EAS Tones Fiasco: Will Bobby Bones Face FCC Fines?

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, October 28, 2014 | 7:37am CT

As you probably know by now, last Friday morning (10/24), thousands of subscribers to AT&T's U-Verse television service had their TV's locked down by the national Emergency Alert System -- the result of a bit from iHeartMedia's syndicated Bobby Bones Show.

Bones was discussing a test of the EAS system during Game 2 of the World Series and during the bit, played a YouTube clip of a 2011 nationwide test of the system. The clip included the actual EAS trigger tones and when AT&T's U-Verse system received the signal, it immediately locked down subscriber's televisions and displayed the warning of a national emergency which read in part: "The station has interrupted its regular programming at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System."

Later that day, FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre issued a statement saying: "This morning, there was an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast. There is not a national emergency. Today's broadcast triggered alert notification in states where the alert has been played. FEMA and the FCC are currently working with broadcasters to determine the full scope of the situation."

Bones' syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, issued a statement yesterday ( 10/27) stating: "The tone should not have aired. We are cooperating fully with the authorities and are taking aggressive action to investigate this incident and prevent it from recurring. We deeply regret the error."

Now, The Bobby Bones Show and/or some of its affiliates could be looking at severe FCC fines. In March of 2013, cable networks were fined a total of $1.9 million after inadvertently broadcasting EAS tones during a commercial. If fines are levied by the FCC, they could affect The Bobby Bones Show, iHeartMedia, and also affiliates that broadcast the show.

Might be a good opportunity to remind your air staff about the seriousness of EAS tones and to review proper EAS procedures.