NAB and the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA) are teaming up to launch an outreach campaign to educate broadcasters on a variety of issues surrounding the introduction of the next-generation Emergency Alert System (EAS). The series of live-video presentations and online webinars will kick off with a live virtual town hall on Thursday, February 3, 2011, from 4-5 p.m. EST, featuring Damon C. Penn, assistant administrator, National Continuity Programs, Federal Emergency Management Agency and James A. Barnett, chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Federal Communications Commission. They will provide an update on the current status of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System and the transition to the newly adopted Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).

There is no need to pre-register for this event. Prior to the event start time, simply go to http://www.easalert.org and click on "Go To The Town Hall." You will be asked to provide your name, affiliation and email address so that we can keep you informed about future events in this series. If you cannot participate in the live town hall on February 3, it will be archived at easalert.org within 72 hours of the live presentation so you can view it at your convenience.

The next town hall will take place on Thursday, March 10, at 4 p.m. EST, and will address the FCC's Part 11 rulemaking proceeding. Future presentations will cover such topics as potential funding sources for CAP-compliant equipment and the upcoming national EAS test. Please watch our newsletters for further details on these events.

Note: You will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed in your browser in order to view the town hall. You can download it at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer.