Bobby Bones Could Face Heavy Fines After EAS Triggered
This story has been updated (see below)
The pieces are beginning to fall together after a troubling incident Friday morning (10-24) where thousands of subscribers to AT&T’s U-Verse television service had their TV’s locked down by the national “EAS” emergency system. The system was triggered by a tone that emanated from radio station 97.9 WSIX in Nashville during The Bobby Bones Show—a syndicated iHeartMedia morning program that is the biggest radio broadcast in country music. Now The Bobby Bones Show and/or some of its affiliates could face big fines for negligently playing the tone.
The Emergency Alert System was activated during a segment on the show where they were discussing a test of the EAS system during Game 2 of the World Series. As part of the segment, they played a YouTube clip over the air of a 2011 nationwide test of the system which included the tones to activate it and alert others to rebroadcast the signal. When AT&T’s U-Verse system received the signal, it immediately locked down subscriber’s televisions and displayed the warning of a national emergency.
Viewers received an “Emergency Action Notification” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA, warning them to wait for further information from The White House. “The station has interrupted its regular programming at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System,” the message said in part, and warned viewers to keep telephone lines open for emergency use only. The message was seen by AT&T U-Verse customers in Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, Detroit and Nashville. Local viewers scrambled to figure out what the emergency was, as the warning forced televisions of U-Verse subscribers to tune to one specific channel and wouldn’t allow it to be changed.
This morning, there was an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast,” FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre said in a statement on Friday. “There is not a national emergency. Today’s broadcast triggered alert notification in states where the alert has been played”¦FEMA and the FCC are currently working with broadcasters to determine the full scope of the situation.”
As RadioInsight points out, Cable networks were fined a total of $1.9 million after inadvertently broadcasting the signature EAS tones out during a commercial for the movie Olympus Has Fallen in March of 2013. Fines are levied from the FCC, and could not only affect The Bobby Bones Show and iHeartMedia, but its affiliates that carry the syndicated the show all across the country through Premier Networks.
UPDATE (10-28): Premier Networks has released a statement about the incident: “The tone should not have aired. We are cooperating fully with the authorities and are taking aggressive action to investigate this incident and prevent it from recurring. We deeply regret the error.”
Communications Law Attorney John F. Garziglia has weighed in on the matter via Radio Ink Magazine, saying in part:
The false sending of EAS codes or the attention signal is akin to pulling a fire alarm in an occupied building. In addition to being a violation of law, false EAS codes and the attention signal cause public confusion, and a false EAS activation could cause injuries or worse to those who unwittingly take actions in response….
As explained by the FCC, “[t]he prohibition thus applies to programmers that distribute programming containing a prohibited sound regardless of whether or not they deliver the unlawful signal directly to consumers; it also applies to a person who transmits an unlawful signal even if that person did not create or produce the prohibited programming in the first instance. Therefore, the prohibition also applies to a broadcaster, cable operator, or satellite carrier that transmits programming containing a prohibited sound even if the programmer that embedded the sound is not under common ownership or control with the respective broadcaster, operator, or carrier.”
…Every air personality, programmer, program producer, ad agency and manager needs to understand that there are significant FCC fines for misuse of EAS codes and the attention signal.
kingfish
October 27, 2014 @ 8:40 am
maybe Kacey Musgraves can headline a benefit concert to help Bobby Bones raise the money for this fine.
Charlie
October 27, 2014 @ 9:55 am
Zzzzzzing!!!!!!!
Six String Richie
October 28, 2014 @ 8:51 am
I’m shocked this post didn’t get more comments. Anyways, maybe some people in those states will get mad at him and stop listening. Fingers crossed.
Trigger
October 28, 2014 @ 9:44 am
This is a big national story that probably should be even bigger than it is. Yet for some reason it’s also one of those stories some people think it’s cool to aggressively not care about.
Kevin Fodor
October 28, 2014 @ 2:04 pm
The reason few commented here is because few people know what EAS is and, frankly couldn’t care less. Unless you work in broadcasting (and I do), or are a “radio geek”, chances are…you don’t care.
That having been said, someone, maybe multiple someone’s could be paying a big bill, and could be out of a job.
