The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System at 2:20 p.m. Wednesday. 

The test will assess the readiness for distribution of a national-level test message, as well as verify its delivery. The test is made available to radio, television, cable and direct broadcast satellite systems. It is scheduled to last about one minute.

The test’s message will be similar to the regular monthly test message of the EAS, except inserting the word “national.”  It will say: “This is a national test of the Emergency Alert System. This is only a test.”

The test is intended to ensure that public safety officials have the methods and systems to deliver urgent alerts and warnings to the public in times of an emergency or disaster.

The back-up date for the test is Oct. 4, in case the Sept. 27 test is canceled. More information on wireless emergency alerts is available online.

• The EAS test will address accessibility in the following ways: (1) the emergency test message will be transmitted in English and Spanish via audio and text so that individuals with disabilities and limited English proficiency will have options for reading the message……(2) in addition to the EAS visual message being displayed in a manner consistent with the FCC’s current rules (that is, at the top of the TV screen, or where it will not interfere with other visual messages), the message is required to be displayed in a size, color, contrast, location, and speed that is readily readable and understandable, and…….(3) the FCC’s current rules require that the EAS message will not contain overlapping lines of EAS text, and will not extend beyond the viewable display.
• An American Sign Language (ASL) video about this test can be found at this link: https://youtu.be/LkgPZun7vck.