Electronic Media Published: 02-27-95 FCC DECISIONS SENDING SOME MIXED SIGNALS Byline: By Joe Fedele The Federal Communications Commission appears to be settling some hot issues this year. It has come up with a successor to the Emergency Broadcast System and is mulling changes that would allow unmanned operation of broadcast facilities. Current rules require that a licensed operator must be on duty at the transmitter site or remote control point whenever power is supplied to the station's antenna. In a notice of proposed rule- making, the FCC cites advances in auto-mation technology that could allow stations to operate their transmitters safely without on-duty operators. The new agency rules would still hold the station licensee accountable for compliance to technical standards. In other words, the commission is telling us that we can do whatever we please in running our transmitters just as long as we don't go out of tolerance on the standard limits. This change is especially helpful to the many small radio stations around the country that simply cannot afford to pay personnel around the clock. Some of these facilities are totally automated and use programing from satellite networks, with the commercials rolled in with cue tones. The FCC's overhaul of the EBS is outlined in Edmond Rosenthal's story on this page. This new, digitally enhanced Emergency Alert System will be capable of sending emergency news and information to the hearing and visually impaired. It will also be capable of telecasting in languages other than English. While participation in both the EBS and the new EAS systems is voluntary, there is still the need for human intervention in order to get the information to air. After all, somebody has to punch the audio up on the switcher. But there's something wrong here. On one hand the FCC is telling us that we have to improve our ability to provide emergency information to the public, but then they tell us it's OK to let a station run blind with no one at the switch. In each of these two changes the FCC is relying on new technology to enhance our ability to ``serve the public interest.'' It seems to me that the commission is sending mixed signals. I seriously question whether we need an EBS or an EAS. In an age of 24-hour news coverage and instant satellite communications, the need for this government-controlled alerting system may not be worth the cost. We no longer live in a world where the general public relies on only one medium for information. Just about every radio and TV station in the country is somehow plugged into the mass media infrastructure. The FCC needs to face the realities. With technology allowing stations to provide the public with instant information, do we really need EBS?