Acoustic Infrastructure: The Sounds and Politics of Radio Tests in American Emergency Broadcasting

Abstract

Background: The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is an emergency broadcasting infrastructure that originated in American radio and serves as the basis for systems in newer media and in Canada. Its design of self-propagating acoustic signals anticipates a nation-scale catastrophe but also subordinates smaller crises. Analysis: Adopting theory from infrastructural media studies, this article examines the reasoning and functionality evident in regulatory proceedings, broadcaster and media researcher assessments, and the sonic structure of test and warning signals. Conclusion and implications: A machinic approach to addressing media publics took shape in the acoustic operations of the EAS. Tied to a deregulatory drive that has eroded radio’s emergency function, the EAS produces a suspended temporality that must be understood as a combined effect of the infrastructure, its content, and its context. Contexte : L’Emergency Alert System (EAS) est un système de radiodiffusion d’urgence qui a pris naissance dans la radio américaine et qui a servi de base pour des systèmes adaptés à des médias plus récents ainsi que pour des systèmes canadiens. Conçu sous forme de signaux acoustiques qui s’autopropagent, il peut prévoir une catastrophe à l’échelle nationale mais en même temps il subordonne de plus petites crises. Analyse : Cet article emprunte certaines théories des études sur les infrastructures médiatiques pour examiner le raisonnement et la fonctionnalité présentes dans les procédures réglementaires, les évaluations par les radiodiffuseurs et par les chercheurs en médias, et la structure sonique de signaux d’essai et d’avertissement. Conclusion et implications : Les opérations acoustiques de l’EAS ont permis le développement d’une approche machinique pour s’adresser aux publics médiatiques. Dans le contexte d’un élan de déréglementation qui a diminué la fonction d’urgence de la radio, l’EAS produit une temporalité suspendue qu’il faut comprendre comme étant l’effet cumulatif de l’infrastructure, de son contenu et de son contexte.

Infrastructure of life: public address, listening and crowds in the Delhi metro and Kumbh

“…While it might seem that the PA systems discussed in this article are beyond breakdown, there are times when they do fail, and in case of the Kumbh, people do remain missing or sometimes even die in stampedes. The aim of this article, however, was neither to present PA systems as infallible nor to focus on failure as has been done in many studies of infrastructure as well as emergency media (Ellcessor, 2019; Pinkus, 2017; Stuhl, 2021). Its aim was to explore the human dimensions of infrastructural propensities and dispositions (Easterling, 2014) and highlight the potentiality of infrastructure to acquire life-saving qualities when a large number of people are at risk.…”

“…This part discusses the managerial, technical, and aesthetic practices associated with the PA system in the Delhi metro, which congeal around its role as an emergency communication system. From dog barks, church bells and drums, to the use of sirens, radios and public address systems, sonic artifacts, and technologies have been used as critical warning infrastructures since antiquity (Siegert, 2013; Stuhl, 2021). As a part of this lineage as well as a broader technological safety-net, the PA system in the Delhi metro is imagined and designed as a critical infrastructure, with concerns about safety inscribed within the professional maintenance, technical stability, aesthetic performance, and accessible features of the system.…”