Alaska Serves as Guinea Pig for Federal Program

...whether we want to, or not.

You'll remember, boys and girls, during the Clinton years that all radio and television stations were hard-wired into the Emergency Alert Network, whereby the POTUS can - by pushing a button - take over the airwaves, nation-wide. As I recall, there was some consternation expressed at the time, and few seemed to trust the gummint to do the right thing.

We're told now that the system was never tested ... until today. From today's paper:

Problems reported in test of U.S. alert system

Radio listeners and TV viewers in Alaska witnessed the first national emergency exercise of its kind this morning, but the test ran into distribution problems around the state.

Radio, television and some cable providers participated in a live statewide test of the nation's Emergency Alert System, which employed a never-used code that would be applied in a national crisis.

"A national emergency action notification has been issued for: District of Columbia, DC," ran a red message banner at the top of the television screen to stations not beset by several reported glitches.

Filling the rest of the screen was a scene of a snowy, wooded mountain, superimposed by a large red stop sign and the words, "Chill! It is just a drill."

The 10 a.m. Alaska Standard Time test will help officials prepare for a future national exercise not yet scheduled, according to state and federal officials.

The three-minute airing -- activated from Washington, D.C., by the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- was unlike regular periodic tests aired by broadcasters. It was the first official activation of the Emergency Action Notification code, which would give the president access to national airwaves during a real crisis.

Officials considered the test a success, even though some broadcasters did not receive the signal in time and others got a weak connection or only the audio portion of the exercise.

For example, statewide cable provider GCI -- with 130,000 subscribers -- didn't receive the initial launch signal, although it did get the disconnect signal, company spokesman David Morris said.

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Participants will spend the next weeks, or even months, working through the problems, said Bryan Fisher, chief of operations at the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. He said glitches could be blamed on various factors, such as old equipment or flaws with programming or audio levels.

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Alaska was chosen for the initial test run for several reasons, Fisher said. Alaska is well-versed in similar exercises conducted through the national public warning system to test tsunami warnings and Amber Alerts within the largest state in the country.

Alaska's extreme isolation also cuts down on the chance of the test reaching beyond state lines and potentially causing confusion, Fisher said.

Yay for us. "Extreme isolation", indeed. Not so isolated that a political appointee 4,000 miles away can't hijack our airwaves for any reason they deem important.

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On a lighter note, it's after 4 p.m., and it's still light outside. w00t!

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program, already in progress.

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Y'all have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.