With new equipment at tower sites statewide, Nebraska Public Media improves its ability to inform communities in critical moments.
New automated technology is increasing our ability to provide emergency alerts to Nebraska communities on our FM radio stations.
We recently installed Emergency Alert System (EAS) boxes and satellite radio receivers at each of our full-power FM radio tower sites, including at new sites in Broken Bow, Falls City and McCook – and soon in Columbus.
The EAS technology picks up alerts from the National Weather Service and immediately interrupts radio programming. During our last fiscal year, we alerted Nebraskans with 178 regional tornado warnings.
“Speed is important. This automated system immediately distributes regionalized weather warnings so we can protect Nebraskans, especially in rural areas.” said Network Operations Manager Al Krause. “Interrupting programming to read warnings live on the air takes longer when seconds can count.”
The satellite radio technology alerts Nebraskans if a catastrophic event occurs in the country, and the signal is interrupted between Lincoln and the remote FM transmitter. “An emergency action notification would explain how everyone should respond,” said Krause.