On November 17, 2026, at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). This will be the first nationwide EAS test since October 2023. If conditions on November 17 require the test to be rescheduled, the test will be conducted on December 3, 2026.
The EAS test will be disseminated through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) in English and Spanish as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message with the Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System (NPT) code.
All EAS Participants are required to participate in the EAS test and are encouraged to begin preparing now. EAS Participants include radio and television stations (including LPFM, Class D non-commercial educational FM stations, Class A and LPTV stations), cable systems, digital broadcast systems (DBS), and Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) services.
Subject to the exemptions listed below, all EAS Participants must:
- file their annual Form One through the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) on or before October 30, 2026;
- submit “day-of-test” information by filing a Form Two on or before 2:20 p.m. ET on November 19, 2026 (or, if the test is conducted on the rescheduled date, by 2:20 p.m. ET on December 5, 2026); and
- submit detailed post-test data by filing a Form Three on or before January 4, 2027 (or, if the test is conducted on the rescheduled date, by January 18, 2027).
The following EAS Participants are exempt from registering and filing in ETRS: TV translator stations, FM booster stations and FM translator stations that “entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations,” and broadcast stations that are satellites or repeaters of a hub station and “rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming” of the hub station.
Broadcasters can file the ETRS forms through the ETRS system, found here. If you do not have an FCC Username, you can obtain one here. If you have forgotten the password associated with your FCC Username, you can reset it here.
If you need assistance filing any forms in the ETRS system or have any questions regarding the nationwide EAS test, please contact the Wiley attorney who regularly handles your FCC matters or one of the attorneys listed on this client alert.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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