A broadcast tower from which the Federal government will send a test Wednesday afternoon.

A press release from McHenry County government:

IEMA Reminds Public of National Test of Emergency Alert System on Wednesday, November 9

McHENRY COUNTY, IL – The Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) is reminding Illinois citizens that radio and TV stations throughout the state will be participating in a first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System at 1:00 p.m. CST for approximately 30 seconds on Wednesday, November 9.

“We want people to be aware of the test to avoid unnecessary concern,” said Jonathon Monken, director of the IEMA. “The test will be similar to those we hear regularly on TV and radio, the main difference is that on Wednesday, all TV and radio stations will be conducting the test at the same time.”

The test is being coordinated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public alert and warning system that enables the President of the United States to address the American public during extreme emergencies. Alerting authorities can leverage the state and local EAS to send alerts and warning to

• radio and
• television stations,
• cable television,
• satellite radio and
• television services and
• wireline providers.

Dennis Lyle, president and CEO of the Illinois Broadcasters Association remarked, “I’m delighted to report that Wayne Miller, Illinois EAS Chairman, has told me that all of Illinois’ stations are ready to receive the test. It’s important that listeners and viewers remember at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday what they’re seeing on their screens and hearing on their radios is exactly what the script suggests,

“this is a test… this is (really) just a test.”

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Some have wondered why such a test could not be conducted at night.

The reason, some of the more suspicious think, is to show that the Federal government can control all communication systems.

Note in the email from Comcast below, that the test was originally scheduled for three minutes, not 30 seconds:

Dear Comcast Customer:

On Wednesday, November 9 at 2 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time), FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the nation’s first ever Emergency Alert System (EAS) test. The purpose of this test is to help determine if the national-level system will work as designed, should officials ever need to send a national alert.

This test will last approximately three minutes and will be seen on all local, cable, and satellite TV stations across the country, as well as radio.

Here’s What You Should Know

Your Comcast programming will be temporarily interrupted. However, as soon as the test ends, you will be returned to your regularly scheduled programming. While we do not anticipate an interruption in your service, in some rare cases, you may need to:

• Use your remote to channel up and then channel down or power down your box to fully restore programming after the test completes.
• Any DVR recordings that are in progress during this test will be interrupted, and in some cases, lost.

If you experience the Emergency Alert System message for more than five minutes, please do the following:

• Power-cycle your cable box by unplugging the power cord from the outlet
• Wait thirty seconds and then plug it back in

The guide data and Video On Demand content will take a period of time to fully restore. Please wait 20 minutes before choosing Video On Demand as this might result in other errors with your box. To watch a video and learn more on how to Power-cycle, CLICK HERE.

To learn more about the national EAS test, visit us at: http://www.comcast.com/nationaleastest/ or visit FEMA at http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm or the FCC at http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test

We thank you for being a loyal Comcast customer.

Comcast Customer Service