Sec. 73.1250  Broadcasting emergency information.

    (a) Emergency situations in which the broadcasting of information is 
considered as furthering the safety of life and property include, but 
are not limited to the following: Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, tidal 
waves, earthquakes, icing conditions, heavy snows, widespread fires, 
discharge of toxic gasses, widspread power failures, industrial 
explosions, civil disorders and school closing and changes in school bus 
schedules resulting from such conditions. See also Sec. 73.3542, 
Application for Emergency Authorization, for requirements involving 
emergency situations not covered by this section for which prior 
operating authority must be requested.
    (b) If requested by responsible public officials, a station may, at 
its discretion, and without further FCC authority, transmit emergency 
point-to-point messages for the purpose of requesting or dispatching aid 
and assisting in rescue operations.
    (c) If the Emergency Alert System (EAS) is activated for a national 
emergency while a Local Area or State emergency operation is in 
progress, the national level EAS operation must take precedence. If, 
during the broadcasting of Local Area or State emergency information, 
the EAS codes or Attention Signal described in Sec. 11.12 of this 
chapter are used, the broadcasts are considered as being carried out 
under a Local Area or State EAS plan.
    (d) Any emergency operation undertaken in accordance with this 
section may be terminated by the FCC if required in the public interest.
    (e) Immediately upon cessation of an emergency during which 
broadcast facilities were used for the transmission of point-to-point 
messages under paragraph (b) of this section, or when daytime facilities 
were used during nighttime hours by an AM station in accordance with 
paragraph (f) of this section, a report in letter form shall be 
forwarded to the FCC in Washington, DC, setting forth the nature of the 
emergency, the dates and hours of the broadcasting of emergency 
information, and a brief description of the material carried during the 
emergency. A certification of compliance with the noncommercialization 
provision of paragraph (f) of this section must accompany the report 
where daytime facilities are used during nighttime hours by an AM 
station, together with a detailed showing, under the provisisons of that 
paragraph, that no other broadcast service existed or was adequate.
    (f) AM stations may, without further FCC authority, use their full 
daytime facilities during nighttime hours to broadcast emergency 
information (examples listed in paragraph (a) of this section), when 
necessary to the safety of life and property, in dangerous conditions of 
a general nature and when adequate advance warning cannot be given with 
the facilities authorized. Because of skywave interference impact on 
other stations assigned to the same channel, such operation may be 
undertaken only if regular, unlimited-time service, is non-existent, 
inadequate from the standpoint of coverage, or not serving the public 
need. All operation under this paragraph must be conducted on a 
noncommercial basis. Recorded music may be used to the extent necessary 
to provide program continuity.
    (g) Broadcasting of emergency information shall be confined to the 
hours, frequencies, powers and modes of operation specified in the 
station license, except as otherwise provided for AM stations in 
paragraph (f) of this section.

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    (h) Any emergency information transmitted by a TV station in 
accordance with this section shall be transmitted both aurally and 
visually or only visually. TV stations may use any method of visual 
presentation which results in a legible message conveying the essential 
emergency information. Methods which may be used include, but are not 
necessarily limited to, slides, electronic captioning, manual methods 
(e.g., hand printing) or mechanical printing processes. However, when an 
emergency operation is being conducted under a national, State or Local 
Area Emergency Alert System (EAS) plan, emergency information shall be 
transmitted both aurally and visually unless only the EAS codes are 
transmitted as specified in Sec. 11.51(b) of this chapter.

[ 43 FR 45847 , Oct. 4, 1978, as amended at  50 FR 30947 , July 31, 1985;  59 FR 67102 , Dec. 28, 1994;  60 FR 56000 , Nov. 6, 1995]