Do we have an emergency broadcast system in Ireland?

delta_bravo

Quick question.

I was over in Wisconsin this summer and listening to a bit of radio. Around midnight the station was interrupted by the state weather service to announce a storm was rolling in and expected in a few minutes. I scanned through the stations and it was on every station at the same time.

I know we probably don't have as much need for it in terms of weather but does that facility exist that a state organisation can take control of a broadcast remotely to send an emergency message?

Itssoeasy

I remember that booklet that was delivered to all homes a few years ago and it mentioned in the event of a emergency that warnings/advice would be broadcast on tv and radio.

I presume it would be on all the radio stations of the state.

666irishguy

If I remember correctly back to the time we got the iodine tablet in the post, I think you were to stay tuned to the national broadcaster (RTE) for information regarding any emergency and what action to take. Since RTE is state owned I imagine it would be act as the de-facto emergency broadcast system. I don't think they would have a remote ability to take over broadcasting or a need for it since they would be virtually next door to RTE HQ in Dublin, so getting the word to them would not be all that difficult to ensure it being broadcast throughout the country.

disc79

Yeah we have
Joe Duffy comes on with liveline

Trick of the Tail

A couple of years ago there was a sort-of plan, sort-of proposed and sort-of tested for emergency broadcasts over the independent stations.

It relied upon nothing more technological than getting the locals to rebroadcast RTE Radio 1.

It relied upon the indies nominating a member of staff who would be on call overnight, every night (not the same person every night, of course) who would be telephoned and told to go to the radio station and push up the 'Radio 1' fader.

The problem of course is that most stations don't have the ability to rbr another station off air. Then there's the problem of ensuring that the rota of available people is kept up to date and that person's phone is on, they're not away/drunk/etc.

In short, it relied totally on people, not technology.

There was even a test, which was declared by the BAI to have been a success, even though I was aware of at least 6 stations where things didn't work for one reason or another.

I proposed a technology-based, automated solution at the time, but since there was so much back-slapping going on, it was never pursued.

In the US it's called EAS - Emergency Activation System.

Here it should be HAES.

'Half-Arsed'.

A.

Kensington

Bit worrying, given that most stations are fully automated overnight.

Would there be anyway of using the INM and UTV radio feeds which many stations relay overnight to "take-over" stations in the event of an emergency?

Cookie Policy

This is interesting, recently purchased a new car and was flicking through the radio settings and came across the TA (Traffic Alerts) and there is another button for emergency broadcasts. Supposedly it switches the channel from what you're listening to the the one - giving the emergency broadcast and the Traffic Alerts also. Always wondered what that TA button next to Live Assist on RCS meant.

More Music

The test a few years ago used what was then the INN satellite distribution system for most local stations.

1) The test source was the Dail radio studio
2) That was fed to INN, RTE and Today FM/Newstalk
3) Each station nominated 3 or 4 people who knew how to open the station, turn off the automation and push up the emergency broadcast fader (INN news for most stations, which is already on the desk)
4) Somebody in the Dept. contacted the first person on the nominated list, or the second person etc. until they got through to somebody.
5) Garda escorts could be used if required (real life scenario)
6) A list of stations who didn't have INN was drawn up. The nearest and most technically reliable station was assigned as their off air feed. They had to arrange a tuner feed to their desk.

It was a non technical solution the required a very advanced life form to push up a fader. It worked from what I saw. If a station can't manage to put a feed on air then .......

It was a one off test and I think the whole thing is long forgotten. With the demise of INN and the lack of further testing/updating contact list it is well broken by now.

jrmb

A few years ago, I was listening to the radio in the wee hours when they conducted a test on every station in the country. They didn't mention emergencies as they seem to in the US. It was a more reserved "thirty-second engineering test".

IMHO, they should have at least one attendant in each radio station at all times as a licence requirement. Whatever about flicking the switch in the event of an emergency, most stations have very little regard for their overnight listeners. The playing out of every jingle on the palette for 2 minutes, the same library music at the same time every hour and crashing into news bulletins are incredibly common after midnight. It's very disheartening for the many people absolutely dying to get into the media.

jrmb

More Music wrote: »

It was a non technical solution the required a very advanced life form to push up a fader. It worked from what I saw. If a station can't manage to put a feed on air then .......

