What is now called the emergency alert system was authorized in 1951 by President Harry S. Truman.
The plan stems from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2006 federal law that requires upgrades to the emergency alert system.
When a television station receives notice from the Emergency Alert System, it must integrate the message into the television signal for delivery and display to the subscribers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators approved a plan on Wednesday to create a nationwide emergency alert system using text messages delivered to cellphones.
The digital message can be stored with the Emergency Alert System, on a server or elsewhere in a digital system depending on convenience, they explain.
At 2 p.m. Eastern time, for approximately 30 seconds, the government of the United States of America will conduct the first national test of the Emergency Alert System.
The system was superseded by the emergency broadcast system, which was used primarily for local weather alerts and was replaced by the current emergency alert system in 1997.
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After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush addressed the nation through the major television networks without activating the emergency alert system.
In the meantime, one hopes that the Emergency Alert System will remain quiet and let CNN, the Weather Channel and the other regular radio and TV broadcasters do their job without interference.
The emergency alert system sent "phantom" alerts when no emergency had been declared, or sent a second emergency alert when a user tried to clear a prior alert from a radio.
