Forum:The last message you'll ever hear? - EBS actvation

This is from a Fort Wayne station (WOWO) in an accidental activation of the Emergency Broadcast system in 1971... about 20 seconds in you hear the activation message, followed by the poor announcer spending the next few minutes franticly filling in air despite having nothing to say, followed by an explanation as to what happened (Someone put the "Actvate" tape in the originating transmitter at Chyenne mountain, instead of the "Test" tape)

http://historyofwowo.com/audio/WOWO-Bob%20SieversEBS_02-20-1971_scoped.mp3

Here's the scary thing folks: If this was a real emergency, you might not have known about about it! Many stations either ignored the activation, didn't know what to do, or didn't get the activation.

There's more on this event here:

http://conelrad.blogspot.com/2010/09/code-word-hatefulness-great-ebs-scare.html

Agent c 02:07, October 7, 2010 (UTC)

Except nowadays you'll be more likely to hear a computer voice give you instructions. FinalWish 02:10, October 7, 2010 (UTC)

That stuff is always so amusing. The announcer is basically just saying "This is an emergency announcement" over and over again until he finds out it's a mistake. Nice story. MFToast - talk 11:52, October 8, 2010 (UTC)

Although amusing it is concerning some flat out ignored the activation.VaultTec X 04:33, October 18, 2010

Microsoft Sam announcing it over the speakers Deathclawpoop 15:16, October 18, 2010 (UTC)