# What happened to the Emergency Broadcast System?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-emergency-broadcast-system/312382>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 13, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-emergency-broadcast-system/312382 "2005-07-13T18:58:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DJ\_Dolan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c68b51/32.png) [@DJ\_Dolan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Dolan)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-emergency-broadcast-system/312382/1 "2005-07-13T18:58:43Z")

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“Miss those old two-tone attention signals, do we?”

Actually, the two-tone signal was an innovation that came more than a decade after the EBS was implemented (around 1976), and it was in response to a system failure. The Emergency Broadcast System itself grew out of the CONELRAD (Control of Electronic Radiation) system created in 1951.

A decent description of CONELRAD can be found at [http://www.westgeorgia.org/conelrad/](http://www.westgeorgia.org/conelrad/) and a brief history of how EBS and ENS came to be can be found at [http://www.oldradio.com/current/bc\_conel.htm](http://www.oldradio.com/current/bc_conel.htm) However, [oldradio.com](http://oldradio.com)’s description of the EBS attention signal pre-1976 is incorrect (see: [http://www.akdart.com/images/EBS-att.png](http://www.akdart.com/images/EBS-att.png)).

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-emergency-broadcast-system/312382/2 "2005-07-13T20:01:44Z")

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Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, **DJ Dolan** , we’re glad tohave you with us.

When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the column or staff report you’re discussing. saves search time and helps keep us all on the same page. In this case, I presume, it’s [What happened to the Emergency Broadcast System?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m-ebs.html)

No biggie, you’ll know for next time, and, as I say, welcome!