Would it be possible to send out an encoded message (only in the very rare event of a major occurence) for all stations/transmitters?

I believe this is done in the UK for independent stations. I've read that when the queen mother passed away about 10 years ago, poorly thought-out arrangements resulted in cheesy news beds obscuring the national anthem.

S28382

We had it in place for when Germany might have invaded us during WW2 but now its redundant as they are already here running our country ant not even a bullet shot or an emergency broadcast aired.....they just seemed to of appeared out of nowhere.

Feckin Germans.

leinsterjack

Well here is your answer lads...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcT5SLMoyU

More Music

leinsterjack wrote: »

Well here is your answer lads...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcT5SLMoyU

Not quite the same thing from a few years ago. This is a pre recorded announcement sent to radio stations to play out.

It’s not originating from a central studio in Dublin linked up to the local and national stations. Each station just plays out the announcement locally.

ford fiesta

RTE apparently have a designated studio among their donnybrook radio centre underground studios, on stand by for emergencies

ofcork

There was a banner came on the screen with the word test on rte last night assume it was related.

stevek93

ofcork wrote: »

There was a banner came on the screen with the word test on rte last night assume it was related.

Yes I also seen that. Did they broadcast a message?

Einstein A. Gogo

There's supposed to be an emergency alert plan for both TV and the network of local and national radio stations but last weekend shows it's not working because so many radio stations are on autopilot in the evenings and overnight so the alerts don't go through apart from during the standard news bulletins.

tom1ie

Anyone know did they ever get this sorted?

Might be an idea to have a working emergency system with all the talk of brownouts and blackouts 😝

rogue-entity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056754505/do-we-have-an-emergency-broadcast-system-in-ireland

Short answer, No. We never had the threat of nuclear war to spur the creation or adoption of the US-Style EAS (which is an automatic system) which covers radio and television stations as well as mobile phones (using Cell Broadcasts).

Under EU Directive 2018/1972 we were supposed to have implemented a similar system for covering mobile phones by the 21st of June 2022 but that hasn't happened and like fixing the clocks, I don't think it's going to happen this side of the decade.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119541222#Comment_119541222

Pointless. TV requires power and I doubt much of the population are listening to a radio at any given time. New Zealand have the right idea for emergencies, they send a txt to every phone in the country or to the phones in just specific areas, such as happened quite recently with tsunami warnings.

Sir Galahad

While in Switzerland I’ve got emergency broadcast texts to my phone. Can’t see why it couldn’t happen here.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119684228#Comment_119684228

I must have missed this reply!

I didn’t say it had to be tv or radio- text would be the way to go.

dxhound2005

Looking at the information for New Zealand and Switzerland, it seems that phones are not sold with the capability to receive these warnings. It is up to citizens to enable their own phone, probably for data protection reasons. There would be citizens who regard this sort of thing as Big Brother.

Maybe the Swiss have the best idea, not relying on people signing up, or even radio broadcasts. They have sirens all round the country which can be sounded in the case of emergencies.

tinytobe

DAB+ has the functionality that the radio can come alive from remote, if there is an emergency message. Provided that the radio has batteries or is connected to electricity.

I've seen and experienced this live as a test when in Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrAXpiLRUGc

And then there are apps for smart phones in many countries for emergencies, - even better as they only inform on what's going on in the immediate vicinity.

RetroEncabulator

To be quite honest, I think in this day and age the only way that an emergency broadcasting system could work is by SMS to mobiles. There's no guarantee that people would necessarily be listening to radio at all these days - things are moving very heavily to streaming, podcasting and their own music players, but EVERYONE has a mobile phone in their pocket.

Radio is useful, to a point. It's not what it was decades ago though and the mobile networks are a far more universally instantly visible service.

You could simply mandate that mobile carriers provide the infrastructure for it as part of their licences. It's not exactly complicated stuff and it's supported by the 3GPP (GSM, 4G, 5G etc) protocols.

You can send an emergency broadcast SMS out to a region or nationally without much fuss.

Given the likelihood of an emergency of that scale is so remote, you could probably just send them nationally. The criteria for sending one though would need to be quite tightly defined and the trigger point very high, otherwise you'd have people getting rather annoyed if there were regular national emergency SMS about ice on the road or a slight breeze.

