Geo-Targeted Radio Emergency Alerts Are Potential Lifeline During Natural Disasters and Pandemic, if Proposed Rule Change is Allowed
Pinpointing Evacuation Routes and Shelters, Search and Rescue, COVID-19
Testing Locations, and Regional Storm Impacts, Cited as Reasons
to Support Proposal by Broadcasting Groups and Former FEMA Administrator
CHICAGO, October 1, 2020 – The public’s reliance on the national emergency alert system peaks during natural disasters, as evidenced by the recent hurricanes, wildfires and spring tornadoes. At those times, it is the Emergency Alert System that reaches the public via over-the-air broadcast and mobile transmissions to communicate evacuation routes, traffic redirections, weather updates, and more. Today’s communications policy, though, only allows for geo-targeting via television, cable, and mobile, but not local radio stations.
The FCC is currently considering a proposed rule change to allow local radio stations to use FM boosters in Single Frequency Networks – with technology dubbed ZoneCasting™ developed by GeoBroadcast Solutions – to broadcast over-the-air geotargeted alerts to different broadcast zones to reach the public during an emergency when time matters the most.
“Once the FCC changes its rules, radio broadcasters can zone its signals for to deliver vital information during an emergency, said Bill Hieatt, CTO of GeoBroadcast Solutions. “More importantly, it can send out area-specific notifications on everything from changes in traffic patterns to emergency supply locations for food, water, first aid, and blankets. And, any station can target the foreign listeners within its signal by broadcasting in one or more other languages.”
Last month, FCC Chairman Ajit Paj urged the wireless industry to do more on wireless emergency alert (“WEA”) information, while all along broadcasters have played a vital role in using their wireless technology (broadcasting) to distribute critical emergency information on a 24x7 basis.
This past April, former U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai in support of the proposed rule change. At the time he said, “I have witnessed first-hand that our oldest form of broadcast, radio, remains the most reliable, stable form of communicating.
“Radio has literally weathered all forms of disasters – be it California wildfires, where 200 cellular towers were destroyed, hurricanes like Sandy and Katrina, which overloaded most forms of communications, or coastal floods in Florida.”
Fugate specifically cited that radios can be battery operated and are portable; and when electrical power is out or cell towers overcrowded the public can still have access to radio stations that provide them with critical information.
In Florida, Pat Roberts, president and chief executive officer of the Florida Association of Broadcasters since 1988, said that he has witnessed the dependability of radio when broadcast and cellular towers have been destroyed by winds and wildfires.
Roberts recalled his experience in 2017 when Hurricane Irma’s force was so strong all forms of communications on the Florida Keys was lost, including the walkie-talkies of the Sheriff’s office in Monroe County. At that point, local radio station WWUS-FM opened its broadcasting to law enforcement and became the only source of communication for public safety and local population.
Bob Singer, president and executive director of the Oregon Association of Broadcasters, said that had radio stations had the ability to send out more zoned alerts during this year’s wildfires it would have been really beneficial in mobilizing people, communicating critical information, and updating targeted details more frequently.
“I fully support radio geo-targeting, said Singer. “I know the areas around Ashland and near the state capital that were particularly devastated by wildfires could have used the extra resource in zoned radio alerts to inform the public.”
Providing critical information to the public is important, said Roberts, but during an emergency, segmenting the messages by regions and to specific populations can be even more important, and time is always of the essence. He said that if a Florida station with a strong signal covers several Audience of Dominant Influence’s in the state, those listeners can’t pause or wait for its municipality’s updates. By adding the ability for that one station to geo-target it can inform several regions independently and even provide bi-lingual communications in communities where English is a second language.
Roberts’ stressed that, as much as he’s focused on hurricanes, other public threats this year, including COVID-19 and the Pacific wildfires are other examples of where radio can be more reliable to get information out quickly.
“Without a doubt, localized radio broadcast updates of today’s COVID-19 crisis would serve the public good by communicating public safety information pertinent to specific portions of the airwave’s audience. Consider the benefit of reaching a 25-mile portion of a radio signal about local test sites or shelters versus informing that same station’s 100-mile audience that do not need those specifics but require their own, zoned, details,” Fugate added.
The rule GeoBroadcast seeks to change relates to FM boosters, and no changes to the FCC's rules regarding translators or interference are necessary. Radio is currently the only mass medium that cannot geo-target its content. The television industry gained the ability to geo-target in 2017 when the FCC adopted the Next-Gen TV standard — also known as ATSC 3.0 – at the urging of NAB.
The ability for radio stations to add localized weather and traffic, news, advertising, and emergency alerting during parts of a broadcast hour is beneficial to listeners, small businesses, and advertisers. It would allow the radio industry to progress and remain competitive in the market.
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About GeoBroadcast Solutions LLC
GeoBroadcast Solutions was formed in 2011 to develop the ZoneCasting™ Geo-Targeting platform. This platform has been successfully tested under special FCC authorization. Geo-Targeted separation of the main channel audio of an FM radio station to its listeners allows the ability to split an FM signal into local “zones.” Out of this development effort came MaxxCasting™, which increases signal quality, PPM watermark decoding, and allows geographic targeting and fencing of radio screen advertising. It is successfully deployed and operational in many markets and growing rapidly. Additional information is available at geobroadcastsolutions.com.
Media Contact:
Robert Udowitz
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