Radio Station WSIX Charged $1M For Misusing Emergency Alert Tone

A syndicated radio show based in Nashville has agreed to pay a $1 million fine. The station aired an unauthorized Emergency Alert System test. The fine is part of a crackdown by the Federal Communications Commission.

The false alarm occurred October 24, according to the
consent decree. It was the morning after Game 2 of the World Series. A nationwide emergency alert test had interrupted the game’s TV broadcast. Then the issue came up the next morning on WSIX-FM during the Bobby Bones Show, which is heard in 70 markets.

The host aired a recording of an old EAS alert as he commented on the World Series interruption. That resulted in a cascade across the country since some stations are set to retransmit the tones automatically.

The FCC’s Travis LeBlanc says
in a statement that misusing EAS tones “undermines the public’s confidence in the system.”

The $1 million WSIX penalty, which will be paid by parent company iHeart Radio, actually isn’t the biggest in the recent round of enforcement. ESPN paid $1.4 million in January for misusing emergency tones during an ad for a movie.