History Main / EmergencyBroadcast

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Recorded Comedy]]

On occasion, computer glitches or human error resulted in incidents where emergency alerts were issued accidentally. One {{egregious}} example occurred with the older Emergency Broadcast System in 1971, when a clerk intending to send out a routine test alert to all radio stations in the network accidentally loaded a Telex program tape that included the codeword "hatefulness," which was the code signal to the stations that a nuclear attack or other catastrophic emergency had been confirmed and that they were to immediately issue an on-air alert and suspend operations or remain on the air, but broadcasting only important news or survival information pertaining to the emergency. Even worse, a retraction message sent shortly after ALSO used "hatefulness" as the codeword, leading to more confusion. It wasn't until sometime after when a message using the correct codeword, "Impish," was issued that the matter was cleared up. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B1EAeh6H_I You can listen to recordings from two Midwest radio stations during the incident here.]] Another example was in January 13, 2018, when the entire state of Hawaii was told that ''a missile was heading towards them.'' After 30 minutes of panic, another alert went out, declaring a false alarm. Hawaiian officials blamed a worker who pushed the wrong button. A TV recording of this incident can be seen [[https://twitter.com/Deadspin/status/952250070354874370 here.]]

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oss18nLxJOk&feature=related Played for laughs]] in the 1996 PC game StayTooned.

[[caption-width-right:350:OhCrap DeathFromAbove!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': The news reporter in "The Intergalatic 147" tells of a mysterious white sphere hurtling through space and is on a collision course with Earth. Turns out that when it hits, the Earth will be diverted into the black hole of Alpha Omega. The reporter suddenly turns it into a contest for viewers to name the sphere.

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* A Creator/BillEngvall comedy bit has him on the verge of a FreakOut because of a weather warning in Texas--which turns out to be for an inch of snow. He then compares this to states like Michigan, where "in an inch of snow, you can still find your golf balls."

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': The news reporter in "The Intergalatic 147" tells of a mysterious white sphere hurtling through space and is on a collision course with Earth.. Turns out that when it hits, the Earth will be diverted into he black hole of Alpha Omega. The reporter suddenly turns it into a contest for viewers to name the sphere.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': The news reporter in "The Intergalatic 147" tells of a mysterious white sphere hurtling through space and is on a course for the black hole of Alpha Omega. Turns out the sphere is on a collision course with Earth, and the reporter suddenly turns it into a contest for viewers to name the sphere.

On occasion, computer glitches or human error resulted in incidents where emergency alerts were issued accidentally. One {{egregious}} example occurred with the older Emergency Broadcast System in 1971, when a clerk intending to send out a routine test alert to all radio stations in the network accidentally loaded a Telex program tape that included the codeword "hatefulness," which was the code signal to the stations that a nuclear attack or other catastrophic emergency had been confirmed and that they were to immediately issue an on-air alert and suspend operations or remain on the air, but broadcasting only important news or survival information pertaining to the emergency. Even worse, a retraction message sent shortly after ALSO used "hatefulness" as the codeword, leading to more confusion. It wasn't until sometime after when a message using the correct codeword, "Impish," was issued that the matter was cleared up. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B1EAeh6H_I You can listen to recordings from two Midwest radio stations during the incident here.]]

An even worse example was in January 13, 2018, when the entire state of Hawaii was told that ''a missile was heading towards them.'' After 30 minutes of panic, another alert went out, declaring a false alarm. Hawaiian officials blamed a worker who pushed the wrong button. A TV recording can be seen [[https://twitter.com/Deadspin/status/952250070354874370 here.]]

'''United Kingdom:''' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_minute_warning The Four-Minute Warning,]] an emergency broadcast ''only'' to be used in the case of AtomicHate. (This system was dismantled in 1992). Weather warnings and other emergency messages such as the death of someone in the royal family are done through news special reports, and the government and broadcasters have a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_London_Bridge detailed plan]] for how they will go about things if the Queen dies.

The Emergency Broadcast is a means of public warning and public annoyance alike. Hearing an Emergency Broadcast warning of actual danger may lead to OhCrap, MassOhCrap, the need for [[BringMyBrownPants one's brown pants to be brought]] - in that way it may be the ultimate BrownNote. On the other hand, a test or a warning of something that doesn't affect you (e.g. a missing child warning, a flood when you're on high ground, a tsunami when you're 100 miles inland) may be a BerserkButton and lead to frustration with CryingWolf. Another frequent frustration is when an actual alert has such horrible sound quality you can't understand what's being said. In many countries, AtomicHate was the primary reason for the system's creation, and it eventually (and thankfully) ended up never being used for that purpose and being used for many others.

* There is an ad for a business in the US called Lumber Liquidators that uses a beep very, very similar to that of the EAS that airs on at least CNN.

* When he launched Creator/CableNewsNetwork in 1980, Ted Turner promised that the 24-hour news network would never go off the air (at a time when most stations still went dark overnight): “We won’t be signing off until the world ends. We’ll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event … [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic we’ll play ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee’ before we sign off]].” He wasn't kidding. In 2001, the New York Daily News reported that CNN does have a tape prepared for that scenario, a recording of "Nearer, My God, To Thee" over footage of a waving American flag.

