The first large-scale use of a “reverse 911” system in Port Clinton, O., generated a “totally unacceptable” number of complaints about calls that went astray, officials said. Reverse 911 systems use autodialing/announcing devices to notify people by phone of emergencies and give instructions. In Port Clinton, potential water contamination arising from a major water main break led Ottawa County public safety officials to use their 2-year-old reverse 911 system, administered by the N.Y.-based Community Alert Network (CAN), to advise people in certain sections of the city to boil tap water before drinking it. Many people in the danger zone complained they never received the calls, while others far outside that zone said they did. The system had been used once before, in Nov. 2002, to alert a couple of hundred residents about tornado danger, but this was the first use of reverse 911 to notify thousands of a danger. All told, 2,121 calls were placed, but only 1,753 got through. Several dozen calls went to locations outside the danger areas. The CAN said it had believed the seller of the phone number database it used was reliable. To prevent a recurrence, Ottawa County said it would get from Verizon a CD containing the same database used by the regular E911 system and would forward that to CAN. Officials said they hoped the corrected listings would be in place within 3 weeks.
The FCC granted temporary extensions of 12-month waivers on Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) for Vista III Media, which owns small cable systems in Miss. Based on financial data and other information, the agency granted a 9-month waiver for the Holly Springs system and 6-month waivers for the systems in Aberdeen and Nettleton. FCC rules require cable systems serving fewer than 5,000 subscribers from a headend to either provide national level EAS messages on all programmed channels or install EAS equipment and provide a video interrupt and audio alert on all programmed channels and EAS audio and video messages on at least one programmed channel by Oct. 1, 2002. Vista has had waivers since then.
Many World Trade Organization (WTO) members still don’t comply with telecom trade agreements, comments filed with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week revealed. The comments were filed as part of USTR’s annual review of the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements on telecom products and services. The USTR is expected to conclude its review by March 31.
The FCC upheld an $8,000 fine against Radio One for failing to have Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment, keep a station log, maintain a local or toll-free number or have a system in place for monitoring operating power procedures at WBOT(FM), Brockton, Mass. Radio One appealed the fine, saying the FCC had fined other stations less for failing to maintain EAS equipment. Specifically, Radio One said the FCC had fined the American Family Assn. (AFA) only $4,000 for failing to have operational EAS equipment at a station it owns. The FCC, however, said AFA had EAS equipment, but it was simply turned off for repairs when inspectors were there. The FCC said WBOT(FM) didn’t have EAS equipment at all. Moreover, the FCC said, only $5,200 of the total fine was for the EAS violation, with the rest for the other violations.
The FCC Thurs. expanded the scope of some Enhanced 911 requirements, including a mandate that certain mobile satellite service (MSS) providers create call centers for routing emergency calls. In an order and further notice adopted unanimously at its agenda meeting, the Commission also concluded that, for now, state and local govts. were better positioned to set rules for E911 deployment by multiline telephone systems (MLTS). It expanded E911 mandates to certain telematics services and resellers of mobile wireless services, including prepaid calling cards.
A group founded by Ralph Nader is asking the FCC to deny the renewal of broadcast licenses for 63 radio stations owned by Clear Channel. Essential Information, a public interest group, urged in a complaint to the FCC that Clear Channel be denied license renewals for stations in D.C., Md., Va. and W.Va. The licenses will be renewed automatically Oct. 1 unless the FCC denies renewal. “The FCC is required by statute to deny applications for license renewal if a licensee exhibits poor character,” said Jim Donahue, project dir.: “In the 3 years since Clear Channel became the largest holder of station licenses in the nation, it has demonstrated that it lacks the requisite character to hold broadcast licenses.” He said the company had compiled a record of “repeated law-breaking.” He said Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had violated the law 36 times over the last 3 years, citing deceptive advertising, broadcasting conversations without obtaining permission of the 2nd party in the conversation, airing obscene and indecent material during times when children were likely to listen, violating rules on the testing of the emergency alert system, animal cruelty for the purpose of promoting an on-air personality and falsely causing a public emergency to be reported to promote an on-air personality, among others. Clear Channel Senior Vp-Govt. Relations Andrew Levin called the complaints “specious claims and an abuse of the regulatory process. One has to question Ralph Nader’s motives -- is he really concerned about our local radio stations or by his own national political aspirations? Sounds like another Washington fund-raising stunt to me. Can a campaign launch be far behind?”
