The nationwide alert test in 2023 showed that EAS participants in U.S. territories fared worse at retransmitting the message than those in most of the 50 states. The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is suggesting steps to help improve the results.
Overall, the large majority of EAS participants — which include radio and television stations, cable television systems, direct broadcast satellite, Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, digital audio broadcasting systems and wireline video systems — reported successful receipt and retransmission of the national test.
There are about 25,300 EAS participants in the United States and its territories. The test message was received by 96.6% of them, up from 89.3% two years prior. The overall retransmission success rate was 93.6%, up from 87.1%.
The bureau in a post-test report called the improvement significant and said it was likely due to initiation of the 2023 test alert via Common Alerting Protocol, which added resiliency, compared to the 2021 test, which was strictly over the air.
“The test demonstrated that the national EAS distribution architecture is largely effective as designed,” according to the bureau, though it made several recommendations for further improvement. [Read the report.]
The reliability of EAS in U.S. territories was one of its areas of concern.
By the numbers
The bureau said five of the six poorest-performing geographic regions for both receipt and retransmission were territories.
These are the main U.S. populated territories, with about 3.4 million people among them, according to The World Factbook, though almost 90% of those are in Puerto Rico. Guam has the next largest population of the five with around 169,000 people.
Their performance ranged widely. The Northern Mariana Islands recorded the lowest success rate (20% retransmission success). The others were Guam (33.3%), American Samoa (66.7%), the U.S. Virgin Islands (88.9%) and Puerto Rico (89.7%). Wyoming had the lowest retransmission success among the 50 states, at 88.1%.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn’t announced a date for the next nationwide EAS test, but the FCC said in its report it expects its staff to engage with EAS participants in U.S. territories and work with local emergency communications committees to help reinvigorate their SECCs, and if necessary pursue enforcement actions.
There may be reasons some territories did worse than the stateside contingent. The FCC noted that territories have been plagued by multiple tropical storms and typhoons in recent years, including Super Typhoon Mawar affecting Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands in May 2023 and Hurricane Fiona affecting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in September 2022.
Some failures may be attributable to outdated equipment used by broadcasters, though this problem is not unique to the territories. Per the report, participants reported complications with equipment configuration, performance, audio quality, alerting sources and clock errors.
“Fully up-to-date equipment had the highest performance results, whereas equipment using software that is no longer supported had the lowest performance results,” the FCC reported.
The EAS community in many territories is small. While Puerto Rico has 146 EAS participants, the Northern Mariana Islands has only five, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands each has nine, and Guam has 12. By comparison California has more than 1,200 participants, and even tiny Delaware has 45.
The commission is working to help establish a State Emergency Communications Committee for the Northern Mariana Islands, according to an FCC spokesperson. Meanwhile, there has been turnover in SECC leadership on Guam and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the spokesperson.
PEP issue
Joey Cummings, SECC chair in American Samoa, said part of the reason for a lower success rate there was due to an equipment issue at WVUV(FM), the Primary Entry Point station in the territory.
“WVUV did not relay the October 2023 test because its satellite equipment was inoperable at the time. Earlier this year, equipment was sent to replace the broken system, which has been testing well ever since. We couldn’t ask for more or better support from our partners in FEMA’s National Public Warning System program,” Cummings said.
Cummings is vice president and general manager of WVUV. He expects significant improvement for the territory whenever the next nationwide EAS test is conducted.
“We have an incredibly tight broadcast community here, with under a dozen radio stations a part of EAS. We’ll pull together and make the needed improvements,” he said.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico has begun the process of reviewing its plan with guidance from the FCC, said Osvaldo Torres, SECC chair in the territory.
“A lot is going on in Puerto Rico today with the EAS plan since many changes are taking place,” Torres said. “There are details in the FCC data that the SECC is reviewing and need to analyze and understand to make improvements.
“Most of our time at this point in the process is dedicated to finishing our plan for FCC approval,” Torres said in an email.
Prompted by Congress, the commission in 2021 implemented some changes in alerting policies, one of which requires State Emergency Communications Committees to meet at least once a year and to submit an updated EAS plan annually.
State EAS plans govern EAS operations and activation procedures, according to the FCC, and contain unique methods of EAS message distribution. State EAS Plans must include a monitoring assignment matrix, clearly showing monitoring assignments and the specific primary and backup path for the National Emergency Message, according to the FCC
Of the U.S. territories mentioned in the report, only American Samoa has an FCC-approved EAS plan, according to the commission website. Its plan was approved in September, just a month prior to the national EAS test.
More to come
The PSHSB says it will continue to take measures to improve EAS, according to the report. It is recommending that the commission adopt rules to improve the operational readiness of EAS participants, as well as ensure that participants are installing software updates in a timely manner and have plans for replacing equipment that is no longer supported by the manufacturer.
An FCC spokesperson says the commission is engaged with the territories to help improve EAS performance, including by working with EAS stakeholders and providing guidance to SECC members as they create and submit their plans.
“We review all submitted EAS plans to ensure they are consistent with our rules, which are designed to promote effective alerting. It’s vital that the Emergency Alert System works effectively in all communities,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
