1 of 1- RadioActive
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Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
It will happen across most of the country on Wednesday, May 8th, but for some reason won't be held in Ontario until a week later. May 15th is when our TV and radios will be interrupted at 12:55 PM for the semi-regular "the world is falling" test of the system.
I always wonder why they schedule them when they do. In the U.S., it also inevitably seems to come at the tail end of a show in primetime, and it almost always interrupts the most important part of a drama you've been watching. "And the killer is--Dee-Doo-Dee-Doo-Dee-Doo...This is a test. etc." Why can't they schedule them earlier?
(This happened on a Law & Order I was watching a few months ago, completely obliterating the ending. What was really weird was that the closed captioning also disappeared, so you couldn't follow the dialogue even that way.)
Anyway, this shouldn't be an issue with this one. The only thing you may lose is the end of a newscast or a daytime talk show on TV. And given the quality of some of them, you may prefer the alarm and the big red banner!
Here's where you can check the province-by-province schedule of when the alert comes in your area.
- mace
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
RadioActive wrote:
It will happen across most of the country on Wednesday, May 8th, but for some reason won't be held in Ontario until a week later. May 15th is when our TV and radios will be interrupted at 12:55 PM for the semi-regular "the world is falling" test of the system.
I always wonder why they schedule them when they do. In the U.S., it also inevitably seems to come at the tail end of a show in primetime, and it almost always interrupts the most important part of a drama you've been watching. "And the killer is--Dee-Doo-Dee-Doo-Dee-Doo...This is a test. etc." Why can't they schedule them earlier?
(This happened on a Law & Order I was watching a few months ago, completely obliterating the ending. What was really weird was that the closed captioning also disappeared, so you couldn't follow the dialogue even that way.)
Anyway, this shouldn't be an issue with this one. The only thing you may lose is the end of a newscast or a daytime talk show on TV. And given the quality of some of them, you may prefer the alarm and the big red banner!
Here's where you can check the province-by-province schedule of when the alert comes in your area.
With regards to your L & O issue, I immediately thought of P1. He probably would have commented that if you had been watching on the Canadian channel, there would have been no interruption and you would have seen the end of the show. However, like you I always watch my programs on the originating U.S. network.
- newsguy1
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I'm sure the government wonks' attitude is, to hell with what people are watching or listening to, this is grown up stuff, so they better just suck it up.
Maybe that's true but I think they would maybe think twice if they interrupted the closing moments of a Stanley Cup game 7, blocking out the winning outcome.
Can you imagine the backlash?
That being said those tests are silly anyway, because the real thing would never allow people time to escape from, say a tornado, and certainly not a nuclear attack (duck and cover!).
When I was a child, maybe 6 or 7 I remember asking my dad about the warnings on TV with the Emergency Broadcast Service.
They said if it had been a real emergency the viewer would have been given a frequency to tune to to get the latest information on the atomic bomb.
My dad told me, flat out, despite my age, that the EBS message would never be heard because we'd all be dead.
My dad was in the British Army and was actually on a boat sailing for Japan when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As a doctor he well knew the effects of atomic radiation etc.
- RadioActive
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
After sounding around most of the country last week, Wednesday is Ontario's turn. An emergency alert test will interrupt all radio and TV signals for about a minute, and you should also get a noisy notice on your cell phone. It's scheduled to happen at 12:55 PM.
Not quite sure why everyone else got it first and we had to wait but at least they're not conducting it in primetime, like many American stations do.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Well, that was interesting. I tuned around the dial quickly during the Emergency Alert at 12:55 PM and every station had the exact same announcement - a computerized female voice explaining it was only a test.
Except one. For some reason, Sauga 960 had a far more robotic male-sounding voice reading the same announcement. How is that possible? I thought everyone had the same system and they would all be identical. Clearly, theirs was different. But why?
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Thread Starter- Forward Power
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Could be old software/text-to-speech on their alert decoder. Most stations use a blue "Sage Digital ENDEC" box to put alerts on the air, and it's the most common such unit used for the United States' Emergency Alert System (EAS).
- Radiowiz
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
It was perfect timing. CTV Toronto went to ads as the red screen and alarm kicked in.
None of the news content lost. Somehow after the test was done, the same ad was just finishing up, so there was no loss of ad revenue either. (it would seem...)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- newsguy1
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Hopefully the latest secret phone call between Fiona and Sarah was not interrupted.
God knows what important information she had to keep from Callum and Michael.
- RadioActive
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Apparently, a lot of people did not get the "call" on their cell phones and are not sure why.
Major failure with emergency alert test has Ontario residents confused and worried
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I got no notice on my phone. Interesting I got the interruption on my tv while I was watching a PVRed Corrie Street episode.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Everyone I know who didn't get it is on Rogers.
- RadioActive
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I'm on Telus, and I didn't get it on my phone, either.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I'm on Telus, and I didn't get it on my phone, either.
Well so much for that theory.
- Forward Power
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
We got it in Renfrew County on Koodo, via a Bell site... wife's Samsung S9 and my Google Pixel 6a.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I'm on Telus, and I didn't get it on my phone, either.
Well so much for that theory.
Yeah, not Rogers this time. They're off the hook.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Saul
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
Loud and clear on Bell. Do I get a QSL?
- mic'em
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I didn't get it in Sudbury, my co-workers did. I'm with Simply Connect, but I believe they use the Rogers system.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
The old excuse used to be the type of phone you have (older smart phone)
I doubt that is the case today, with most people getting a new phone every two years.
(Remember when contracts used to be 3 years?)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- mic'em
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I have a Samsung A11, so it is older, but I have received the alerts in the past.
- haydenmatthews14
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Re: Cell Phones, TV, Radio To Be Interrupted For Latest Emergency Test
I did not get an alert on my iPhone XR this afternoon.
Last edited by haydenmatthews14 (May 16, 2024 10:18 pm)