Too Many Warnings from Too Many Places….

Back in “the day” people used to keep a lookout in questionable weather (extremely humid, fast rising or falling temperatures, etc) and take responsibility to tune-in to local media which, back in the (same) day was not owned by corporate monsters that program from hundreds of miles away from your home town…and the result:  Local people giving you LOCAL weather information.

Today, you check your phone.  If you don’t “like” one source, you click to a local TV station, or another, or another, or….you’ve signed up for “local” alerts….rather than being AWARE of your surroundings and quickly changing weather conditions.  This is a loss to our collective brain cells, as we rely on THINGS rather than OURSELVES to be safe and to make good weather decisions.

Take, for instance our local area.  We had a call-out system that was operated by Ionia County.  The message to residential landline phones (and yes, they came to the studio of WION as well)…was, “Ionia County is under a Severe _________” warning.  Please tune to LOCAL MEDIA for more information.  Well, WION IS YOUR LOCAL MEDIA. THE ONLY ONE!! This was fine…and, we try to staff at all possible opportunities thanks to the fact that Jim Carlyle really doesn’t have a life, and “lives” radio every day.  It’s also because we made a commitment to do this when we saved your local radio station from the bank’s wrecking ball over 21 years ago.

Now enter 2026.   There’s a “new emergency alert system” in town (as touted on Facebook by our Ionia officials) for which you can sign up.  Apparently replacing the “old” system, it was referred to as, “A New Emergency Alert System” which, I wish they had named something else.  The ONLY “real” EAS is the one you hear on any licensed media, like AM stations, FM stations, TV stations, Cable operators, and Satellite TV operators.  Granted, it’s a failed system and demonstrates it’s horrible qualities during each (weather) “emergency” but it IS the only NAMED “Emergency Alert System.”

Then, take into account the events of Sunday night, the 13th of April.  ONE storm was determined to be severe by the National Weather Service.   The (real) EAS goes-off at WION, and we’re in the studio live, and during that time, FOUR MORE (sorry, this is an industry name for it)  “duck farts” went off over the period of the next 20 minutes, each one intended to interrupt programming to tell you of an emergency, only there was only ONE perceived threat:  the ONE storm in Ionia County.  Not two of them, or four, or even five…and three was “right out.”  ONE, count it, ONE storm, which would have been alerted to us a total of FIVE TIMES with the (real) EAS.  

Meanwhile, when the second of the warnings came through, which was claiming another HOUR of warning time, The National Weather Service pulled ANY evidence of ANY warning from their site which we use every day in our studios.  A check of the “current watches and warnings” on a similar site also showed nothing where just moments before, a warning existed. SO….if you’re keeping score, we have a “station to station relay” system of the EAS with a total of three DIFFERENT expiration times for the single storm coming through our county. 

I’ve spoken for ages about the futility of this system.  When you couple an overzealous EAS with an UNDERperforming industry (radio, not including us) you end up with false alarms, listener burnout and listener “turn off” when they hear the EAS tones, and a general dismissal of the severity the duck farts “could” bring to your area.  Also in this EAS is the “cry wolf” gained by the alerts being ONLY for certain areas in a county.  In the old days, you heard of a county warning and no matter WHERE you were, you heeded it from Radio or TV.  Now you’re more likely to dismiss it as, “Not for me, it’s for another part of the county. “…..this flaw comes from a combination of human nature and overactive efforts to save people who won’t take responsibility for their own locations and situations. 

We will ALWAYS, at WION try our best to be accurate as we watch multiple sources of information, and, we’ll also tell you what we SEE and what we HEAR, not just what is handed to us by a station UPstream to the west that triggers the DF’s.  We cannot guarantee to be IN the studio at every storm warning, but our 21 year record says we’re behind the microphone more than any other station is during emergencies in our West-Central Michigan area.  We’re proud of that.  Even the “biggies” don’t staff like we do during storms, they just let their federally mandated blue boxes do the work….as the weather passes through.  

As a radio station owner of 21 years, and a broadcaster approaching nearly 40 in the ‘biz, I wish that municipalities would leave the alerting to the REAL media, helping to avoid the public growing “alert deaf” by so much technology in their lives.  It might actually force citizens to watch the skies, learn the signs of incoming severe weather for all seasons, and take a little personal responsibility…but of course we live in a “Cover your Ass” world, and no city, county, or area wants to be in litigation over not telling someone to watch for weather when their property is damaged….because they aren’t smart enough to take personal responsibility for their lives and property.  That’s what I think of all these “local” electronic alerts.  The Tornado sirens for cities I think still have their place. Most everyone grows up knowing what the daily test and the long-form sirens mean vs. a weekly or monthly test.   You move to an area and you learn what the “locals” do to stay safe in a town.  That’s natural.  I lived across from the loudest siren ever in Addison, Michigan for years and years!

In a nut-shell, PLEASE don’t expect the city, the county, or even WION to do what YOU should do.  Be weather aware, know the symptoms of rapidly changing and possibly dangerous weather, and while I won’t say “ignore” the REAL emergency alert system,  please don’t put 100 percent faith in it….but learn how it is SUPPOSED to work and what it is supposed to warn you-of.  We’ll do what WE can as we always have, and we’ll tell you when the “system” is flawed as it was last night.  There’s really NO excuse for it, and it seems there’s always ONE “system” that fails in every strong weather event we get.

Learn, be aware, be safe, and…as always, be KIND to each other…the world needs more kindness and it starts with YOU, the individual.

-WION