Using the EAS alert tones without a real emergency has led to several FCC fines in recent years – including many fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (see, for instance, our articles here, here, and here). This week, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau released a Consent Decree with a noncommercial radio group (American Public Media Group, Minnesota Public Radio d/b/a American Public Media, and Southern California Public Radio) to settle an investigation into the use of these tones in a BBC program about chasing tornadoes that ran on the group’s stations, and on other public broadcasting stations around the country to which the group syndicated the program. As part of this decree, the group agreed to pay $86,400 to the government. According to the decree, the program included two instances where EAS tones were used, and pieces of NOAA tornado warning alert audio were also aired. In total, 46 stations associated with the group, and about 500 other stations that received the program from the group, ran these tones.
The use of EAS tones without a real emergency (or in connection with an authorized test) violated Section 11.45 of the Commission’s rules. As noted in the Consent Decree, the Commission believes that the use of simulated or actual EAS Tones for non-authorized purposes—such as commercial or entertainment purposes—can lead to dangerous “alert fatigue” where the public becomes desensitized to the alerts, questioning whether the alerts are for a real, imminent threat or some other cause. Moreover, the broadcast of these EAS Tones could result in false activations of the Emergency Alert System, as any stations that monitor a station that runs a false alert may have their own EAS equipment triggered – theoretically cascading the alert throughout the system.
The $86,400 was submitted as a “voluntary contribution” to the US government. The licensee did not admit to a violation of the FCC’s rules, although it admitted to the FCC’s description of the facts. The group also agreed to a compliance plan that includes staff training, the appointment of a compliance officer, and reporting requirements – all intended to prevent future violations.
While this settlement was for a lesser monetary penalty than some of the prior settlements, this may have been because the licensee was a noncommercial operator, and because it appears that the group self-reported the violation. Even so, an $86,400 penalty is still substantial, and shows how seriously the FCC takes these violations. Stations need to monitor all their programming carefully to make sure that these alert tones are not used except when there is a real alert (or an authorized test) to avoid the steep penalties that the FCC imposes for these violations.
