Nationwide EAS Test Still Set for September 28

Just a quick reminder for all EAS participants. The second-ever nationwide test of the EAS system is still set for Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 2:20 p.m. (ET). This is a command-performance-all-hands-on-deck gig for all participants, so you should be sure that your EAS gear is ready to go and your staff has been alerted to the test.

There will be a quiz afterward " actually, not a quiz, but a report that will have to be filed - again, by all participants - through the Commission's new ETRS (EAS Test Reporting System). If you haven't already set up your account in ETRS and submitted Form One, shame on you. That was supposed to have been done a month ago. The post-test report is technically called Form Two. It's supposed to be filed by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on September 28. Don't worry - it's not complicated.

In a public notice about the test, the Commission has also shed some light on the "secondary test date" of October 5 (at 2:20 p.m. (ET)). We mentioned that date in an earlier post after the Commission alluded to it, in passing without explanation in a footnote, in an earlier notice. According to the most recent notice, the October 5 date is a "back-up date" for the test "in case the September 28 test is cancelled due to widespread severe weather or other significant events". So presumably, if the September 28 test happens on schedule, we need not worry about any test on October 5, but we'll have to wait and see to be sure.