While the Emergency Alert System’s future is examined, the FCC sent out a reminder this week of the requirement for all stations to file the EAS Test Reporting System Form One.
ETRS Form One for 2025 must be submitted by Oct. 3.
The form includes identifying EAS designation, monitoring assignments, facility location, equipment type and contact information.
No nationwide test
The commission confirmed in the ETRS notice it published on Aug. 4 that FEMA will not conduct a nationwide test this year.
Our friend, Michi Bradley at REC Networks, noted this is a departure from the past, as national periodic tests have occurred every two years, with the last having taken place in 2023. As such, there will be no need to file ETRS Forms Two or Three.
Not just full-power stations
All EAS participants — including low-power FM stations, Class D noncom educational FM stations and EAS participants that are silent pursuant to a grant of special temporary authority — are required to register and file in ETRS.
EAS participants that do not need to file Form One include:
- Analog and digital low-power television stations that operate as television broadcast translator stations,
- FM broadcast booster stations and FM translator stations that entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations, and
- Analog and digital broadcast stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point)
REC Networks also noted that LPFM stations from the third generation of the 2023 LPFM Filing Window that are not yet on the air are not required to file the form.
A user who has a registered username and an FCC registration number can access ETRS through the commission’s website.
Filers who have not previously create a username can do so at its user registration section.
