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In my whole life I've never heard the Emergency Alert System used for an actual emergency

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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:44 PM
Original message
In my whole life I've never heard the Emergency Alert System used for an actual emergency
And that includes 9/11/2001.

Yet for some reason they now feel the need to test it about three dozen times each day and night.

:wtf:

It's several times louder than whatever program is airing, and it punches right through any "On Demand" programming I might be viewing, too.

They don't even use it for tornado or storm warnings; those get a separate--and much more sedate--announcement urging caution and vigilance.

I could see the need to test it that often in areas more frequently wracked by natural disasters, but even there I can't see testing it as often as they do.

Again, :wtf:
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Lars39 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:47 PM
Response to Original message
1. I've heard it for tornadoes in the past year or so.
And that was actually the first time I've ever heard/seen it used for a real emergency.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:52 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Are you in a tornado area?
Like I said, I can see the use of it there, but that still doesn't justify the twice-per-hour testing!
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Lars39 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. I'm in TN.
We get quite a few here. :hi:
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:50 PM
Response to Original message
2. I have. It was an odd experience.
It got my attention much moreso than the tornado siren ...
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:53 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. What was the emergency?
Around here, the emergency is usually "the program you're watching is about to reveal something interesting, so we've decided to interrupt it."
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 03:58 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. tornadoes
but I've had it for that emergency you speak of too. :grr:
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Kutjara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 04:00 PM
Response to Original message
7. Here in SoCal, they seem to have been testing it at least once per day...
...for the past few months. The funny thing is, when the wildfires were nearly on my doorstep, there wasn't a peep out of the system. I guess it's only meant to be used in case of alien attack or something.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. I'm betting on zombie plague or Moon explosion
Nothing as boring as county-wide conflagration will trigger the system, apparently.
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XemaSab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 04:13 PM
Response to Original message
9. I have heard it used once
for a strong thunderstorm near here. :shrug:
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Ineeda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 04:22 PM
Response to Original message
10. other than the annoying tests
they use it here for Amber alerts.
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Bunny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. I've heard it a couple of times for Amber Alerts.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 08:38 PM
Response to Reply #11
16. Now that you mention it, I think I've heard it once or twice for that reason
But not as many times as there have been Amber Alerts in my county during the time I've been observing all of this.


Curious!
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 06:47 PM
Response to Original message
12. They use them here all the time for flooding.
Edited on Sat Oct-10-09 06:48 PM by LeftyMom
And occasionally for a warning about an especially serious storm up in the mountains- we're the same TV market so we hear those down here in the valley as well.
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sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 07:04 PM
Response to Original message
13. Rarely have I heard it
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cbayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 07:23 PM
Response to Original message
14. They didn't use if before, during or after Katrina.
If there ever was a time ......

Well, what can I say?

:shrug:
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 08:37 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Exactly! Exactly!
And, as I mentioned, it didn't so much as issue a blip on the morning of 9/11/2001. Hell, I was living in Pittsburgh at the time, with Flight 93 still in the air while I was watching tv, and the Emergency Alert System was nowhere to be found.
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cbayer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-10-09 08:44 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. We had days of no communication, and we kept asking each other, where's the
g-d emergency broadcast system???

It doesn't work in an actual emergency? So we get to rely on rumor and 10th hand information. Oh, that works just great!

I have never heard any explanation as to why this happened.

Baffling.

:hi:
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