Gulf Coast NPR Member Stations Begin Testing Equipment to Send Emergency Alerts to Deaf
Public radio stations in the Gulf region will begin testing newly installed equipment as part of a pilot project aimed at transmitting emergency alerts to the deaf and hard of hearing community. The pilot, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and NPR, was originally scheduled to begin in December (CD Oct 24 p5). The project was extended to the end of May due to the length of time needed to complete the manufacture of the radio data system (RDS) encoders, said Rich Rarey, NPR Labs manager-strategic technology applications. “It took longer than we'd anticipated to build these units from scratch.” Testing of the equipment is set to take place within the first three weeks of May, he said.
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The Rae One encoders, built by Jump2Go, were sent to the 26 participating stations, Rarey said. When in use, the encoders “will interface with the satellite receivers at the stations and route the data into an RDS text stream,” he said. With the help of the Hearing Loss Association of America and other deaf and hard of hearing advocacy groups, NPR Labs was able to solicit 205 deaf and hard of hearing volunteers in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The receiver packages were shipped to the volunteers, Rarey said.
During the test period, text alerts will be transmitted through a FEMA system that’s designed specifically for testing purposes, Rarey said. Test messages can be generated from anywhere, captured by the server uplink of the public radio stations and then transmitted over the air to the specialized receivers, he said. The Rae One is a powerful device that’s useful to the stations for emergency alerts and other RDS messaging, he said.
The equipment has been installed at WBHM(FM) Birmingham, Ala., and that station is undergoing testing this week, said General Manager Scott Hanley of the station, which is licensed to the University of Alabama-Birmingham. “We're the carrier to help make sure the signal gets over the airwaves,” he said. For the pilot, WBHM is using the emergency messaging service it already provides and extending it to an audience that otherwise wouldn’t have access, he said. The station already provides a reading service where volunteers read the local news publications for people who are blind and “print handicapped,” Hanley said. “It’s pretty remarkable when you realize that there are still some special needs that we can fulfill."
The system at WGCU(FM) Fort Myers, Fla., is operational, said Engineering Director Brian Zittlau. Testing there will start next week, he said. The equipment sends embedded information out from the station to its transmitter building, he said. The encoder picks up that information and sends the message out to the RDS stream, he said. It’s the same digital technology used to identify the station, song and artist on the radio, he said.
Installation is underway at WMPN(FM) Jackson, Miss., said a spokeswoman at Mississippi Public Broadcasting. “It will be ready in time for hurricane season.” She said she expects the program to be “a great asset to our work here, especially to the deaf and hard of hearing community in Mississippi.”
The pilot is an extension of WFSU’s work with the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which includes providing an uplink for briefings from the state agency, said Patrick Keating, general manager at WFSU(FM) and TV Tallahassee. The project is a natural addition and a way to reach even more people, he said. The equipment will be tested within a few weeks, he said. “My goal is to be ready for the beginning of hurricane season which begins in June."
Deaf and hard of hearing volunteers in the WFSU coverage area will use devices that serve as a radio and tablet, Keating said. The radio will receive the RDS messages, which would trigger a light to begin flashing on top of the radio, Keating said. A message will appear on the tablet screen, he said. The device also is equipped with an output that would activate a bed shaker mechanism if a volunteer has one, though that feature isn’t part of the test, he said.