A Civil Authority Just Issued A Weekly Test for Half the Union

I was just watching some TV before I head off to work later, and an alert came on the TV. I figured it was just the normal weekly alert for the bay area counties. Except I noticed that the scrolling message started with Washington DC and kept on going with Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and more I didn't see because I was frying some eggs.

Now, I have been seeing these for years because I have antenna tv, but when I was a kid they were monthly tests not weekly. I been thinking about it most the year, why they do these tests weekly now. In any case I only ever seen them apply to my local region around Tampa bay and often central Florida. Maybe multi state tests are more common than I notice, but I have seen these every week for years, and this is my personal first time observing a state by state that looked like it covered at least twenty States as the alert scrolled for a solid two minutes plus.

How common are alleged weekly tests that apparently cover half the union in varying markets?? I mean, it looked like everything east of the Mississippi was covered.

What is being consolidated to switch from a simple multi county alert to now covering nearly half the states in our union?? I wonder if I will seed the same next week?? Just seems a bit odd and out of place

I have noticed that the radio station that I listen to has been running the test a lot more than they used to. Something is coming.

Just adding in what I can recall seeing between frying my eggs and going back to see the alert. I know I saw the Virginia's, at least one Carolina, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, mind you these were not in alphabetical order as is typically common with the county alert tests I am very accustomed to seeing every week.

After reviewing some information about EAS from here www.fcc.gov... , I am personally concluding that Zartan is about to deliver a message from the occupied white House later today.

The tests are to make sure the network is s5ill working. They can be initiated from many different levels by Manu different agencies.

It wounds like it was a federal level test which they can involve any number of states up to all of them.

The agencies are required to test every so often. The local cable companies do it every week. The state and federal level tests are less often.

With all the separate tests, it seems like they are increasing the number but probably they are just increasing the reliability of the system.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Interesting. Your post just made me realize that now that my TV is entirely digital via Amazon Prime, I haven't seen one of these alerts in years. I Don't get them on my cell phone either. Odd.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Weekly has been going on for at least the last five years, and was mostly late at night.
Now that you got me thinking about I'm pretty sure I remember them happening a couple times a week and longer than 5 years.

I'm thinking that I also saw the one your talking about this morning, was headed out into the yard when came on a hour or so ago. Didn't pay much attention to it, they run so much now that unless it keeps on going for a longer period of time like they do with amber and silver alerts I ignore them.

a reply to: TonyS
Yea I been piggybacking some neighbor's wifi to even post this, as I disconnected my home from the internet about three years ago. Recurring subscriptions are vampires on the wallet. Even my phone is pay as I go with no name attached to it.

a reply to: TomCollin

Yup, you heard the same one then, that was adopted nd the same exact time frame. If you'd gone in to see it, you will or have seen an over two minute long scrolling message with a high number of states, not counties. I was watching the Grio, channel 62-5 in Tampa.

I've been seeing the "tests" multiple time weekly on Comcast in my area. Been like this for a couple years. Mainly during the daytime they happen that I noticed.

I have also noticed an increase in those tests on TV and on the radio in the car when we are out and about. I don't know how often they do them or if there has been an increase, it could also be just that I was out shopping more in preporation for the winter and since the weather is now winter, I have been watching more TV. Most times the ones on TV just have a banner running along the bottom, I have only seen one of the ones where they have the screen go to a different picture in the last couple of years. That annoying horn sound is....annoying.

You would think that if they constantly run the tests it would take away from the real warning, people would just think it is another test since they happen quite often and then ignore it.

All I mentioned about increased frequency was that when I was a child in the nineties, they were monthly tests, and they said as much in the scroll. I know this because I used to watch alot of price is right with my grandmother back then and once or twice in my memory the sound got cut for those tests.

I'm pretty sure they changed it to weekly tests sometime after 9/11. I'm not fretting the fact that they show up every week because as I said in the OP I have seen them every week for years.

My main point was, this is the first time I have seen any test that was broadcast in multiple states across the nation, not just the local viewing area. That's my point. I'm on break using WiFi, does anyone know if Zartan or the white house made any kind of announcements??

Hot damn we have a winner. The outage map from Amazon's web services today damn near coincides exactly with all the states listed in yesterday's emergency alert system test!!! Dun dun dun!