The NWS needs to take it easy on the technology.  I appreciate that they let me know about weather alerts and all, but this is ridiculous.

On my commute home this afternoon, the DJ interrupted a song to tell us of a tornado warning.  This is all well and good and needs to be done.  He subsequently restarted the song and all was good. 

Apparently the NWS didn't think so, for they interrupted the song themselves to tell us of the very same tornado warning.  Apparently they have the right to do that.  But they did it in the MOST annoying way possible. 

First there was a series of annoying beeps and whistles.  If you've heard them do this, you know the sounds I'm talking about.  THEN they had a "print to speech" voice reading the report.  I could only understand about half of what it said.  Luckily, the tornado warning was about 50 miles from me.  

Seriously, DJs are paid to talk on the radio and be understood.  Let them read the report.  You're making yourselves look like idiots when you give the DJ the report AND hijack the station.  OR if you're going to hijack every radio station in the area, have someone read it aloud who can be UNDERSTOOD.  

That system was probably put in place in the 50s when the government was afraid the Commies would find a way to control the weather and destroy our precious, precious dollars.  Since Communism only exists in 4th-world countries like Cuba and Slovenia now, it's probably safe to phase it out. 

Tell it to the Federal Communications Commission

The annoyance of it is to get your attention. I mean if the DJ was just his jovial self "And that was Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin but you already knew that. Hey there listeners you might want to pay attention because there's a big nasty storm headed our way. Now here's Journey with Who's Crying Now." Do you really think you're going to notice?

I can agree a bit on the computer voice thing but I call caltrans frequently for highway conditions when I go to Tahoe and it's really not that impossible to understand.

 

medialint:

The annoyance of it is to get your attention. I mean if the DJ was just his jovial self "And that was Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin but you already knew that. Hey there listeners you might want to pay attention because there's a big nasty storm headed our way. Now here's Journey with Who's Crying Now." Do you really think you're going to notice?

 

If my choices were between listening to Journey and dying a horrible, tornado-y death, there is absolutely no contest. 

morbiuswilters:

Since Communism only exists in 4th-world countries like Cuba and Slovenia now, it's probably safe to phase it out. 

 

Slovenia? WTF?

ammoQ:

morbiuswilters:

Since Communism only exists in 4th-world countries like Cuba and Slovenia now, it's probably safe to phase it out. 

 

Slovenia? WTF?

 

<SwampLing> ender is a communist by heart

medialint:

The annoyance of it is to get your attention. I mean if the DJ was just his jovial self "And that was Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin but you already knew that. Hey there listeners you might want to pay attention because there's a big nasty storm headed our way. Now here's Journey with Who's Crying Now." Do you really think you're going to notice?

The thing is that the DJ got my attention plenty.  But then the NWS had to go blab their bit too.  

morbiuswilters:

If my choices were between listening to Journey and dying a horrible, tornado-y death, there is absolutely no contest.

Oh, absolutely. Now if it's Foreigner, I don't want to be interrupted for anything less than global thermonuclear war.

belgariontheking:

First there was a series of annoying beeps and whistles. 

 

Actually, that was techno. I agree it should be banned.

If it make you feel better, I could just go downstairs and give the guy a smack on the back of the head for interrupting your music.  </sarcasm>

Seriously though, the severe storms people are two floors below me.  And yes, they do have the right to break through a broadcast if they feel that a station did not adequetely convey information. In the room for the severe storms people, they have a whole wall of televisions that has access to every (or just about) network channel in the country so that they can see if a station meteorologist is relaying their warnings and watches (or as is sometimes the case, is putting out their own unauthorized warnings and watches).

I should see if I still have a picture of that room... 

WeatherGod:

If it make you feel better, I could just go downstairs and give the guy a smack on the back of the head for interrupting your music.

That would be great.

WeatherGod:

</sarcasm>

Shit.

WeatherGod:

yes, they do have the right to break through a broadcast if they feel that a station did not adequetely convey information.

Apparently my (and the DJs) definition of adequate differs from theirs.  I was assuming they broke through every station in the city.  The DJ was even talking about it after their broadcast was done, about how he had JUST said it.  

But I think what annoyed me the most was the electronic voice.  The rest I can (mostly) understand.

Thanks for your insight, by the way. 

belgariontheking:

But I think what annoyed me the most was the electronic voice.

Oh, I think most people in the NWS hate that voice.  I don't think it has been updated in 10 years (or however long they have been doing text to speech). I sometimes wonder if they just never bothered to get a speech technician that can modify the voice parameters to something more pleasent.  At the least, would it be that difficult to get the Weather Channel's automated voice?

