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ID10T Techcast is a weekly podcast where Tyler Woodward, a broadcast engineer, goes over the past week's news in Linux, tech and broadcasting and tells you what he thinks about it. Episodes run 15 to 30 minutes.

Every episode runs through the week's stories, like Linux security holes and open source, Big Tech and AI companies, the FCC, and radio and TV, then ends with one longer opinion piece. Some weeks it's a security hole, some weeks it's why radio isn't dead yet.

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ID10T Techcast

Why the whole country is about to hear that emergency alert tone at once

September 22, 2026 • Tyler Woodward • Episode 43

0:00 | 10:04

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On November 17th, every radio and TV station in the country is going to interrupt whatever you're doing with that awful screeching tone. I'm breaking down what that nationwide Emergency Alert System test actually is, how a warning message travels from a federal agency all the way to your car radio, and why the FCC and FEMA bother running this drill every few years instead of just hoping the system works when it counts.

I walk through the whole chain: who issues the alert, how it gets distributed, how your local station receives it and puts it to air, and what happens after the test when stations report back on what worked and what didn't. I also get into why this broadcast based system isn't the same as the wireless alerts on your phone, and why that's actually a good thing. Redundancy matters. You don't want a tornado warning depending on one app, one carrier, or one piece of tech working perfectly.

This one's short, but it matters if you've ever wondered why that annoying tone exists or why it's supposed to be annoying. A boring Tuesday afternoon test is exactly how you find the broken piece in the system before you actually need it during a real emergency, and that's the whole point of testing anything that's supposed to keep people safe.

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WEBVTT

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On November 17th, that familiar emergency alert

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system sound is going to be, well, you're going

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to hear it on radio and television stations across

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the country. I'm going to tell you what that

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test actually does, how an emergency message

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gets to your radio and why we still need to make

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sure that whole system works. Now, if you've

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listened to the radio for Any amount of time,

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you know the sound. Programming stops. There's

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that awful attention getting noise. Then a voice

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tells you, this is a test of the emergency alert

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system. And yeah, the sound is annoying. That's

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kind of the point. It's supposed to be annoying.

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Now on November 17th, this year, 2026, you're

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gonna hear it again, except this one is going

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to be a nationwide test all across the United

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States. This is the Tyler Woodward Project. I'm

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Tyler, I'm a broadcast engineer. And since I've

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talked before about radio emergency alerting,

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I wanted to spend a few minutes explaining what

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this thing actually is. As always, these are

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my opinions from my perspective. Because I think

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most people know what the emergency alert system

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sounds like. This is a nationwide test of the

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emergency alert system issued by the Federal

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Emergency Management Agency. covering the United

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States from 2 20 to 2 40 p .m. Eastern Time.

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This is only a test. No action is required by

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the public. The emergency alert system or EAS

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is basically a way for emergency officials to

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interrupt normal programming and get important

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information in front of you as quickly as possible.

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radio stations are a part of it, television stations

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are a part of it, cable and satellite providers

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are a part of it. You've probably also received

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emergency alerts on your phone. That's a related

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system called the wireless emergency alerts,

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but it isn't quite the same thing. The November

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17th announcement is specifically about testing

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the emergency alert system used by broadcasters

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and other video and audio providers. So when

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you're listening to radio and suddenly hear those

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tones, the station didn't just randomly decide

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to scare the shit out of you. An authorized government

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agency creates an emergency message. That message

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gets distributed through the national alerting

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system. Radio and television stations receive

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it. Then their equipment interrupts whatever

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you are listening to and puts the alert right

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to air. There are other ways alerts can move

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through the system, including stations monitoring

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other broadcast sources as backup. That's...

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as about, you know, that's about as technical

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as I want to get here. The point is that there

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is a chain. Someone issues the warning, the warning

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gets distributed, your local station receives

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it, you hear it. And every part of that chain,

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well, it has to work. That's what this nationwide

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test is going to check for. FEMA. working with

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the FCC has scheduled a test for Tuesday, November

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17th at 2 20 Eastern time. Radio and television

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programming around the country will be interrupted

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with a message telling you that this is a nationwide

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test and that, well, you don't need to do anything.

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If the test can't happen on that day because

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of an actual emergency or some other major event.

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December 3rd is set as the backup date. And there's

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a reason they tell us about this stuff ahead

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of time. Imagine hearing that sound come out

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of every radio and television station in the

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country at the same time with absolutely no heads

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up. The internet would handle that, well, as

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you can imagine, very calmly, I'm sure. The last

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nationwide EAS test happened back in 2023. Federal

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law requires FEMA to conduct nationwide testing

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of the public alert and warning system at least

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once every three years. And the reason is pretty

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straightforward. You don't want the first time

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you find out something doesn't work to be when

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you actually need to use the system. That applies

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to your smoke detector, that applies to a backup

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generator, and it definitely applies to a system

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designed to tell millions of people that something

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bad is happening. After the test, stations and

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other participants report back information about

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whether they received the alert and whether they

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were able to send it out. That gives the Federal

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Communications Commission, the FCC, and FEMA

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a much bigger picture of how the system is actually

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performed. Did the message make it out across

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the country? Did stations receive it? Were there

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places where something broke? Because a test

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that exposes a problem is doing its job. You

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don't know if there's a problem if you never

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test it. I mean, that's kind of the whole point.

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And EAS isn't just about some theoretical nationwide

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catastrophe. You've probably heard it used a

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little closer to home. Tornado warnings, flash

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flood warnings, evacuations, civil emergencies,

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and amber alerts. Depending on where you live

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and what the emergency is, radio and television

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can be another path for getting that information

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out to you. And that word Another is very important.

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I don't think radio needs to pretend it's the

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only way people get emergency information anymore.

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I mean, we know it obviously isn't. Your phone

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is probably going to be one of the first places

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you see an emergency warning today. I mean, there

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are also weather apps, local government alerts,

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sirens, television, social media, all kinds of

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ways for information to reach you nowadays. Which

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is good. I want redundancy. Most of us want redundancy.

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I don't want an emergency warning system where

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everything depends on one app, one company, one

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cellular network or one piece of technology working

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perfectly. Radio is just another path. Broadcast

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television is another path. Your phone is another

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path. They can all exist and work at the same

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time. Well, usually. And when one of those paths

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gets tested, I'd rather find the broken piece

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during a scheduled Tuesday afternoon test. You

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know, then during a tornado or a wildfire or

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a hurricane or some other national emergency.

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So if you're listening to the radio. on november

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17th and everything suddenly stops around 2 20

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eastern don't panic listen to the message it

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should very clearly tell you that it's a nationwide

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test and that well no action is required then

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programming comes back and you go about your

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day i mean it's not particularly exciting it

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isn't supposed to be The best possible result

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is probably that you heard the alert. Everything

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works exactly the way it should. And a minute

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later, you probably forget about it. Because

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someday the words after that sound may not say,

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this is only a test. And on that day, the boring

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test we did beforehand suddenly looks pretty

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damn useful. That's the show if you want to keep

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up with it subscribe wherever you're listening

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and you can find everything else over at Tyler

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Woodward .me and if you want to buy me a cup

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of coffee Just to say thanks for explaining how

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this stuff works. Hey, I'll gladly take it You

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can do that over at Tyler Woodward .me and if

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you want to leave a voicemail for me 608 -668

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