Twenty Thousand Hertz

False Alarm: How the Emergency Alert System went wrong

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When people in Hawaii were falsely alerted of a Ballistic Missile threat, the first thing they heard was the sound of an emergency alert. For decades, this tone has alerted us to local weather emergencies and other important events, but it has never been used for its original purpose. In this episode, we explore the history of the Emergency Alert System and its predecessors. Featuring Kelly Williams, from the National Association of Broadcasters, Frank Lucia former EAS advisor for the FCC, and Wade Witmer from FEMA. 


Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by Defacto Sound.

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Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/emergencyalert

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