I don't use festival... does anybody know if the default voice for festival sounds like the NWS emergency voice?

WeatherGod:

I don't use festival... does anybody know if the default voice for festival sounds like the NWS emergency voice?

Does it sound British?

It's part of a new system that all licensed stations must implement. And they have a computer do it because -- no joke -- the Coast Guard had a problem where people reading the reports over the air would fail to convey the gravity of gale warnings in the tone of their voice. They promptly spent millions on a TTS system that had the exact same problem.

How about an uber-sultry seductress female voice in a c'mere kind of tone -- I know it would get my attention :)

 

What you heard was the Emergency Alert System.  The buzzes at the start of the message are FSK data bursts that identify the scope of the message, and the concept is that these messages,  unlike the DJ breaking in, are self-propagating.  

In a nutshell, every radio station over a certain power level (I believe it is 100W) is required to monitor at least one other.  When an EAS signal comes over the air, they have a device at the receiving station which determines whether or not the message is in scope, and, if it is, it relays it from the station being monitored.

The National Weather Service also uses the same protocol for SAME alerts on their own broadcasts (you need a scanner or weatherradio to pick these up).  As such, messages are quickly and easily propagated between the NWS network and broadcasters as appropriate.

This is a fully appropriate system.  What if the DJ hadn't made the announcement?  What if the DJ didn't notice that there was an announcement to make?  What if there was no DJ?    

Critter:

This is a fully appropriate system.  What if the DJ hadn't made the announcement?  What if the DJ didn't notice that there was an announcement to make?  What if there was no DJ?    

Except that according to someone that works at the NWS earlier in this thread, they listen and determine for themselves whether the station read the warning to their satisfaction.

Also, if you're going to just cut in, why give the DJs something to read in the first place?

The radio station that I listen to is the most anti-establishment station in the area.  By that I mean that if any station is going to say "screw that I'm not reading this," it would be that station.   And they STILL cut off a song to read it.

I'm comfortable with them cutting in and telling me about emergencies.  I mean, if it affected me, I would definitely want to know.  I just think that the implementation is a WTF.

Whoda thought I'd spend so much energy defending my WTF?

snoofle:

How about an uber-sultry seductress female voice in a c'mere kind of tone -- I know it would get my attention :) 

So are your daughters up to doing some recording sessions?

belgariontheking:

medialint:

The annoyance of it is to get your attention. I mean if the DJ was just his jovial self "And that was Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin but you already knew that. Hey there listeners you might want to pay attention because there's a big nasty storm headed our way. Now here's Journey with Who's Crying Now." Do you really think you're going to notice?

The thing is that the DJ got my attention plenty.  But then the NWS had to go blab their bit too.  

 

Its understandable about the public service anouncement. They should have had a GOOD english-speaker who can easily be understood read the message. OR REALLY good TTS software where they manually evaluated the output BEFORE it went on the air on its own, just to make sure it could be understood.

dlikhten:

Its understandable about the public service anouncement.

 

dlikhten probably types up the NWS announcements, so they need to repeat the message to make SURE it is effective.

 

"tere is tronades onteh wai!"

belgariontheking:

Critter:

This is a fully appropriate system.  What if the DJ hadn't made the announcement?  What if the DJ didn't notice that there was an announcement to make?  What if there was no DJ?    

Except that according to someone that works at the NWS earlier in this thread, they listen and determine for themselves whether the station read the warning to their satisfaction.

To be honest, I am only somewhat familiar with the NWS broadcast proceedures.  I know that they keep an eye on television broadcasts, but I don't know how much attention is paid to radio broadcasts.  Critter's comment about the relay system seems right.  Maybe this information is relevant: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/

(Also, to be clear, I don't work for the NWS, I am a research student in the same building as the NWS) 

Critter:

This is a fully appropriate system.  What if the DJ hadn't made the announcement?  What if the DJ didn't notice that there was an announcement to make?  What if there was no DJ?

What if you're listening to a CD/Tape/8-Track? Then you're screwed.

Or is that just your fault for not listening to the radio?

belgariontheking:

First there was a series of annoying beeps and whistles.

 TRWTF is that you post on a tech message board and can't recognize a modem tone when you hear it.

If you don't like the voice, build yourself a SAME decoder (the specs are open), and have it read you the message in the voice you want if you feel it really applies to you, just muting the audio if it doesn't.