The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

[1stwahine]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

BRAVO! Thank you for you commitment and service to our islands. I had to look at your avatar. I thought it said csi...it's cs1! I was worried for a spilt second.

Have a wonderful week! Please tell your employees, I said thank you too.

Auntie Lynn

[csl]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

There are issues in the broadcast industry, but many of you are quick to put everyone in to the same category. At New West Broadcasting (KWXX, KPUA, KNWB-B97, and KAOY) on the Big Island, we have 24 employees who take our public service obligation very seriously.

We are in regular contact with civil defense at all hours of the day or night seven days a week and believe we have been and will be prepared to respond when needed (including Sundays).

We also do local news on air and online at http://www.kpua.net and do Community Forum programming daily (Mon-Fri) to discuss community issues and events.

We provide countless amounts of public service time on our four stations (psa's, interviews, etc.) and our jocks donate a lot of their own time to MC various community events including reading to children in our schools.

I'm proud of our employees and their commitment to this community.

Not everyone operates the same.....

[scrivener]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

...you're gonna have some teenager at the helm not knowing what to do when the alert panel starts going off and all hell's breaking loose outside.

When I was at KTUH, they made sure we knew what to do when the red light started to blink. It went off during my shift once and really freaked me out, but there was a piece of tape stuck to the machine, upon which was written, IF THIS LIGHT STARTS BLINKING, CALL ----------. It all worked out just fine. I can't imagine it's much more difficult nowadays, hm?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Eh Scrivener...the EBS was scrapped years ago now it's the EAS with those four scratchy beeps.

To all radio stations, do you know what to do if you get a landline alert on your EAS? I've been told years ago that Oahu Civil Defense will do random testing and auditing of their system once in a while so be prepared if your EAS goes off and know what to do. There is a packet located inside your studio. Inside is an envelope with a phone number you're supposed to call and when you do, you have to recite the alpha code inside that envelope.

Failure to do that in a timely manner will result in call from Oahu Civil Defense to your PD.

It's too bad that you don't need your FCC Radio Operators license anymore to operate a commercial radio station now because one day the disciplines of being a licensed operator will require attention to detail when dispensing emergency information to the masses and you're gonna have some teenager at the helm not knowing what to do when the alert panel starts going off and all hell's breaking loose outside.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

I think the last time they blew the sirens in Honolulu for real was Hurricane Iniki. Man, that was freaky.

Hey, that rhymed.

[scrivener]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Um, am I missing something here?

Adrian, what Kimo, Craig, and Glen are talking about is the way our broadcast media are supposed to exist for the purpose of serving the public, and one of these services is supposed to be for public safety. That's why those sirens go off on the first working day of the month at 11:45 and why they run those "emergency broadcast system" tests on the radio and tv stations. Kimo's saying that if the terrorists have any brains at all, they'll hit us on a Sunday, when nobody seems to be prepared at any of the stations to respond to a crisis situation and to disseminate information. Glen is saying that they'll hit at 11:45 on the first working day, because the sirens go off at that time anyway, so if it's a real emergency, nobody will believe it -- they'll think it's just the usual monthly test.

[scrivener]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Radio stations get all the breaks in having control of a "public resource," yet often barely commit themselves even half-heartedly to fulfilling the "public" part of their broadcasting duties.

This is (one reason) that governmental regulation of the airwaves is a joke. The idea that the government "lets" these people use the airwaves in the interest of public service has been a masquerade for heaven knows how long. The one meaningful regulation -- you know, the one preventing the monopolization of the airwaves -- has been wiped out, erasing any pretense that radio exists for public service. I'm a laissez-faire kinda guy when it comes to business, but if it's business, treat it as business and let anyone in who's got the wherewithal. If it's public service, treat it as public service, and keep an eye on the public welfare.

[pzarquon]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

AHHHH! It's starting! It's starting RIGHT NOW!!

Admit it, Glen, you waited all morning for that moment.

Actually, there have been many reports in the media of remote-operated radio stations being unreachable and therefore useless as a resource in time of emergency. Schools trying to call the biggest radio station in town to announce that it's closed find a machine that doesn't take messages... civil defense officials looking to get word of a tornado warning out find their calls are forwarded halfway across the country to people who couldn't change what's going out over the air that instant even if they wanted to...

Radio stations get all the breaks in having control of a "public resource," yet often barely commit themselves even half-heartedly to fulfilling the "public" part of their broadcasting duties.

[helen]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Well at least the sirens work.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Oh... never mind.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

AHHHH! It's starting! It's starting RIGHT NOW!!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Actually it's the first workday of the month.

You're right. Thanks.

[adrian]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Um, am I missing something here?

[helen]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Actually it's the first workday of the month.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: The terrorists will strike on Sunday...

Or at 11:45 a.m. on the first Monday of the month, when they test the Civil Defense sirens.