The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 1:20 p.m. Central time.

The purpose of this test is to ensure that these systems continue to be effective at warning the public. Test messages will be sent to ALL TVs, radios, and cell phones.

• EAS = warning system for TV, cable TV, radio, etc.
• WEA = short emergency messages broadcast to cell towers in a locally targeted area.

The test messages will be similar to:

• EAS – “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 2:20p.m. to 2:50pm eastern time. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”
• WEA – “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Phones set to Spanish will display, “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita accion.”

Note that this test could be postponed if widespread severe weather or other significant events are occurring.