August 12, 2021 |
“The world ended, and nobody told us.” That’s how one Wyoming radio broadcaster summed up the large-scale failure of yesterdays National Periodic Test of the Emergency Alert System on radio stations across Wyoming. The test was also sent to individual wireless phones, and that also proved spotty in our area. It was the first test of the emergency alert system since the pandemic.
In an email chain among Wyoming Association of Broadcast members, most stations reported some kind of a failure. Most stations reported that they did not receive the test tone or accompanying audio message on their authorized emergency alert receivers, which are dedicated to receiving messages from law enforcement, the National Weather Service and other government entities.
Yesterday’s national periodic test originated with The Federal Emergency Management Agency originated yesterday’s national test at 12:20 p.m. Mountain Time. Both a test signal and an audio recording for rebroadcast were sent to radio stations.
KTGA in Carbon County was among the stations which reported a failure despite being operationally ready. The station did receive a Required Weekly Test, or RWT, sent shortly after at 11:00 o’clock using the same regional network and hardware used for the national test. Local diagnostic testing of the station’s system conducted manually 30-minutes before the scheduled national test showed the system to be operational.
Stations in Douglas, Evanston, Powell, Riverton and Wheatland also reported that they did not receive the test. Other broadcasters, including ones in Sheridan and Rock Springs, reported receiving the test tone, but the associated voice message was muffled, garbled or otherwise not understandable as it broadcast over the air. A few stations, including ones in Jackson Hole, Laramie and Torrington, reported the test was successful.
Yesterday’s NPT was also sent on the Wireless Emergency Alert system, or WEA, to personal smart phones. This was the second nationwide test of the WEA after its debut in 2018. Results here varied.
Users on both sides of Interstate 80 in Carbon County who are signed up to receive alerts through the WEA system through Union Wireless and Verizon, told Bigfoot 99 that they did not receive alert on their phones. Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator Lenny Layman reported that he received the alert. His provider is T-Mobile.
We are happy to report that the world did not end yesterday. It was only a test.
Image courtesy Wyoming Office of Homeland Security.
