National EAS Test – Are We Done Yet?

Another article about the National EAS test? Yes, we’re sorry but bear with us please.

We want to talk briefly about the third filing that is necessary in connection with the test. It’s true. EAS Form 1 and EAS Form 2 were not enough. The FCC wants EAS Form 3 also for each broadcast station (other than FM or TV translators), of course). If you haven’t filed yours yet, don’t panic. You have until November 14^th to do so. But here’s a heads up — the information previously announced as required for the EAS Form 3 has morphed into a much more detailed reporting requirement — one that appears to us to have changed mid-stream, without any announcement. Shame, shame.

For example, the FCC no longer wants a general explanation of any test details. It now has a menu of choices for both the test receipt and transmission, such as “no complications” or “audio quality issues” or “user error.” Seems that the FCC figured out pretty quickly that free-form descriptions required a staffer to read and categorize issues, something that takes time. So it simplified things. Also new is a list of your EAS test sources and a requirement for identifying each one from which a station received the test message. Then, the FCC wants stations to identify the source from which it first received the EAS message. But wait, there’s more. A menu listing of the language of the EAS message received and transmitted is provided, and a station has to choose from English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian or Other. The time of message receipt and transmission in hours, minutes and seconds is also necessary.

So if you filed EAS Form 2 on the day of the September 28^th test, and then set aside the filing of EAS Form 3 for later like most stations, you’ll probably need to go back and check your EAS log for specifics.

To file EAS Form 3, you must log in to the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) using the same access codes that were required for Forms One and Two. Again, the deadline to file EAS Form 3 is November 14, 2016.