FEMA’s First National Emergency Activation Test Full Of Glitches

Glitches Reported During FEMA’s First-Ever National Emergency Alert System Test

November 9, 2011 5:08 PM

(credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The first-ever nationwide test of the country’s Emergency Alert System was conducted Wednesday.

But did you hear or see it?

The 30-second test of the emergency alert system was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, but it appears there were problems with the audio message. Some viewers reported seeing the alert, however, several radio listeners reported hearing nothing but dead air for 30 seconds. Others reported hearing a garbled message.

The test is similar to local emergency alert system tests. Today’s test was the first time the system had been activated nationally.

If there is ever a catastrophic event such as terrorist attack or major national disaster, the president could use the system to make an official announcement.

Roughly two hours after the test occurred, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman released this statement to BusinessInsider.com:

“The weaknesses exposed by today’s test of the emergency alert system are unacceptable. Government and media carriers must work together to make sure the system does what it is intended to do, which is to transmit a nationwide message from the President in a crisis. I commend FEMA for carrying out this long-overdue, first-ever, nationwide test of the system. Without it, we would never have known the extent of the system’s vulnerabilities.”

Did you see or hear the test? Let us know below

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Glitches Reported During FEMAs First Ever National Emergency Alert System Test

RichY

Repeated garbled message. Sounded like the “F” word 20 times followed by “You” 20 times. Weird and perverted. What the hell is going on.
nickatdabeach

New World Order is running into more problems than they anticipated.
broccoliobana

It wasn’t hooked-up to the teleprompter…………….what an elementary faupau.
in-the-Lou

I AM READY TO DO YOUR BIDDING, MY DEMOCRAT MASTERS! MOTHER GOVERNMENT WILL TELL ME WHAT TO DO. NO THOUGHT NEEDED, YES MOTHER GOVERNMENT. I WILL OBEY… I WILL OBEY… I WILL OBEY… I WILL OBEY….

krusaderrabbit

Yes…….you will

The Joker

Nothing, NADA on radio or TV in Southeast Michigan..another epic governmental bureaucracy fail or something more sinister?
jonathan

Here I am casually listening to a radio stream when the test emergency alert is issued and takes down my internet connection.

Huh.

I can’t wait to hear how that one is spun up.
Scott

I have one of those watches that sets from the Bureau of Standards daily. I heard the signal on my radio, but it was 41 seconds late. Close enough for government work!
bruce

Comcast in Houston switched to a Mexican Soap Opera! The cable box did display EAS on the LED, though….
mike

A banner came across the screen first saying that you have just seen a test of the emergency alert system. The the test pattern came on with the familiar beeps and then it cut to music, amazingly the first word in the song (middle of a country song) was Conspiracy?! then beeps again and finally more country music….
Dennis Justice

I was watching espn. They had a promo. No EAS.
Joe

Atlanta here, got nothing on FM radio. Never blinked, music just kept playing.

EPIC FAIL!
Steve Tougas

I heard today’s FEMA test. From my audio engineering background, I would say that the audio track was clipping very badly, and that’s why it sounded garbled.
BrandonS

My radio was on WCBS-FM…there was the alert noise, about 2 seconds of a voice, then 30 seconds of dead air, and finally the opening and closing alert noises back-to-back. One television that is connected to a cable box switched from WCBS-TV to NY1 and there was no alert message of any kind. Another TV with basic cable did absolutely nothing. I’d say it was a failure all the way around!
Bob Rasch

Nothing on Comcasr TV in Ponte Vedra, FL
Lawyer

It was a mess. Completely garbled with 2 or 3 things playing on top of each other. Another confidence builder from the O’Bummer administration.
Wayne

This is your federal government. This is not a test. Drink your Kool-Aid. Drink all of it. Now.
JOe Dutra

Where is ANONYMOUS when you need them?
rlgarza

watched the test on television in break room tuned to a local news channel. saw the message but did not hear a sound
Bob

I didn’t hear a thing. My radio and tv were in the o f f mode.
cr1776

The news station here just had dead air. The TV said it was going to switch, but it never did. Fail.
scott

I “heard it”. Couldn’t understand a thing that was being said.

jt williams

I was listening to talk radio and the program keep going. Heard the stocks but no alert!
DP

Hey, what do you expect? FEMA & the Government running the test. Anyone ever see FEMA get it right even after multiple tries??
Dave George

I didn’t hear it or see it!
Chuck

Heard the alert, but could not understand anything except a few words near the end. Can I come out of the basement yet?
abcd

I ran a DVD so I wouldn’t have to put up with Big Brother Crap.
adub49

Nothing but dead air on my car radio.
Stephen Harding

Listening to 780 WBBM Chicago. Just 3 seconds of garbled audio, then silence.
Dixie Norus

It doesn’t matter in the context that was meant… this was just a prelude to imposing martial law next year; “They” will just have an excuse to shoot on sight now, and say that it’s Constitutional because of a “technical breakdown”.
T.D.

Heard the tone on the radio but, didn’t get any audio message.

meatmeinSt. Louis

I didn’t hear or see squat.
danny

I guess Sirius/XM was excluded. I’m listening to the stream on my computer and I heard nothing. Great, there will be an emergency and I will never know about it.

John Thomas

You never needed “Homeland Security” to interrupt ever single broadcast in the U.S. to tell you there was an emergency before, why do you need it now?

joe

he can use it to make an announcement from underground.but the rest of us or poop out of luck.
michaelfury

“In the event of a terrorist attack or other major disaster, a president could use it to make an official announcement.”

Or not.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/test-pattern/

Richard

Had Fox News, (The NATIONAL ONE), on, actually to tape it for fun. Megan Kelly announced it kind of tongue in cheek…NO MESSAGE AFTERWARDS AT ALL…then MS. Kelly comes back and says something to the effect of “that was fun” WHAT WAS FUN….never saw any message….

healthywannabe

same exact thing here in Central New York State while on Satellite TV….I normally do NOT have the TV on during the day, but figured I’d watch and see how ‘it’ would come across…also put the local radio station on and they warned of what would be happening, but nothing just ‘regular’ programming….at first, I just laughed thinking, ‘well, their late; what’s new’…then thought, hell they can’t even do this right….wait till they take hold of your healthcare totally folks…

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Glitches Reported During FEMA’s First-Ever National Emergency Alert System Test

November 9, 2011 5:08 PM

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