You could also easily rollout a national emergency alert app. It's not exactly complicated to send out push notifications for all the more mundane warnings.

brettmirl

Hurricane Ophelia was the last time it was used as far as I know. This is from the Broadcasting Act 2009:

61.— (1) In this section “ network provider ” means a person providing or operating an electronic communications network which is used for the distribution, transmission or retransmission of broadcasting services to the public.

(2) During the continuance of any national emergency, the Minister may suspend any broadcasting licence or multiplex licence as defined in section 129 and, while any such suspension continues, the Minister may operate any service which was provided under the suspended licence or require such service to be operated as he or she directs.

(3) The Authority shall have the power to require broadcasting contractors and network providers to co-operate with the relevant public bodies in the dissemination of relevant information to the public in the event of a major emergency.

(4) If and whenever the Minister shall exercise the powers conferred on him or her by subsection (2) the broadcasting contractor or multiplex contractor shall be entitled to receive from the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance—

(a) such sums as are required to defray any expenses which, regard being had to the nature of the emergency, have been properly and necessarily incurred by the broadcasting contractor or multiplex contractor and for meeting which revenue is by reason of the exercise of such powers not otherwise available to the broadcasting contractor or multiplex contractor, and

(b) compensation for any damage done to any property of the broadcasting contractor or multiplex contractor, being damage directly attributable to the exercise of such powers.

(5) At the request of the Minister, the Authority shall direct a broadcasting contractor to allocate broadcasting time for announcements for and on behalf of any Minister of the Government, in the event of a major emergency, in connection with the functions of that Minister of the Government. The broadcasting contractor shall comply with the direction.

(6) At the request of the Minister, the Authority shall direct a network provider, in a manner to be specified by the Authority, to carry broadcast announcements for and on behalf of any Minister of the Government, in the event of a major emergency, in connection with the functions of that Minister of the Government. The network provider shall comply with the direction.

(7) In complying with a direction under subsection (5) or (6) a broadcasting contractor or network provider may broadcast an announcement that it has received such a direction from the Authority.

Pretty sure I got an "amber alert" or Child Rescue Alert on my phone before a number of years back from the Gardai:

https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/publications/policy-documents/child-rescue-ireland-cri-alert-policy-document.pdf

Splish Splash

I was in Canada last year and we received national alerts on our mobiles with a very distinctive klaxon tone - extremely effective. I don't think radio is relevent these days as few people listen to any one broadcaster regularly.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119541222#Comment_119541222

From the old Irish TV website:

CelticRambler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120071918#Comment_120071918

but EVERYONE has a mobile phone in their pocket.

No, they don't. And even those who do don't always have a signal, or don't have their phone to hand, or switched on, or charged up ...

zg3409

Most mobile phone masts have no backup power so as soon as the power goes all signal in the area goes dead.

I suspect this feature is available on phone networks and phones, just no one is using it.

One of the reasons saorview rv is broadcast over terrestrial (even though not many people use it) is that sky and other networks are not Irish controlled and there is a risk of having no national TV broadcasts in event of an incident. Most TV sites have backup generators along with main radio sites. Mobile phone sites do not, but It agree messages to phones are more likely to reach more people.

Ger Roe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120073120#Comment_120073120

Moblie phone might reach more people... as a first option.. providing the complex cell network stands up. It depends on how severe your emergency is.

The reason why a fail-safe emergency system might still use radio.... is when all else fails (in a total emergency/disaster situation) radio still has the potential to communicate a message to a mass audience, with relative technical ease (established well maintained networks with local site power backup). Even in a total radio network failure situation, regional/local transmitters could be set up easily.

On TV and in films when people realise that their phones and internet access are dead and the zombies or aliens are attacking... they usually revert to radio to find out what is happening in the world. Here in north east wicklow, there have been times when I could not get a mobile phone connection along the N11 due to a heavy snowfall or a major accident (too much line seize demand with people calling out to update on the their situation), the radio in the car still worked though. During the 9/11 attacks, the mobile phone networks were severely disrupted in New York (either by damage or demand), but the radio stations kept operating, some by re-locating to temp studio or transmitter sites, as required (some of the bigger stations had transmission sites on the towers).

Having said that... and having been involved in a test of the national radio alert system here in the mid 2000's... it has never been properly planned or resourced in this country, so as to be a reliable option.