* When he launched CableNewsNetwork in 1980, Ted Turner promised that the 24-hour news network would never go off the air (at a time when most stations still went dark overnight): “We won’t be signing off until the world ends. We’ll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event … [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic we’ll play ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee’ before we sign off]].” He wasn't kidding. In 2001, the New York Daily News reported that CNN does have a tape prepared for that scenario, a recording of "Nearer, My God, To Thee" over footage of a waving American flag.

* Famously used as part of a radio show in the 1938 broadcast of ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. The broadcast was formatted as a series of news alerts, and many listeners (reportedly up to a quarter of them) thought that the show was reporting an actual alien attack. As a result of the chaos that ensued, it is rumored that CBS is, to this day, forbidden to use the words "We interrupt this broadcast" for dramatic purposes.

It should be noted that there is a separation of sorts between J-Alert and the NHK "breaking news" tones. For example, during the incident on 29 August when North Korea did fly a missile over northern Japan [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAhxk_2U0N8 NHK television and other TV networks had their "fast beep" alerts for breaking news]] whilst [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpuyQbJo9Zw at least some TV and radio actually had the "air raid" style ballistic missile alert in the warned area]].

'''Japan:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqgAgJODgho The Emergency Warning System or "J-Alert" system]] is used primarily as a very short-fuse warning on earthquakes (e.g. 10 seconds or so between warning and quake at best) and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBzHak-4mY to warn for imminent evacuation due to tsunamis.]] The tone will almost immediately be followed up with a broadcast alert from the NHK in both Japanese and English audio or subtitles. The more bells/more urgent the tone, the more urgent or severe the threat is, and its use is reserved for imminent danger such as the aforementioned quake and tsunami warnings or an attack/incoming missile from UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and breaking national tragedies such as the death of someone in the Imperial family, and some "types" of the tone are retired. (For example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgkkMgXWDLE the tone that was used to indicate the start of WWII]] has yet to be used again.)[[note]]Another example of the message and tone used when WWII began appears in the movie Japan's Longest Day, specifically the first 5 minutes.[[/note]] The sorts of tones typically used by NHK's "J-Alert" system can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrt26UfL13I here]] including some types that have never been used for public broadcast[[note]] alert tones being for earthquake early warning; seismic intensity bulletin for strong earthquakes (above 7 on Japanese intensity scale); severe tsunami warning (over 5m); tsunami warning; tsunami advisory message; earthquake prediction info; earthquake warning/caution info; earthquake observation/information statements; severe weather warnings; volcanic eruption alert (for risk of imminent volcanic eruption); incoming ballistic missile alert; incoming air raid; guerilla attack/limited terrorist attack or land invasion; large-scale terrorism alerts; and cancellation of alerts[[/note]] and modern and historical broadcast alert bells from NHK [[https://youtu.be/wLVhx_dRjeY here.]][[note]]Bell 1 being for natural disasters and local civil defense warnings, bell 2 for large scale disasters and for the death of the Emperor, and bell 3 is the now disused alert for declaration of war or national emergency.[[/note]] Of note, at least some of the J-Alert tones (particularly the one for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRLbfsc88oo ballistic missile alert]]) do also seem to be synced to public alert speakers as well.

'''Japan:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqgAgJODgho The Emergency Warning System or "J-Alert" system]] is used primarily as a very short-fuse warning on earthquakes (e.g. 10 seconds or so between warning and quake at best) and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBzHak-4mY to warn for imminent evacuation due to tsunamis.]] The tone will almost immediately be followed up with a broadcast alert from the NHK in both Japanese and English audio or subtitles. The more bells/more urgent the tone, the more urgent or severe the threat is, and its use is reserved for imminent danger such as the aforementioned quake and tsunami warnings or an attack/incoming missile from UsefulNotes/NorthKorea and breaking national tragedies such as the death of someone in the Imperial family, and some "types" of the tone are retired. (For example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgkkMgXWDLE the tone that was used to indicate the start of WWII]] has yet to be used again.)[[note]]Another example of the message and tone used when WWII began appears in the movie Japan's Longest Day, specifically the first 5 minutes.[[/note]] The sorts of tones typically used by NHK's "J-Alert" system can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrt26UfL13I here]] including some types that have never been used for public broadcast[[note]] alert tones being for earthquake early warning; seismic intensity bulletin for strong earthquakes (above 7 on Japanese intensity scale); severe tsunami warning (over 5m); tsunami warning; tsunami advisory message; earthquake prediction info; earthquake warning/caution info; earthquake observation/information statements; severe weather warnings; volcanic eruption alert (for risk of imminent volcanic eruption); incoming ballistic missile alert; incoming air raid; guerilla attack/limited terrorist attack or land invasion; large-scale terrorism alerts; and cancellation of alerts[[/note]] and modern and historical broadcast alert bells from NHK [[https://youtu.be/wLVhx_dRjeY here.]][[note]]Bell 1 being for natural disasters and local civil defense warnings, bell 2 for large scale disasters and for the death of the Emperor, and bell 3 is the now disused alert for declaration of war or national emergency.[[/note]]

Also, the Japanese test signal is not entirely standardized across broadcasting stations (even stations within a given city like will differ; examples abound on Website/YouTube) except for the emergency chime, a video/audio description of when a real broadcast would be activated, an emergency tone, and a notification in Japanese that the audible "piro-piro-piro" tone (the data burst, not the bells mentioned above) is only audible on analog [=TVs=], with an additional device required after the digital transition due to it being a data signal to digital [=TVs=]. In cases of an alert involving immediate threat to life (such as a tsunami alert), the NHK data burst is used in part for "second language" programming in English, Chinese, Korean and Portugese noting the threat and what actions to take for safety.