Trigger
October 28, 2014 @ 3:24 pm
And that someone is the biggest DJ in the history of country music, who many hate, and many more love. They’ve done a surprising job keeping this story managed, but when fines/suspensions come down, it’s not going to be pretty.
Kevin Fodor
October 28, 2014 @ 4:48 pm
I agree with your observation…the only thing I will call into question is the notion that Bones is “the biggest DJ in the history of country music”. Perhaps I will agree when he is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Until then, he’s just a talented jock who has a syndicated morning show.
Troy Turner
October 29, 2014 @ 2:10 pm
Trigger,
Do you believe that there will only be fines and/or suspensions or do you think that there will be a good chance that Bobby Bones’s radio show will be taken off of the air as a result of the stunt that they pulled?
Trigger
October 29, 2014 @ 3:45 pm
I think it is almost guaranteed heavy fines will be taken against The Bobby Bones Show, AND all his affiliates who re-broadcasted the tones. As for if he will be suspended or fired, really I believe this would be up to iHeartMedia, not the FCC or anyone else. They will have to weigh Bobby Bones as an asset to their company vs. the amount of the fines and the liability he poses to the company. Since he just redid his contract, my guess is he’s not going anywhere. But let’s say his ratings continue to slip vis a vis Nash Icon or something, maybe this is the way for iHeartMedia to get get out from under his contract. We’ll have to see.
Troy Turner
October 29, 2014 @ 3:58 pm
Thanks for the reply, brother. I guess we’ll just have to wait and watch to see how this story unfolds. I live in West Palm Beach & his show is broadcast in Tampa (please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m a bit fried after a 12 hour shift at work.), so I’ve never had the chance to listen to his morning show. Yet, from what I’ve read on SCM and other commenters on here, this guy sounds like country music’s version of Howard Stern. And even Howard has toned down his show considerably in recent years. Looks like the main way to get attention nowadays in the entertainment industry is to become a lightning rod for controversy, don’t cha think Trigger?
Bill Edwards
October 28, 2014 @ 9:48 am
This guy is terrible. He whines because he didnt get an award nomination last month and now he does this stunt. He knows nothing about country music, country people and their way of life so he has to resort to gimmicks and stunts. Pretty pathetic.
Alicia
October 28, 2014 @ 1:09 pm
I was at home with my baby when this message aired. It scared the crap out of me to the point of a panic attack. There was nothing funny about this, especially in a state where we have an ongoing Ebola scare. (I know) Not cool. Come on Karma!
Ron Brandon
October 28, 2014 @ 5:05 pm
Interesting how simple it is to bring the system (and the listening public) to a standstill. Can you imagine the result should some “bad guy” take the idea and run with it..
Jim West
October 28, 2014 @ 5:11 pm
What the Hell was this bozo thinking ???? Was he trying to be funny ?
Royce Bell
October 29, 2014 @ 11:24 am
Absolute, flaming idiot.
That a “veteran” broadcaster could make this kind of irresponsible mistake is beyond comprehension. I cannot fathom there is a better argument for reinstituting licensing for broadcasters (even the Third Class Radiotelephone license test included questions about reading transmitter meters and other related matters).
Jimmie
October 29, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
This whole thing is so ridiculous, it’s friggin’ hilarious. When I first read this article, I was thinking it was one of your “Onion” style pieces. The fact that the whole thing is factual is just mind-blowing and hilarious.
Our country truly is run by idiots!
Anthony C
October 30, 2014 @ 3:05 am
Had this segment been aired on an urban hip hop station, I’m sure we’d be hearing a whole lot more about it. But, because it wasn’t, let’s just give this radio show and station a once over and not put the severity of this prank on blast through other sources of media.
James S.
November 18, 2014 @ 5:42 pm
If this nation falters on the basis of a sound posted on You-Tube and reposted on radio, we are in deep doo-doo. Someone compared the issue to pulling a fire alarm. This is not the case as someone would have to know or comprehend that posting a tone downloaded from the internet would cause the alarm to go off. Wouldn’t you think that they would be going after the You-Tube poster instead? What if my dog howls at that same pitch? What if my car horn triggers the alarm too? It is amazing that the powers-that-be were able to suppress this story so well. It is suprising that others haven’t posted that sound as well.