There was recently a first run national Emergency Alert on the television and it left a lot of room for improvement. This is a legally mandated warning system enacted by President Bush in 2006. Of course it was done in case of a national emergency.
While 99% of the test went on normally some stations did not press the play button on time, others did not turn it off on time, and others accidentally hit their iTunes playlist instead. The 30 second time limit also was not strictly adhered.
My problem was that this national test was not standard. Each station did it their way which was awkward and did not inspire confidence.
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| CBS did a great job lasting exactly 30 seconds and bold with a simple crawl. |
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| NBC was bland there was nothing bold or hinting at an emergency. |
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| Fox decide advertising was more important then the actual emergency and took up one-third of the screen with their logo. Also they went way over he 30 seconds limit. |
CBS set the standard and I suggest all other stations put their egos aside and just copy the CBS template.
