CEA TO DEVELOP VOLUNTARY ALL-HAZARDS ALERT RECEIVER STANDARD

CEA’s R3 Audio Systems Committee formed working group (R3 WG4) to develop voluntary standards for All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio receivers and related products. Assn. said initiative included TVs as well as radios and would be public sector-private sector partnership with Commerce Dept.’s National Oceanic & Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS). Working group also will evaluate certification opportunities for developing and placing All Hazards Alert logo on products meeting appropriate criteria, CEA said.

Beside R3 WG4, CEA established All Hazards Alert Special Interest Group (SIG) to address consumers’ interest in monitoring local, state and national govt. alerts, including those related to civil emergencies. Chair of SIG is Jesse Rotman, Rooster Group pres. and Midland Radio mktg. dir., CEA said. Dwayne Campbell, RadioShack dir.-product development support services, was named vice chmn. of SIG and chmn. of R3 WG4.

CEA said All Hazards Alert systems had “considerable” market potential. In group’s recent Weather Radio Interest and Awareness survey, 81% of respondents said they were interested in weather reports and 72% said they sought weather information at least once daily. Although majority of Americans don’t own weather radio, market potential is 7.1 million over next year, CEA said. In addition, 41% of survey respondents said they were more likely to buy weather radio with “all hazards” features.

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is only federally sponsored radio service for all hazards warnings, including natural disasters and federal emergencies. It’s nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information from nearby NWS office 24 hours daily. NWR network has 800 transmitters covering 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, P.R., U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. Pacific Territories. System has estimated base of 17-22 million receivers.

Estimated additional cost for incorporating All Hazards Alert in TVs and radios and how signal will be piggybacked on existing frequencies couldn’t be learned. CEA said parties were invited to participate in RG WG4 (e-mail, standards@ce.org) and SIG (www.ce.org/about_cea/cea_initiatives/cea_initiatives.asp).