ETRS Form Three due Monday, Nov. 14

posted on 11.07.2016

The September National Periodic Test (NPT) of the nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) may be a distant memory for many broadcasters, but one last FCC requirement for Texas stations remains.

All EAS participants, meaning broadcast licensees and others, must file EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) Form Three for each station by 10:59 p.m., CT, on Monday, Nov. 14.

Stations can access the ETRS logon page at the link above.

While ETRS Forms One and Two were relatively brief, imparting pre- and post-Sept. 28 National Periodic Test information about the licensee and its receipt (or not) of the NPT, Form Three “is comprised of more detailed post-test questions,” said Lauren Lynch Flick, an attorney with TAB’s FCC counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

For example, the station must indicate:

• if it received the test
• from what monitoring source(s) it received the test
• the actual NPT receipt date and time
• time zone
• if there were complications in receiving the message such as failure to receive the alert code, audio quality issues, receipt of duplicate messages, equipment performance issues, user error, or other issues
• an explanation of the complications

TAB notes that the FCC has said its goal is to make EAS work, not to punish licensees.

Stations, nonetheless, cannot be derelict in their ETRS reporting duties.

Questions about ETRS can be sent to the FCC using ETRS@fcc.gov.

Questions? Contact TAB's Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.

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