National EAS Test Scheduled

By public notice, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has announced the 2021 Nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System.  The test is scheduled for August 11, 2021, with a back-up date of August 25.

All EAS Participants – including Low Power FM stations (LPFM), Class D non-commercial educational FM stations, and EAS Participants that are silent pursuant to a grant of Special Temporary Authority – are required to register and file in ETRS, with only the following exceptions (1) analog and digital low power television (LPTV) stations that operate as television broadcast translator stations are not required to register and file in ETRS; (2) FM broadcast booster stations and FM translator stations which entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations are not required to register and file in ETRS, and (3) analog and digital broadcast stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or common studio or control point if there is no hub station) and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point) are not required to register and file in ETRS. However, the hub station (or common studio or control point) is required to register and file in ETRS.

EAS Participants must file ETRS Form One by July 6, 2021, and may update or correct it through August 5, 2021.  ETRS Form Two must be filed no later than August 12, 2021, and will report whether the test was received and transmitted.  ETRS Form Three must be filed no later than September 27, 2021, and will report any issues that an EAS participant experienced with the test.

ETRS filers can log into the system at this link, and must have a CORES Username to do so.  If there are problems logging in, or if a new CORES username is needed, the FCC’s notice contains links for doing so.  ETRS Form One does pre-populate from prior filings once a facility id is specified, but the pre-populated information should be reviewed and corrected where necessary.

The FCC has not previously taken enforcement actions against stations for failing to participate, or for failing to take pre-test actions necessary to receive and transmit the test.  However, they specifically reserve the right to do so.