Saturday, February 20, 1971, around 9:30. I was the mid-morning DJ on WGSA-AM, a very
small market daylight station in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. It was far from my first morning on the air. In fact, I had settled into a Saturday
morning routine. I was Program Director,
not bad for a 25-year-old, even for a small market station.
It was two days before Washington’s Birthday (this was before President’s Day combined the Lincoln/Washington holidays), the
commercial load was light, probably spots for a few Washington’s
Birthday sales, a hardware store, a car dealership, and a few other
things. The newsguy had gone for his
morning break…his next newscast would be at noon. Because the commercial load was light, I’d
pulled some longer records from the library so I could enjoy the music.
At 9:33 every Saturday morning, United Press
International (UPI), sent out its test for its part of the Emergency Broadcast System. It was always the same…a succession of ten
rings of the bell, the teletype would print that it was a test, I’d log that it
was received and when it was received.
Like checking the readings on the transmitter meters, it was routine.
The teletype bell could be heard in Master Control, but
the room was sufficiently soundproofed and the ringing wouldn’t go out over the
air. As I said, I was playing several
long songs. Probably “MacArthur Park”
with Richard Harris. It was always good
for when you had to go to the bathroom.
So was “Hey, Jude.”
There was a lot of time left on the record, so I decided
to rip the UPI test off the machine and log it.
There was something different about the look of it. It was the message that came in with the ten
bells, but I realized it didn’t have the row of Xs at the top and bottom of the
test. And then I read it…
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION (EAN) DIRECTED BY
THE PRESIDENT. NORMAL BROADCASTING WILL
CEASE IMMEDIATELY. ALL STATIONS WILL
BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE PRECEDED BY THE ATTENTION SIGNAL, PER FCC RULES. ONLY STATIONS HOLDING NDEA MAY STAY ON AIR IN
ACCORD WITH THEIR STATE EBS PLAN.
BROADCAST EAN MESSAGE ONE.
MESSAGE AUTHENTICATOR:
HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS
I logged it and hunted for the file in the newsguy’s
desk that had the authenticator words.
“Hatefulness/Hatefulness.” That’s
what it said on the message and that’s what it said in the envelope in his UPI
book in his desk.
Was the country under attack? The message would not be sent unless the
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) sent it. I couldn’t believe it: We were at war. The world was about to come to an end. So was the record.
I was the only person in the building. I had to decide whether to read the
announcement located in the plastic pocket at the front of the copy bin,
whether to sign off and turn off the transmitter (which by FCC law I could not
do), or whether this was maybe a mistake.
If I was playing “MacArthur Park,” the cake was about to melt in the
rain. Whether he’d ever have that recipe
again seemed somewhat irrelevant.
ICBMs with multiple atomic warheads were flying toward
the US. How many would explode near
us? Philadelphia was within an hour’s
drive to the southeast, so maybe the wind would blow away the fallout;
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s state capital, was also about an hour away, but to
the west, from which the wind usually blows.
Washington, DC was south.
“MacArthur Park”
ends with a chorus singing “Oh, no!” about a dozen times. And that was exactly what I was
thinking. “Oh, no. What in the world am I going to do?”
The song ended and I turned on the microphone. That was when I decided to delay announcing
the approach of Armageddon. As best as I
could, I back-announced the record, gave a quick weather report (a good day for
annihilation), started the next record and cued up the one after that. I can’t not tell people that their lives
will soon be ending, I thought, but…but…Nixon notwithstanding, we can’t be
under attack. I couldn’t remember any
acts of provocation lately.
The station was an ABC News affiliate and I monitored it
to hear if they were giving instructions or news stories about the launch and
retaliation or tips on what to do in the event of nuclear disaster. Network sounded normal. I had to read a commercial and play one or
two others. I was a reasonably good
voice actor at the time and managed to get through the commercial without
stammering or panicking (“So go to Emerson’s Hardware now and get those weekend
supplies… before we’re all blown up!”).
By now the time was approaching 10. The newsguy didn’t do local news at 10, which
was why he was out of the building, so I decided that if it were the end of the
world, ABC could tell us. Our format had
us play music up to 10 seconds before the hour, then give a quick station ID
and go to network. The music was coming
to an end when I heard bells on the teletype again. I had to ignore that. Music out…station ID and time check…ABC
News. I ran out of Master Control to the
teletype and saw this:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MESSAGE
AUTHENTICATOR:HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS
CANCEL
MESSAGE SENT AT 09:33EST REPEAT CANCEL
MESSAGE SENT AT 09:33EST
MESSAGE
AUTHENTICATOR:HATEFULNESS/HATEFULNESS
29 FEB
09:59EST
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It took about 30 minutes to tell us that they made an
“Oops.” I felt so relieved I almost
cried until I saw the date…29
Feb. This was 20 Feb. Had the Russians
taken over the teletype system as part of their insane mission? I didn’t log it because I was running out of
time. I rushed back into Master Control,
gave the weather, tried to say something pleasant (“…and the probability of
nuclear attack today is 50 percent.”)
