FEMA has successfully originated and transmitted the first live multilingual EAS test, as well as the first using the new National Periodic Test code.
FEMA deputy administrator Joseph Nimmich initiated the regional test and disseminated it through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System from the exhibit floor of the International Association of Emergency Managers meeting in Las Vegas.
We’ve reported that FEMA has been conducting regional tests of the NPT-coded alerts. This fourth test was targeted to radio, TV and cable systems in Arizona, Minnesota, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
Broadcasters from these states used their Monroe Electronics subsidiary Digital Alert Systems DASDEC-II emergency communications platforms to take part in the regional test. “The successful completion of this test gives us and our broadcast partners’ confidence that we have a flexible and workable path forward to support multilingual public alert and warning,” says Monroe Electronics Senior Director for Strategy and Global Government Affairs Ed Czarnecki.
During the live test, FEMA initiated a National Periodic Test through the DASEOC emergency communications platform as a Common Alerting Protocol message in English and Spanish. The bilingual EAS test message was sent on the 17th at 1:20 p.m. PST. Some 1,400 EAS devices retrieved the message.
Stations using DASDEC systems equipped with OmniLingual Alert Module software could display the alert in English, Spanish, or both — including the expanded alert text, plus audio in both languages. Stations with this technology that took part included Entravision Communications’ KINC in Las Vegas and KLUZ in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as numerous stations serving Minnesota, including KUOM (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), KROC (Rochester), Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) (Minneapolis-St. Paul), WDSE (Duluth), KSMQ (Austin), KAWE (Bemidji), KWCM (Appleton), and KFME (Fargo, North Dakota).
Participating stations from Entravision, the largest affiliate group of both Univision television network and Univision’s UniMas network, automatically aired the Spanish version of the FEMA NPT, followed by the English version. Other stations, such as Minnesota’s TPT, coupled their OmniLingual software with DASDEC MultiStation software to enable different language selections for each program stream.
ECHO and Twin Cities PBS have been working for more than a decade to meet the needs of increasingly diverse audiences to support public health, safety, and emergency messaging, according to Lillian McDonald, managing director of ECHO at TPT. “With community input and our partnerships, we can support the needs of warning and alert systems. The successful test indicates we do have the capacity to convey multilingual public alerts and warnings to the diverse communities we serve.”
RBR+TVBR observation: I hear Entercom was especially keen to test the multilingual capability. FEMA IPAWS bench-tested it first on Monroe devices in the lab before the live field test this week. The fact that it happened during the emergency managers show was key. “We could demonstrate a new joint government/industry capability in front of an audience that can make a difference,” according to one source. FEMA has been urging more state and local emergency managers to use EAS to send warnings.
From the FEMA IPAWS booth at the show, personnel watched the screens and listened: on one side of the booth the local CBS affiliate played the message in English and an Entravision station played the Spanish version of the same message on the other side of the booth. This activity was duplicated in Albuquerque where one of IPAWS team members was observing a monitoring suite capturing multiple television and radio broadcasts off-air.
