HALIFAX – Nova Scotia has begun testing a provincial emergency alerting system that could send urgent public safety alerts directly to air on radio stations across the province.
"This new system will save time when seconds count," said Ramona Jennex, Minister of Emergency Management, in a statement. "It will enable emergency officials to send critical public safety information directly to broadcasters and, in the most urgent situations, directly to air. The sooner the public has the information they need in a crisis the faster they can take action to protect themselves and their loved ones."
Nova Scotia is the second province to supply automatic-broadcasting equipment to all of its radio stations. CJLS The Wave in Yarmouth and C101.5 The Hawk in Port Hawkesbury are participating in a trial of the new system in cooperation with Trispec Communications, which provided the test equipment.
"We are very excited about this project," said CJLS owner, Chris Perry. "We are committed to providing our listeners with the information they need to stay safe and up-to-date. We had the opportunity to test this equipment and we think it will be an important enhancement to the things we already do to get emergency information to our listeners."
In 2009, the CRTC approved the creation of the National Alerting Aggregation and Dissemination Service (NAADS), often referred to as a public or emergency alerting system, though broadcasters’ participation in the distribution of public safety alerts remains voluntary.
The backbone of the system was built and is operated by Pelmorex Communications, owner of The Weather Network.
