Old school EAS

[CyberGoth1440]

"Phil Alexander recalls: Radios of the late 50's and early 60's had the "CD" triangle in a circle emblem at 640 and 1240, and late one night I spent 2 or 3 hours turning a DA station on 1550 into a non DA on 1240 because about 9 PM EST one Saturday night in October '62, the White House seized all the wires and sent a message that all ConelraD authorized stations should be prepared to begin ConelraD operations at, or at any time after, 10 AM the following morning. I tested on 1240 during the experimental period, marked all the strap points and adjustments, put the station back on 1550, left a note for the morning guy to call me if an alert came through and went home (5 minutes away) and went to bed about 3 AM. The sun came up, the Russian ships on the way to Cuba turned around, and the 1240 crystal was never used again."

Broadcast History

 

[talkpair]

I still remember the February 20, 1971 false alarm...........The message broke into Saturday morning cartoons !

It was shortly after 8:30 a.m. in Kansas City.

This was an era when there was only one TV set in most households, and it was in the living room.
Soooo the entire family heard it.