[Batrachian]

Exactly. They can be bulldogged into complying. It's probably the law. And, since this is TV we're talking about, they wouldn't dream of fighting dear leader with that formerly liberal tool of freedom: civil disobedience. That's not the same as the government having hardwired control over broadcasting

However, someone else has responded saying that all broadcast stations now have black boxes fitted and the government can take control. I wonder what the truth really is.

[null and void]

I’m inclined to believe it.

If the technological capability exists to do it, the political will/motivation will as well.

[hoagy62]

It’s not so much a “black box”. It is a device, hooked into the transmitter system, that can automatically interrupt programming to activate the EAS. The operator doesn’t have to do a thing.

Each local and regional EAS operation areas have a selection of codes that they can program into the system to indicated if it’s just a test or an actual emergency. There are different codes for a local, regional, state, and national emergency, as well as for what the emergency is (weather, nuclear power plant meltdown, etc.). I believe the national emergency codes are the ONLY ones that can automatically override the broadcast signal. It doesn’t shut it off, it just puts the national message out without the local station operator having to do anything.

Having an FCC broadcast license automatically requires you to be part of the system. It isn’t optional. They don’t have to ‘bulldog’ anybody. They are already part of it, and..iff you want to broadcast over the air...willingly.

[K.B.7]

Batrachian

I have installed many easy units at many cable headends. There are absolutely no “black boxes” whereby government can control them. Each state has an emergency action plan that identifies the primary alert radio station for the state and also for each county.

The EAS units are tuned to primary and secondary stations to pick up the emergency signal when a test or actual emergency occurs. Tests can be triggered by the installer (and are as I have to test them to prove to the customer that they work) right from the front panel of the unit or from my laptop connected via serial port or Ethernet interface.

You can also set priority for which alerts trigger the unit. For example, you do not set Tsunami warnings as a trigger in Missouri or blizzard warnings in Florida.

You can look up the emergency action plan for your state and there will be an appendix in it somewhere that identifies which stations are primary for which counties.

You can also Google Monroe OneNet or Trilithic EASyPlus both of which are examples of EAS units used by cable providers.

http://eas.trilithic.com/products/easyplus-encoder-decoder.html

The only thing that makes this a big deal is that a “National” test which has not occurred in my adult lifetime.

KB7

[no-to-illegals]

all broadcast stations now have black boxes fitted and the government can take control

and the worst part, Mama says they can see you sitting there watching them. Now having to fully dress to watch them watch me ...