# Emergency Broadcast Tests: Ever Been Used For Censorsip **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383 "2016-07-20T02:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/1 "2016-07-20T02:10:11Z")
Q: Has the Emergency Broadcast System Test ever been set off by a station to censor or the disrupt the content of its shows? I had the day off, slept late, and while I was making breakfast, I turned on the TV as is my habit while cooking. It was on WABC-7 and I didn’t bother to change it. A show called “The View” came on and I started to watch it. I hadn’t checked CNN or any of the other news web sites yet, and it was the first time that I had heard about Melania’s plagiarism problem from the speech that she gave the night before. The panelists had just started to discuss it and the camera turned to Whoopie Goldberg. About 30 seconds after she began commenting about the plagiarism, the Emergency Broadcast System Test went off, cutting off the show for almost 5 minutes. By the time it was over, most of the comments about Melania were done and the panelists were on to another subject. I looked at the clock and the cut-out time wasn’t exactly on the hour, as I would have expected. I also found it odd that it would have been at that time, as I normally see these tests done on the cable stations at 5AM. Now I know that broadcast stations do test these things all the time (except in prime time) and that they can be annoying. Still, that timing had the appearance of being convenient. I’m SURE they planned that out Months ahead of time and can prove it, but it made me wonder: In the history of Broadcast Television, has any station ever used an EBS-Test to try to censor something being broadcast? I can’t think of any, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. I seem to remember some stations refused to air some TV episodes, and if they can do that, why bother with the EBS-Test. Still… has it ever happened? Has the EBS-Test ever been set off to block something or anything? Can the test even be set off at will by station management? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/2 "2016-07-20T03:02:44Z")
[WLBT used to have Technical Difficulties when the national news showed scenes of racial unrest and other signs that the White hegemony was being challenged](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLBT): > [@](#): > > For the most part, the station ignored the Civil Rights movement, cutting out coverage of it from the NBC News feed (largely by pretending that technical problems were the cause of interruptions). The station provided a platform on its local newscasts and public affairs programs for individuals advocating resistance to efforts by the federal government to enable African Americans to vote and gain access to basic amenities such as non-segregated public schools. It also pre-empted NBC programs that even mildly referred to racial justice or featured African American actors prominently.[3] In 1955, when civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall - later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court - appeared on the “Today” show, WLBT interrupted the interview, putting up a sign that said, “Sorry, Cable Trouble.”[5] Fred Beard, who was the WLBT station manager at the time, later declared he had pulled the interview, saying that television networks had become instruments of “Negro propaganda.”[4] That wasn’t EBS, which did exist then (replaced CONELRAD in 1963), so I guess the answer is no. Anyway, it would be a terrible way to “censor” news given that television doesn’t control the media anymore to the extent it ever did. The Internet would be all over it, and the clip would be up on YouTube in duplicate the same day. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/3 "2016-07-20T10:11:05Z")
Off to GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/4 "2016-07-20T14:03:43Z")
Not quite the same thing, but there was an investigative show about Vietnam ca. 1970-72 that was broadcast, but had a mysterious technical failure that left the screen black for the entire show. I can’t seem to locate a reference since the keywords bring up so many newer things, but I don’t think it’s a legend. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/5 "2016-07-20T15:44:06Z")
I would think the Emergency Broadcast System Test is something they plan ahead? And would arrange in advance to have technical people standing by at local stations to be sure everything is working OK? I do know they do that with other network things. Check video/sound prior to a broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/6 "2016-07-20T16:09:28Z")
Yeah, it’s really not like pulling the fire alarm to get out of an exam. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/7 "2016-07-20T16:15:33Z")
EBS tests are scheduled. They’re not designed like a fire drill, where you want to have people behave as though they they didn’t expect it (and now, most fire drills are pre-planned so people know when they will occur). It’s used to see if the equipment is working, not if the people know where to go and what to do. For a TV station, the try to do it during PSAs (not commercials) and they don’t go off during a show. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/8 "2016-07-20T16:58:14Z")
Here are the rules for[testing the Emergency Alert System](http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=7f92df99c85594b40d3ef3b12a9f8ccf&mc=true&node=pt47.1.11&rgn=div5#se47.1.11_161) Some of the highlights – > [@](#): > > Tests in odd numbered months shall occur between 8:30 a.m. and local sunset. Tests in even numbered months shall occur between local sunset and 8:30 a.m. They will originate from Local or State Primary sources. Translation: for system-wide tests, the TV or radio station doesn’t set the time of the test; that’s done by the local “authority.” > [@](#): > > Analog and digital AM, FM, and TV broadcast stations must conduct tests of the EAS header and EOM codes at least once a week at random days and times. > [@](#): > > No person may transmit or cause to transmit the EAS codes or Attention Signal, or a recording or simulation thereof, in any circumstance other than in an actual National, State or Local Area emergency **or authorized test of the EAS.** Emphasis added. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/9 "2016-07-20T17:46:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > EBS tests are scheduled. They’re not designed like a fire drill, where you want to have people behave as though they they didn’t expect it (and now, most fire drills are pre-planned so people know when they will occur). It’s used to see if the equipment is working, not if the people know where to go and what to do. > > For a TV station, the try to do it during PSAs (not commercials) and they don’t go off during a show. Not in my experience. There is a local station that regularly interrupts programs with a tone and a voiceover announcing a test of the EBS, accompanied by a crawl across the bottom of the screen. They don’t blank out the program, but it is at an annoying volume level over the audio of the show. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/10 "2016-07-20T18:44:29Z")
The Emergency Broadcast System ended in 1997. The current system is the [Emergency Alert System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System#System_tests). There are several types of test. Weekly tests (RWTs = Required Weekly Tests) are scheduled by the station itself, but I don’t know if they need to notify anyone in advance about when they plan to perform the test. Monthly tests (RMTs = Required Monthly Tests) are not scheduled by the individual stations, but by the local “primary station” or by the state emergency management agency, and the station has no way to modify the time of those tests. There are also National Tests, where the entire system is tested nationwide. This has only been done once, in 2011, but another one is scheduled to occur on Sept. 28, 2016. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-broadcast-tests-ever-been-used-for-censorsip/760383/11 "2016-07-23T13:52:36Z")
My high school had its own radio station, of which I was a staff member. Periodically, myself and my “sidekick” would just start riffing whatever. If one of us knew ahead of time that the other was about to swear and/or it upon a “risque” word, we would certainly reach over and hit the EBS tone as a way of censoring ourselves or each other. In our station, the EBS tone was constantly on, but was essentially muted. It was just a flip of a switch on the control board. It never occurred to me until years later that that might have been an illegal use of the tone.