Jul
5
Written by:
Paul McLane
7/5/2011 9:20 AM
Paul McLane is editor in chief of Radio World.
The Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters has negotiated a “group price” on behalf of stations that choose to buy Sage Alerting Systems gear from dealer SCMS.
I’m continuing my efforts to let you know how broadcasters are doing at converting their Emergency Alert System hardware to comply with the Common Alerting Protocol deadline (see links to other stories below). So I checked in with OAB President Vance Harrison.
Oklahoma has 24 television stations and 189 radio stations. All of its TV and most of its radio stations are members of OAB. The organization’s EAS/CAP technical policy is led by Britt Lockhart, chief engineer for Clear Channel in Oklahoma City, and Roger Herring, VP of operations at KTUL(TV) in Tulsa.
Though the association is not underwriting the station purchases, it expects about half of Oklahoma’s broadcasters will take advantage of the group pricing it reached with SCMS. “Most stations are in the process of ordering the necessary equipment,” Harrison told me.
He said the process largely has been a smooth one. “We have had only a few glitches in the implementation of the system and hope to be running up to speed by the end of September of 2011.”
Write to me with a status report on your station, group or association efforts: pmclane@nbmedia.com.
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