On Wednesday, September 28th, there will be a national test of the Emergency Alert System on all radio, television, and cable media. According to Iowa EAS Co-Chair Jim Davies, it’s been over a year since the last national test, and that test had several issues related to the audio. However, part of the reason for the test is to find the glitches in the system and fix them. The test will originate from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington D.C., and if everything goes according to plan, will go through local stations, including KCII. Davies said the test typically starts around 1:30 p.m., so the KCII listening area should receive the signal shortly after that.

The purpose of the test is to ensure the government’s ability to send out a mass notification in the event of a catastrophic national incident. It also serves locally to send out emergency alerts, most commonly for severe weather or Amber Alerts. According to Davies, there hasn’t ever been a need to use the EAS on a national level since it was originally adopted. While some question why the President didn’t use it during the events of September 11th, 2001, Davies said it was likely the government felt the media coverage was sufficient enough they didn’t have to take over the airwaves for a presidential message. The EAS test should take approximately one minute if everything goes as planned. For more information on the EAS test, listen to the In Touch with Southeast Iowa Interview with Davies on KCIIRadio.com.