When the commercial load permitted, we were to come out
of the news with the weather and go right into a record, play a jingle, and go
into the next record. Toward the end of
the second record, the UPI bell started ringing. Whether I had enough time or not, I ran to
the newsroom to see what they had to say:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MESSAGE
AUTHENTICATOR:IMPISH/IMPISH
CANCEL
MESSAGE SENT AT 09:33EST REPEAT CANCEL
MESSAGE SENT AT 09:33EST
MESSAGE
AUTHENTICATOR:IMPISH/IMPISH
20 FEB
10:13EST
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Now the date was correct, the top and bottom rows of Xs
were there, but the authenticator word had changed. I ran back into the control room, started the
next record, and ran back to the newsguy’s desk to check the
authenticator. “Impish/Impish” was next
in line after “Hatefulness/Hatefulness.”
I clipped all three pieces of paper to the news log, entered times, and
went back to MCR, where I stayed. It was
as good a place as any to incinerate.
Later in the 10 o’clock hour, the newsguy returned. I could hear him shout, “What?” And then I could hear him rushing to the
control room. He wanted an
explanation. I told him there was none
to give, but I decided to stay on the air and, in fact, the Russians weren’t
coming. By that time, when he cleared
the wire, a couple of stories had run explaining the oops and assuring us that
everything was just fine.
Monday morning, this was on my desk:
IF THE
UNITED STATES WERE BEING ATTACKED, THE EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION SYSTEM
WOULD TELL YOU ABOUT IT. THROUGH THAT
SYSTEM, CIVIL DEFENSE ALERTS RADIO AND TELEVISION STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
IN A MATTER OF SECONDS.
THOSE MESSAGES ARE SENT BY CIVIL
DEFENSE OFFICIALS AT THE NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND HEADQUARTERS NEAR
COLORADO SPRINGS --- VIA THE TELETYPE CIRCUITS OF U-P-I AND THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS--- TO THOUSANDS OF RADIO STATIONS.
AND --- LIKE ALL SYSTEMS ---THIS ONE
MUST BE CHECKED OCCASIONALLY, SO CIVIL DEFENSE AUTHORITIES SCHEDULE TESTS TWICE
A WEEK.
ONE IS SCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY
MORNINGS---AND THIS MORNING’S TURNED INTO A TRAGIC MISTAKE THAT LEFT THE
COUNTRY BREATHLESS. A CIVIL DEFENSE
TELETYPE OPERATOR SENT THE WRONG MESSAGE---A MESSAGE SAYING THERE WAS A
NATIONAL EMERGENCY. . . AND THAT---BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT---ALL NORMAL
BROADCASTING SHOULD CEASE IMMEDIATELY.
IN MOST PLACES, IT DIDN’T.
"In most places, it didn’t”…including Ephrata,
Pennsylvania. It continued:
AND---WHILE
THAT’S A GOOD THING IN THIS CASE---IT HAS LED TO SOME CAUSE FOR ALARM OVER THE ENTIRE EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION SYSTEM.
THE BROADCASTERS SHOULD HAVE STOPPED
THEIR NORMAL PROGRAMMING IMMEDIATELY (GARBLE) HUNDRED OUT OF SEVERAL THOUSAND
DID.
IF IT HAD BEEN AN AUTHENTIC
EMERGENCY, THAT WOULD HAVE CAUSED TROUBLE.
BUT THERE IS AN EXPLANATION.
TODAY, THERE WAS CHAOS IN VIRTUALLY
EVERY NEWSROOM ACROSS AMERICA. NO ONE
HAD EVER SEEN AN ACTUAL EMERGENCY AUTHENTICATOR BEFORE. SOME STATIONS WENT OFF THE AIR
IMMEDIATELY---OTHERS DIDN’T.
THERE WERE SEVERAL REASONS.
IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE MESSAGE
ITSELF WAS INCOMPLETE.
IT SHOULD
HAVE BEEN ENDED WITH A ROW OF “X”’S AND 10 BELLS. IT WASN’T.
IN THE SECOND PLACE, U-P-I AND THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WERE QUICK TO ADVISE BROADCASTERS WITH BULLETINS THAT THE
REPORT WAS ERRONEOUS.
BUT
MOST CAUSE FOR CONCERN COMES FROM THE THIRD REASON. THERE WAS A DISCREPANCY OVER WHICH
AUTHENTICATOR WORD WAS THE PROPER ONE.
