Emergency Alerts

Thinking about the "shark" and "missing white female" dominance in the news, like the summer of 2000, let me ask:

Has anyone else noticed that radio and TV networks are going nuts with testing the emergency alert systems? I have been working since early this morning, with little time to hear or listen to TV or radio, and yet I've heard 11 different test signals. Yesterday, I counted 23. Last Saturday, during a single hour of TV surfing, I hit it 9 times on various channels.

The irony here, of course, is that on 9-11, the emergency alert did NOT sound. Why? Because it was in the towers that went Poof!

But I find the frequency of the test alerts disarming. I've asked about a dozen people if they've noticed it lately and all but one said, "Yes, come to think of it..."

Is there a method to this madness? Meaning, did the FCC or someone step on broadcasters to run the alert more, perhaps as a way of unsettling Americans to pipe down their criticism because all these tests might get citizens nervous?