# Emergency Brodcast System **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155 "2006-04-03T22:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndrewJRichards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@AndrewJRichards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewJRichards)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/1 "2006-04-03T22:23:27Z")
Why wasn’t the Emergency Brodcast System put into effect in New York City (or anywhere else in the United States) during the attacks on September 11th? ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/2 "2006-04-03T23:20:27Z")
I think the most used phrase that day, all across America…and probably the rest of the world, was ‘Holy shit…turn on your television!’ By the time the powers that be decided to send an alert, we all knew about it. ---
**Author:** ![ZeroZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f04885/32.png) [@ZeroZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZeroZero)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/3 "2006-04-04T01:01:01Z")
> [@ltfire](#): > > I think the most used phrase that day, all across America…and probably the rest of the world, was ‘Holy shit…turn on your television!’ Out of curiosity, what happend to NY TV when the towers fell. Were the stations able to keep broadcasting till the towers fell? Or was it before that. I am assuming that cable was unaffected by the colapse ---
**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:** [April 4, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/4 "2006-04-04T01:19:53Z")
> [@ZeroZero](#): > > Out of curiosity, what happend to NY TV when the towers fell. Were the stations able to keep broadcasting till the towers fell? Or was it before that. I am assuming that cable was unaffected by the colapse IIRC, one or two of the NYC stations (perhaps channels 2 and 7?) switched to their backup transmitters at the Empire State Building and kept broadcasting, although at lower power. ---
**Author:** ![biometricks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@biometricks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biometricks)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/5 "2006-04-04T01:32:12Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > IIRC, one or two of the NYC stations (perhaps channels 2 and 7?) switched to their backup transmitters at the Empire State Building and kept broadcasting, although at lower power. Yeah, ch. 2 (CBS) was able to continue broadcasting. I think the others lost their signals when the planes hit and knocked out the electricity (prior to the towers falling). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/6 "2006-04-04T02:25:47Z")
OP: what do you think they should have said had they activated the EBS? The EBS’ purpose is to give instructions to people about what to do. It’s not for disemminating news; CNN does that fine (if a little sideways) What exactly would you have asked the people in Nebraska to do? Heck, what would you have asked the people on Long Island or upper Manhattan to do? The EBS is not a separate set of transmitters owned by the Feds. It’s simply a way for the Feds to feed content into the broadcasters’ central control facilities where they’ll arrange to broadcast it via their normal equipment. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/7 "2006-04-04T03:40:33Z")
Nitpick. The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) was retired in 1997. Its replacement is the Emergency Alert System (EAS). That’s why your TV occasionally sounds like it’s logging onto Prodigy. The EAS should have been used on 9/11, and it wasn’t. Not even in NYC. Luckily (?), we didn’t really need it, due to the OMFG nature of the story and the localized impact. It does call into question the utility of the system in its current form. Seems to me that a system that makes every cell phone in town go batshit in an emergency would be more effective. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emergency-brodcast-system/351155/8 "2006-04-04T03:42:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > OP: what do you think they should have said had they activated the EBS? > [@ltfire](#): > > ‘Holy shit…turn on your television!’ Well, it’s better than plastic wrap and duct tape. 😃