BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield. [CLIP PLAYS]

ANNOUNCER: This is a test of the emergency alert system. [GRUESOME-SOUNDING BUZZING] [CLIP ENDS]

BOB GARFIELD: Most of us still remember the old weekly tests of the Emergency Broadcast System -- that ungodly warning tone, followed by the stern assurance: This is only a test -- which was a nice way to say -- no, the ICBMs are not on the way. In the post Cold War era, though, nuclear war has been replaced in our nightmares and our preparedness planning by terror attacks and other localized emergencies. And so the FCC is planning its first major overhaul of the Emergency Alert System. Reporter Bill McConnell is writing about the story for the television industry trade magazine Broadcasting and Cable. Bill, welcome back to OTM.

BILL McCONNELL: Glad to be here.

BOB GARFIELD: Now, I see the Emergency Alert System at work occasionally when, let's say, a weather advisory crawls across the bottom of my screen saying: Tornadoes on the way. But FCC Chairman Michael Powell says that the system has, quote, "fallen into disarray and needs major reform." What's he talking about? Why, why is it in disarray?

BILL McCONNELL: Well, the problems with the Emergency Alert System really became apparent on 9/11 when no emergency alert was activated in New York or nationally, and people began to question --Why do we have this system, and is it really living up to its full potential?

BOB GARFIELD: Your latest story talks about a situation in San Diego and wildfires. Tell me about that.

BILL McCONNELL: Last summer, there were, as prone to be in southern California, wildfires bearing down on San Diego County, and around 11 o'clock at night the sheriff's department decided it was time to evacuate the communities that were in danger. But, unfortunately, no one thought to notify the local broadcast stations to get them to send out an emergency alert -- for about another 4 hours, till it was way too late, and everybody had gone to bed. Unfortunately, tragically really, 12 people died overnight, and maybe some of those lives could have been saved if warnings had gotten out a bit earlier.

BOB GARFIELD: Let's talk about the technical underpinnings of this project. I gather that digitization is central to it.

BILL McCONNELL: Exactly. That's one of the reasons the FCC is moving forward now. We have all these new technologies that have not been taken advantage of. One of them is the switch to digital television that will allow broadcasters to send an array of, of new types of programming out, including programming with interactive links, so it's conceivable you could receive an emergency alert over your new digital television set, and then click on a link to get more information, such as if your community is being evacuated, what are the routes out of town that are being used. Why aren't we taking advantage of cell phone technology so that people could receive alerts wherever they are, especially when they're away from home. Another big problem is that a lot of times these disasters happen when people are in bed. We now have the technology that would allow your television, your radio your cell phone to be activated and receive an alert, even if it's turned off.

BOB GARFIELD: Whoa! [LAUGHS] As if guided by an occult hand?

BILL McCONNELL: Exactly right. It would be kind of startling, but that might be what you want if there's a fire racing down on your community, or if there's been a train derailment, and toxic fumes are boring down on, on your neighborhood.

BOB GARFIELD: Two or three months ago in Italy, the party of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi used cell phone messages to alert everybody to vote. What are the risks of this system being co-opted by a government - local or national -for the purposes of politics?

BILL McCONNELL: Right now the, the agencies that are in control of this tend to be ones that are not political -- we're talking about the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Weather Service, state and local emergency agencies are the people who would kick in these services. But what some folks I've talked to have warned about is that if terrorists wanted to disrupt the message at the same time they were setting off a bomb, they could actually send their own emergency alert message, and, and have that incorporated into the broadcaster system.

BOB GARFIELD: That has a sort of Dr. No quality to it --breaking into the world's TV broadcasts to announce your, your extortion demands.

BILL McCONNELL: To some extent, the FCC would agree with you. A lot of the, those kinds of security concerns have not been addressed, and they've been considered kind of pie in the sky sort of worries. But I think with this overhaul under way, and with more attention being given to the terrorist element of the threat we face today, I think that's going to be taken a lot more seriously.

BOB GARFIELD: So how close are we to actually having the new system in place?

BILL McCONNELL: The FCC envisions new requirements on broadcasters that could be implemented almost right away, with them simply going out and buying a card that could be inserted into their EAS monitoring equipment. Then again, the, the ways to activate cell phones, ways to activate Blackberries and other PDAs, maybe even PCs, getting digital televisions on line with this -- I think we're still a couple of years away.

BOB GARFIELD: All right. Well, Bill, thanks very much.

BILL McCONNELL: Thank you.

BOB GARFIELD: Bill McConnell is a senior writer for Broadcasting and Cable magazine. [MUSIC]