Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc. 

The digital communications revolution isn't just about music players, high-definition television and cell phones with cameras. It's also about saving lives.

Unfortunately, the multiplying entertainment uses overshadow an urgency to harness these same technological advances to modernize our emergency alert system.

Before pixels and bytes, the nation's warning system first came about as a way to warn the nation about incoming nuclear threats during the Cold War. Remember "This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this had been an actual emergency ... "?

While EBS has been updated over the years, the first overhaul that truly captures the potential of digital and wireless communication is just getting underway. Under the plan, public TV stations will be the backbone of the system, which will be capable of transmitting national security alerts from the White House, as well as emergency information from state and local governments about hurricane evacuation routes or toxic fumes from a fire.

The alerts can be tailored to a ZIP or area code. And you won't need a radio or TV to get the message. Alerts with video, maps, as well as text in multiple languages, could be sent wirelessly to laptops, Blackberries and cell phones. While the wireless carriers have legitimate liability and technical concerns about deploying a universal message, most of them are working toward a solution.

The Association of Public Television Stations brought this initiative to the Department of Homeland Security, which, after two test phases, agreed last month to spend $5 million to start equipping the stations. New York's are expected to be complete by early 2007. Now state and local governments need to get the hardware and software necessary to originate the alerts, and police and fire departments, hospitals, and schools need the equipment to decode the messages.

The Warning Alert and Response Network Act (WARN), now pending in both the House and Senate, would allocate $106 million to speed along the construction of this infrastructure. The bills are stalled, however, because of turf wars between Homeland Security and the Commerce committees - especially in the Senate, where the bill has languished for almost eight months. After Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, Congress should get this emergency message.