As Hurricane Isabel bore down on the East Coast, telecom carriers said they were prepared for the worst. BellSouth and Verizon officials said their technicians were checking backup power systems so they could continue providing phone service if commercial power was lost and making sure their fuel tanks were full.
Public broadcaster WNET N.Y./Newark (Ch. 13) said it received $500,000 funding from the National Imagery & Mapping Agency (NIMA) to develop a prototype emergency alert system that would use the station’s digital spectrum to distribute emergency alerts, emergency response information and command and control information to the public, first responders and homeland security personnel. WNET is developing the system in conjunction with Rosettex Technology & Ventures Group under the auspices of the National Technology Alliance (NTA). WNET said the $500,000 initial award would be used to develop and analyze an urban testbed project using the station’s licensed ITFS spectrum for dissemination of information to first responders in national disaster situations. The ultimate goal, WNET said, would be to create a hybrid system in which both the ITFS and normal DTV spectrum bands were used to provide information and 2-way communication to first responders. The DTV channel could be used to broadcast traditional emergency alerts to the public as well as to deliver supplemental datacast information about evacuation routes and emergency treatment center locations to those with data receivers. The ITFS channel could be used to disseminate encrypted data such as building blueprints, procedures for handling dangerous materials and other sensitive information to emergency responders, it said. “The crisis of September 11, 2001, brought Thirteen and New York City together as never before,” Pres. William Baker said: “Ever since that fateful day, Thirteen has been determined to harness its transmission resources to provide vital information that will help save lives in the event of a regional emergency.”
The FCC dismissed a petition for rulemaking filed by Lawson Assoc., which had asked that the Commission permit cable and wireless cable systems with fewer than 5,000 subscribers to fulfill their Emergency Alert System (EAS) obligations by employing EAS decoders that would pass through bulletins by switching channels that didn’t carry the bulletins to one that did. The FCC dismissed the petition as premature because its Media Security & Reliability Council (MSRC) was examining issues related to public warning, including EAS. The FCC said that, if appropriate, it would open an inquiry on EAS after it received MSRC’s final recommendations.
The FCC at its agenda meeting Thurs. announced the creation of an Office of Homeland Security within its Enforcement Bureau, aimed at consolidating issues that relate to homeland security and emergency preparedness into a “more efficient and effective organizational structure.” James Dailey, deputy chief of the Enforcement Bureau and a 31-year FCC veteran, was named dir. of the new office. The office also will have responsibility for proceedings relating to the Emergency Alert System as well as the Commission’s Communications & Crisis Management Center and its Emergency Operations Center. FCC Comr. Copps said he hoped the action would give homeland security “the high priority it deserves at the Commission.” He said “I frankly worry that, as we as a nation move further away from 9/11, we have a tendency to let our guard down, to go back to business as usual.” He said organizational changes such as this one “can help in this effort -- or they can hurt.” It can help if “the priority remains heightened and the leadership is aggressive,” he said. It can hurt if the office “becomes just one more division among several in one bureau, or if the effort becomes one office’s job rather than every office’s job.” FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride outlined the agency’s “action plan” for homeland security, including such things as: (1) Work with the Dept. of Homeland Security to promote the use of best practices developed by the Network Reliability & Interconnection Council and the Media Security & Reliability Council. (2) Develop a service restoration memo of understanding with N.Y.C. and promote it to other metropolitan areas. (3) Double participation by state and local 911 centers in the Telecom Service Priority program. (4) Help tribal groups develop critical communications infrastructure protection plan. (5) Convene a “stakeholders summit to address communications issues that confront individuals with disabilities during national emergencies.” (6) Work with the FBI to review CALEA compliance by telecom carriers. MacBride emphasized that the FCC was “just one component of a complex network of public and private partnerships” working to improve security and reliability of telecom infrastructure.