test announcements by using sign language (for the deaf people across the Hartford television market), accompanied by a male announcer reading both announcements as they were displayed on screen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
Purpose of the test and cultural impact
The purpose of the test was to allow the FCC and broadcasters to verify that EBS tone transmitters and decoders were functioning properly. In addition to the weekly test, test activations of the entire system were conducted periodically for many years. These tests showed that about 80% of broadcast outlets nationwide would carry emergency programming within a period of five minutes when the system was activated.
The weekly broadcasts of the EBS attention signal and test script made it a significant part of the American cultural fabric of its time, and became the subject of a great number of jokes and skits, such as the sung versions of the test script in the late 1970s. In addition, many people have testified to being frightened by the test patterns and attention signal as children, and even more so by actual emergencies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
Criticism
Although intended for the president to communicate with the American people in the event of a national emergency, many critics questioned whether the EBS would work in an actual emergency scenario. Curt Beckmann of WCCO-AM expressed his doubts about the system's effectiveness in a 1984 interview:
I'll tell you why it probably wouldn't work, because if the President has a national emergency, he will call in the national radio and television networks, and presto, he will communicate with us. If those networks are somehow incapacitated, and he has to go to the EBS as a backup, it's inconceivable that the rest of us will be up and running if the networks aren't up and running.[23]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Cold_War_history_of_the_United_States
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