AUTHENTICATOR WORDS CHANGE DAILYS AND BROADCASTERS HAVE LISTS GIVING THE
WORDS. THE WORD TRANSMITTED WITH
TODAY’S MESSAGE WAS “HATEFULNESS.” IT
WAS THE WORD ON MOST LISTS. BUT SOME
BROADCASTERS COULDN’T FIND THAT WORD ON THEIR LISTS. . .AND HUNDREDS NEVER
RECEIVED THE TRANSMISSION.
ALSO COMPLICATING THE PROBLEM WAS
THAT THE MESSAGE CAME AT THE USUAL TEST TIME. . .AND MANY BROADCASTERS IGNORED
IT, THINKING IT WAS THE TEST.
ALL THIS HAS CAUSED SPECULATION THAT
THE ENTIRE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM SHOULD BE OVERHAULED.
-0-
AMONG THE COMMENTS BY THE
BROADCASTERS WERE THESE:
THIS CONFUSION SHOWS “THE WHOLE DARN
(SYSTEM) WON’T WORK. THEY COULD HAVE
BEEN DROPPING H-BOMBS ON US.”
AN EL PASO, TEXAS, STATION SERVING
300,000 LISTENERS NEVER RECEIVED ANY MESSAGE---EITHER THE EMERGENCY
NOTIFICATION OR THE CANCELLATION. “WHAT
IF IT HAD BEEN THE REAL THING?” A NEWSMAN THERE WONDERED.
ANOTHER NEWSMAN SAID: “THIS OUGHT TO BE EXPOSED. THE SIMPLE FACT IS, MOST PERSONNEL SIMPLY
DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO IN THESE CASES.”
SAID
ANOTHER, “IT’S A GREAT WAY TO SEE WHO’S ON THE BALL.”
BUT---WHATEVER THE RESULT---THE
INVESTIGATIONS AFTER INVESTIGATIONS ARE SCHEDULED AND MANY OBSERVERS SAY IT
COULD RESULT IN CHANGING THE CURRENT SYSTEM. . .STAGGERING TEST TIMES. . . AND,
POSSIBLY, FORCING BROADCASTERS TO COMPLY MORE THAN THEY DID TODAY.
-0-
THIS WHOLE STREAM OF CRITICISM COMES
FROM THE MISTAKE OF ONE MAN---A MAN NAMED W-S EBERHARDT. IT WAS EBERHARDT WHO PUT THE WRONG TELETYPE
TAPE INTO HIS TRANSMITTER AND SENT IT TO THOUSANDS OF THE NATION’S BROADCAST
STATIONS.
ONE
CIVIL DEFENSE SPOKESMAN CALLED IT “A SIMPLE HUMAN ERROR.”
BUT SIMPLICITY IS HARDLY THE WORD.
WHEREEVER [SIC] WORD OF THE ALERT
MESSAGE WAS BROADCAST, PEOPLE PANICKED.
POLICE AND RADIO STATIONS RECEIVED THOUSANDS OF CALLS FROM PEOPLE
WONDERING WHAT THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WAS.
AND IT WAS NOT UNTIL ABOUT 45
MINUTES AFTER THE ALERT STARTED THAT TICIL [SIC] DEFENSE OFFICIALS CANCELLED
IT.
FOR NEWSMEN---AND THE PEOPLE THEY
GIVE THE NEWS TO---IT WAS A FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE.
IT MADE THIS DAY’S TWO AUTHENTICATOR
WORDS “HATEFULNESS” AND “IMPISH” STAND OUT IN THE MINDS OF MANY.
AND---IN THE WORDS OF ONE VIRGINIA
BROADCASTER---“(WE’RE CONSIDERING BILLING NORAD FOR THREE SETS OF
UNDERWEAR.) THE REAL BAD PART WAS WHEN
WE OPENED THE ENVELOPE AND THE WORDS MATCHED.”
-0-
ANDREW
MCGILL – UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL 2/20
The News Director, who never worked weekends, said I did
the right thing as far procedure was concerned, and that I was right that the
FCC prohibited me from turning off the transmitter. He also liked that I monitored ABC. He and the Station Manager didn’t completely
congratulate me, but the Sales Manager perked up when I told the Station
Manager that I didn’t drop any commercials.
That seemed to appease them.
This recollection came
about when one day I just happened to remember The Morning the World Almost
Ended. I researched it a bit and found
an article by Jesus Diaz on gizmodo.com.
Posted July 5, 2012 and titled This
Message from NORAD Announced Global Nuclear War—In 1971. The UPI
messages were supplied by Mike Anderson, who was working that morning at KTEM
in Temple, TX.
It’s fun to think back on it now.
Living through it? Not so much.
