Emergency Broadcasting System

This is only a test: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

In the event of a real emergency, you would have been informed where in your area to turn for further information.

In the event of a real emergency, media would already have been providing as much information as anybody had; the EBS would have proved redundant, and nobody in DC would have even thought to activate it anyhow. Oh, did I say "would"? I meant "did".

With cable TV, where you have channels without any news content, EBS (now the Emergency Alert System, or EAS) does insert alerts into the stream. Digital systems can even have those little scrolling alerts.....

The feature in some radios where an EBS signal will cause them to turn themselves on is useful, though.

Imagine the hacking potential :^)

When I was in Germany, I remember that whenever there was a traffic report the radio would automatically crank up the volume a couple of notches.

Yes, us Europeans have got that sorted. Radios that support this ("RDS") - which is most, nowadays - offer a range of features - interrupting the CD/tape for traffic reports, adjusting the volume (mine does it to whatever I listened to the last traffic report - which is normally louder), and switching from one radio station to one of a number of different radio stations when that one has a traffic report ("EON"). So I can listen to a national radio station, but get local traffic reports when they happen.

This can also happen for news reports, and the same system supports displaying the name of the station, and automatically switching to the strongest signal for the station you're listening too.

The problem with this is that the self important interrupters use the interrupt too much. In the U.S. we have weather radios, and they make the darn things issue needless alerts, waking you so much that you turn the darn things off. If only they held the interruptions for truly important messages, they would be much more heavily utilized, and therefore useful for their intended purpose.

Doesn't seem to be a problem with RDS - I suspect there must be regulations about how often you can interrupt and what you can say in it (e.g. I've never heard an ad in a traffic report or news interruption)

If you take notice that an alarm has been sounded, You have several alternatives:

1) Ignore, turn-off the warnings, find out for yourself when the emergency hits you, which most likely will do more than wake you up. Here in Kansas when a tornado hits, it does away with the need for sleep for those choosing this first alternative. You won't be in Kansas anymore!

2) Notify the radio station, Tv station, or Government service of your concerns, and stress that needless alerts, about probable or actual happenings, should not bother the ones who will not be affected. Tell them that they should verify by inspection that an alert is necessary, homes ripped up, people injured and killed, property damaged, electricity and services no longer available, water coming over the levee, and that sort of thing.

3) Thank those who care enough to provide the services for the vast majority of folk who would like to be informed of potential trouble so they can avoid it.