Don't use the EAS tone for any sound effect

[dvsDave]

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $504,000

And that, kids, is why we don't play the Emergency Alert System tone on TV

www.theregister.com

The US's Emergency Alert System's distinctive alert sound is protected by law from being used outside of the EAS system. The distinctive sound is actually two simultaneous tones, 853Hz and 960Hz.

The FCC protects the use of that tone and actively hunts for illegal use of the tone. The goal is to ensure that people don't get desensitized to the sound and ignore it when an actual emergency message is broadcast.

 

[FMEng]

The FCC only has the authority to punish it's licensees, such as broadcast stations. They don't hunt down theater sound people for using the tones. However, being that I'm involved in my state's EAS committee, I don't encourage using EAS tones as a sound effect.

For a company the size of Fox, the fine is a slap on the wrist. Their annual coffee budget is probably bigger.

 

[jtweigandt]

If this had been an actual emergency you would have been instructed where to tune in your area

Dont want to hurt no Kangaroos

 

[JimmyM]

Great little video on it here

 

[Jay Ashworth]

The FCC only has the authority to punish it's licensees, such as broadcast stations. They don't hunt down theater sound people for using the tones. However, being that I'm involved in my state's EAS committee, I don't encourage using EAS tones as a sound effect.

Unless your script contains people listening to a radio when an EAS alert goes off. :-}

 

[JimmyM]

Unless your script contains people listening to a radio when an EAS alert goes off. :-}

I don’t think that is an airtight excuse…

 

[JChenault]

Sounds like if your show demanded that tone, some enterprising sound technician could make a simultaneous tone of 854 Hz and 961 Hz and all wold be well.

 

[TimMc]

"This was only a test. Had this been an actual emergency, I'd have been talking a lot faster!"

 

[danTt]

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $504,000

And that, kids, is why we don't play the Emergency Alert System tone on TV

www.theregister.com

The US's Emergency Alert System's distinctive alert sound is protected by law from being used outside of the EAS system. The distinctive sound is actually two simultaneous tones, 853Hz and 960Hz.

The FCC protects the use of that tone and actively hunts for illegal use of the tone. The goal is to ensure that people don't get desensitized to the sound and ignore it when an actual emergency message is broadcast.

This article is painful to read.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

I don’t think that is an airtight excuse…

It is if your script is for a play, in a theatre.

The only thing FCC has jurisdiction over, as someone else pointed out above, is *broadcasting*. *Maybe* direct-to-cable, though I'm not sure. Definitely not streaming video, YouTube, Vimeo, or live performance.

There's a case to be made about the karmic aspects of using EAS tones in places where they *are* legal, but it's bad form to use them anyway, but my counterexample was for place where they are both legal -- *and* called for.

 

[FMEng]

Sounds like if your show demanded that tone, some enterprising sound technician could make a simultaneous tone of 854 Hz and 961 Hz and all wold be well.

For broadcasters and cable systems, even a simulation of the tones or data codes would be a violation. Anything that a listener might think sounds like an EAS alert must not be broadcast.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

For broadcasters and cable systems, even a simulation of the tones or data codes would be a violation. Anything that a listener might think sounds like an EAS alert must not be broadcast.

Sure, but as noted, we weren't talking about broadcast.

Theatre sometimes *gets* broadcast, so it's a good thing to have in the back of people's minds, though.