Accidental Florida EBS Broadcast

[Jackball74]

Since some of you have connections to the Cape, I thought this may be of interest (and just might bring back memories).

Back in high school I had an International Relations textbook that had a small blurb about an Emergency Broadcast System screwup. It seems there was a DJ in Titusville, FL back in the '60s or '70s that had put together a tape in the event war broke out - basically the standard EBS message that would be played, with some humorous and patriotic lines he added. One day when he was out an EBS test was scheduled, but the fill-in DJ accidentally played the modified tape instead of the test tape. This apparently caused a panic of sorts in the region among the listeners. Also, some airmen had been listening to the station at Patrick AFB and double-checked to make sure what the deal was (I can't remember if the base actually went to a heightened alert status, though).

Despite numerous online searches, I have not been able to find any other mention of this (and unfortunately cannot locate a copy of the book). Has anyone else ever heard of this (or heard it live?)

 

[3stoogesrocketry]

Since some of you have connections to the Cape, I thought this may be of interest (and just might bring back memories).

Back in high school I had an International Relations textbook that had a small blurb about an Emergency Broadcast System screwup. It seems there was a DJ in Titusville, FL back in the '60s or '70s that had put together a tape in the event war broke out - basically the standard EBS message that would be played, with some humorous and patriotic lines he added. One day when he was out an EBS test was scheduled, but the fill-in DJ accidentally played the modified tape instead of the test tape. This apparently caused a panic of sorts in the region among the listeners. Also, some airmen had been listening to the station at Patrick AFB and double-checked to make sure what the deal was (I can't remember if the base actually went to a heightened alert status, though).

Despite numerous online searches, I have not been able to find any other mention of this (and unfortunately cannot locate a copy of the book). Has anyone else ever heard of this (or heard it live?)

My brother has worked at the cape since 2005. I recall him telling me a story about the same exact scenario once. You are not the only one who recalls this.

 

[jadebox]

This sounds similar (but more scary):

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013...a-Braced-for-a-Nuclear-Attack-That-Never-Came

https://historyofwowo.com/audio/WOWO-Bob SieversEBS_02-20-1971_scoped.mp3

-- Roger

 

[Jackball74]

Yeah - heard that one before. Stomach-knotting stuff!

 

[Marc_G]

In Montana a few years back, a station's EAS was hacked and used to say that zombies were rising from their graves:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/krtv-fake-zombie-alert_n_2665469.html

 

[Steve Shannon]

Yup, but we didn't believe it.

 

[Hobie1dog]

It's getting harder to believe the Huffington post articles every year.

 

[Jackball74]

Thinking about checking some local radio forums and maybe contacting Patrick. Perhaps an info officer could shed some light.

 

[Marc_G]

The Huff Post article accurately described the situation. It was national news the day it happened. The station has not changed the default password for the broadcast system; someone accessed it by trying the default password and once it worked they had some fun.

 

[Jackball74]

Decided to shoot a message over to Patrick and they were kind enough to have the historian look into the matter. Unfortunately nothing showed up in their records, which I was kind of expecting. Next step is to check with some stations.