On Wednesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on all radio, television, and cable media, as well as cell phones.

The goal of the test is to address the effectiveness of the infrastructure for distribution and assess the operational readiness of a national message. It allows also for any needed improvements to be made. The EAS is a national public warning system that provides the President communication capabilities to address the country during a national emergency. On a more local level, the EAS is used for Amber alerts and severe weather notifications. Raccoon Valley Radio participates in those situations and brings live coverage anytime there’s severe weather in our listening area.

There will be two different tests on Wednesday. The first is a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) for cellphones at 1:18pm, in which a text message will be sent to cellphones who’s providers are participants in the test. The EAS test will happen at 1:20pm and will last about one-minute.

The test was originally supposed to take place on September 20th, but was rescheduled due to Hurricane Florence on the east coast.