ehopper@attmail.com (06/05/91)
In a previous posting there was a discussion of the false alert that was distributed on the news wires. I was on duty at the late KSET in El Paso, Texas that morning and remember the event vividly. Since the facts were a little vague in the previous post, let me fill them out. The alert occured on February 20, 1971 at 9:33AM EST. It was originated by the personnel on duty at NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain. At that time, they had the ability to override the AP and UPI wires. The alert that was issued was actually a declaration of national emergency and not an attack warning. Quite frankly, it shook me up, a lot. Fortunately, I did have the presence of mind to hold off on putting the alert on the air, however, in doing so I was undoubtedly in technical violation of FCC rules. The authenticator words were a list of activate and cancel codes sent out on a quarterly basis by the FCC. They were in bright, flourescent red envelopes. The authenticator word for that day was "hatefulness" and the cancel code was "impish". Unfortunately, NORADs first attempt to undo the mess they caused was to send out a cancel message with the "hatefulness" code. This was *INCORRECT* and, by the book, we should have stayed in emergency operation mode. In my case, I had a Mutual Broadcasting System newscast on the air at that time. Since Mutual operates from Washington and was operating normally, I decided to sit on it until I got a bulletin from MBS. A lot of things grew out of that disaster. At that time, EBS signaling was based upon five seconds on, five seconds off of carrier for 30 seconds and then 30 seconds of 1Khz tone. A lot of stations did a really lousy job of implementing that scheme. They wouldn't do the carrier on/off switch and would just play a tape of a 1Khz tone. Tape being what it was in those days it sure wasn't 1Khz. As a result, FCC type accepted EBS tone generators and monitors were required in all stations. I often wonder if this requirement was ever extended to cable. With about a third of the TV audience watching HBO, ESPN, etc, it should be. (HBO did carry a news bulletin at the onset of the Gulf War, I understand). The two tone "beat" tone that is used now was also instituted as part of those reforms. There was some mention of this being the AP's mistake. Not so. I, in fact, received the message on UPI. NORAD, at that time, had the ability to physically override the AP and UPI. That capability was removed after thius fiasco. Now, as I understand it, the White House would originate a conference call with the networks and the wire services. As I mentioned, it was traumatic. I did have a few nightmares after that. I wonder if I can apply for benefits as a veteran of WW III? Ed Hopper