The first known use of the SIRIUS Emergency Alert System occured this morning. The blogger at the Satellite Standard Group site reported:

On my drive this morning I was enjoying the Jay Thomas Show on Sirius Stars when an “Emergency Bulletin” came out regarding the terror plot that was foiled in London. The message stated the basic facts, gave an update as to the status of the alert code color, and referred people to Fox News, CNN News, CNN Headline News, or BBC World News. The message also gave out the appropriate Sirius channel numbers.

Two things. First, the Jay Thomas show isn’t that good. Second, what’s important here is that Sirius is fighting back against the widely held opinion that satellite programming is so “locked down” into its format (some of which on computerized autopilot) that breaking news can’t, well, break.
     The U.S. government is requiring both Sirius and XM to participate in the country’s Emergency Alert System by the end of this calendar year.

Factoid: About a year and a half ago, an employee within the Connecticut Office of Emergency Management inadvertently activated an EAS message over radio and television stations telling residents to evacuate the state immediately. Turns out the button used to conduct weekly EAS tests is located next to a button that is used to issue an emergency alert to evacuate the state. Oops.

Sirius Backstage and Wikipedia

(Incidentally, Sirius Canada has some job openings if you’re looking around.)

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