One event where the EAS was ''not'' activated was, oddly enough, September 11, 2001. Within minutes of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, every radio/TV station and network capable of it (outside of kids' networks and Creator/PBS, who carried on as normal as a safe haven for children who might be traumatized by the news) had suspended its normal programming and was already broadcasting round-the-clock news on the attacks. The EAS administrators quickly realized that they had been beaten to the punch by the news media and stepped out of the way[[note]][[OrSoIHeard Or at least, that's one possible explanation]]. It's not really known why the EAS wasn't activated. Furthermore, this is just one part of one of the many possible conspiracy theories surrounding this tragic event in America's history.[[/note]]

One event where the EAS was ''not'' activated was, oddly enough, September 11, 2001. Within minutes of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, every radio/TV station and network capable of it (outside of kids' networks, who carried on as normal as a safe haven for children who might be traumatized by the news) had suspended its normal programming and was already broadcasting round-the-clock news on the attacks. The EAS administrators quickly realized that they had been beaten to the punch by the news media and stepped out of the way[[note]][[OrSoIHeard Or at least, that's one possible explanation]]. It's not really known why the EAS wasn't activated. Furthermore, this is just one part of one of the many possible conspiracy theories surrounding this tragic event in America's history.[[/note]]

One event where the EAS was ''not'' activated was, oddly enough, September 11, 2001. Within minutes of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, every radio/TV station and network capable of it (outside of kids' networks, who carried on as normal as a safe haven for children who might be traumatized by the news) had suspended its normal programming and was already broadcasting round-the-clock news on the attacks. The EAS administrators quickly realized that they had been beaten to the punch by the news media and stepped out of the way.

'''[[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates USA]]:''' The first US Emergency Broadcast system was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD CONELRAD]] ([=CONtrol of ELectronic RADiation=]), intended only to warn listeners/viewers of an impending atomic attack and to make it hard for Soviet bombers to find American cities by using radio direction finding; in the event of a CONELRAD Radio Alert, stations would all change to 640 or 1240 [=KHz=] (in the US AM band). It was eventually renamed the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System Emergency Broadcast System]] when advances in communication and weather radar made it possible for state and local authorities to use it to disseminate information about local emergencies. Later, as alerts began to be disseminated through non-broadcast routes (cable and satellite TV, cellphones, weather radios), the system was again renamed, this time as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System Emergency Alert System,]] or EAS.

* Website/YouTube is full of uploads of EBS/EAS tests (as well as those for other systems outside the US.) There are also clips where the sound is used as a screamer, as well as plenty of parodies, remixes, mockups, and YouTubePoop.

* The intro to ''XCOMEnemyUnknown'', showing the first alien abduction, ends with a shot of many, many dead people, and the sounds of the US emergency broadcast system in the background.

* The ''WoodyWoodpecker'' cartoon "Termites From Mars" invokes this. Woody's TV show is interrupted for a flash that, as the title implies, termites are invading. In a scene later, a termite attaches two electric wires to Woody's beak and turns a pupil in his eyes. Woody's eyes suddenly show the guy from TV who interrupted for the news flash.

--> ''[[ThisIsNotADrill This is not a test.]] This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge sanctioned by the U.S. Government. Weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the Purge. All other weapons are restricted. Government officials of ranking 10 have been granted immunity from the Purge and shall not be harmed. Commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Police, fire, and emergency medical services will be unavailable until tomorrow morning until 7 a.m., when The Purge concludes. Blessed be our New Founding Fathers and America, a nation reborn. [[GodHelpUsAll May God be]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck with you all.'']] ''[[HellIsThatNoise *cue]] [[VideoGame/SilentHill Silent Hill-esque]] [[HellIsThatNoise air raid siren*]]''

* ''WesterAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode "Homer Defined," when Homer's inattention to warnings that the core temperature is nearing dangerous levels results in a near meltdown, Channel 5 immediately goes on air with a news flash alerting residents to the situation and that only a couple of minutes remain before a sure nuclear explosion. Kent Brockman interviews Mr. Burns, who – despite the wail of the sirens and the imminent danger to Springfield – hides his nervousness as he nonchalantly assures the public that the problem will quickly be resolved and that there is no danger to the town. Reaction around Springfield is, of course, varied (for instance, the students at Springfield Elementary are huddled under their desks in anticipation of a powerful explosion while the residents at Springfield Retirement Castle turn the channel to watch ''WheelOfFortune'' [and a humorous missolve of "THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN"]).