False alarm of 1971 A properly authenticated Emergency Action Notification was incorrectly sent to United States broadcast stations at 9:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 20, 1971. At the usual time a weekly EAN test was performed, teletype operator W.S. Eberhart had three tapes in front of him: a test tape, and two tapes indicating a real emergency, instructing the use of EAN Message #1, and #2, respectively. He inadvertently used the wrong tape, which used an unexpected codeword, "HATEFULNESS". The message ordered stations to cease regular programming immediately, and begin an Emergency Action Notification using Message #1.(Timestamp to WCCO white card script instruction) Message 1 stated that regular programming had been interrupted at the request of the United States government, but was not specific about the cause. A cancellation message was sent at 9:59 a.m. EST, but it used the same codeword as the original message. A cancellation message with the correct codeword was not sent until 10:13 a.m. EST. After 40 minutes and six incorrect or improperly formatted cancellation messages, the accidental activation was officially terminated.
false alarm of 1971 a properly authenticated emergency action notification was incorrectly sent to united states broadcast stations at 933 am eastern standard time on february 20 1971 at the usual time a weekly ean test was performed teletype operator ws eberhart had three tapes in front of him a test tape and two tapes indicating a real emergency instructing the use of ean message #1 and #2 respectively he inadvertently used the wrong tape which used an unexpected codeword "hatefulness" the message ordered stations to cease regular programming immediately and begin an emergency action notification using message #1(timestamp to wcco white card script instruction) message 1 stated that regular programming had been interrupted at the request of the united states government but was not specific about the cause a cancellation message was sent at 959 am est but it used the same codeword as the original message a cancellation message with the correct codeword was not sent until 1013 am est after 40 minutes and six incorrect or improperly formatted cancellation messages the accidental activation was officially terminated