KCAU-TV Tornado Warning - May 16, 1992

[exa121RETURNS]

Interesting, I never saw an alert interruption like that in which it wasn't the Emergency Alert (or Broadcast) System. The police never had to do that around here in Florida, we only got the EAS crap.

[fungirl2327]

ive been into a tornado before and yea its VERY scary i seen a cow flying in the air!!!! i heard animals cars alot of things

[AikoSeeno]

0:53 not as creepy as eas

[WishesNetwork]

0:51-1:16 - Creepy!

[snootzie78]

@WishesNetwork The Salina (Kansas) police department did that like 25 years ago when there was a missing person/juvenile, runaway inmate, chemical spill, tornado siren tests, severe weather warning, etc. on television. Scared the shit out of me as a kid. They don't do that anymore. Thank God!

[ThatHoodieGuy]

I lived in Sioux City from1995-1999, I went to North High and we had T-drills like once a month. Never a real one. In 1998 I worked as a railcar repairman at Port Neal South Power Plant and we had several T-warnings that summer. I do not lve there anymore.

[SSCChivas360]

I wasn't Alive when this happened, I was born four years later in Sioux city. My dad said the storm was hell

[6891man]

I remember that this kind of gray static screen with the creepy beeping happened a few times when I was a kid living in Eudora, Kansas.

[WeatherSTARIII]

Here in Peoria, our cable system which was TCI at the time (now Comcast) used to have that same exact "EBS cut in" like the one in this video. I remember that whenever an EBS occured, my cable company used to cut in from the regular cable signal with a loud "beeping like sound" and with just static appearing on the screen. Any of our TVs would then automaticly turn off, but I don't think it affacted VCRs. We used to have this type of EBS up until 1998 when our cable system got the EAS.

[Mrcomputergeek1]

@WeatherSTARIII how could the cable system control the TV

[WeatherSTARIII]

@Mrcomputergeek1 I have no clue. Our system must of have some special device at the time that detects whenever a TV is turned on.

[Mrcomputergeek1]

@WeatherSTARIII Did you have digital cable or just the TV plugged in the wall

[WeatherSTARIII]

@Mrcomputergeek1 Just the TV plugged in the wall.

[Mrcomputergeek1]

@WeatherSTARIII i still dont understand how the TV would turn off

[jeremy1069fm]

That mess at :52 I remember our cable system did that in 1997, and again in 1998 first for a tornado, and again for a 911 outage

[danagasta1]

whoa what a trip. Is that cut-in triggered by DTMF tones? sounded like it at the end.

[vieillevision]

@danagasta1 I don't know, but it sounded that way at the end, yes.

[HereWasNicole]

Damn, :53 freaked me out a little bit. .___.

[tvfan103]

lol when the grey screen that told about the tornado warning went off the man in the tie said "rats" like he didn't want to go to cover

[dennyfrontier]

That little tornado symbol in the upper left hand corner, didnt that used to be the tornado warning for regular programing when tv used to have the warning pictures in the upper right hand corner? It said warning and watch under it?

[vieillevision]

@dennyfrontier I'm sure that depends on where you lived. I know the Omaha stations did that in the 1990s -- I think some of my other videos show that. I think KCAU-TV used to have a rounded "W" symbol with a circle around it during severe weather watches in the 1980s but my memory is fuzzy and I don't have any tapes of that.

[dennyfrontier]

@vieillevision I live in northeast Ohio. This was in the mid 90s, these warning labels the NWS would issue and you would see them on almost every station. The "tornado" label in this one must be it, but my memory persists that it was in the upper right hand corner with "warning" or "watch" printed under it. Of course my memory isnt what it used to be. But if that isnt it, its damn close.

[weareclouds]

@dennyfrontier

Yeah, they had the little tornado icon back in the 80s/90s when I was a kid. I found it better cause then I couldn't read. But, I sure the heck knew what a tornado looked like!

[raymieX]

My technical question is this: how did the police department patch into the cable system, and what generated the gray static shown during the bulletin?

[Gamma412]

@raymieX

it was rarely used, but i think police have the capability similar to the fed's EAS of breaking in when needed.

[raymieX]

@88jamiew This was long before computer automation of NWS readings.

[Zachstar2000]

That does not seem to be EBS but a local cut in likely with a piece of equipment tied to the police department. Not nearly as efficient as EAS but likely easier to start than EBS.

[cewfa]

They broke into the cable where I lived in Michigan when I was a kid, with the same tone.

[joshtemplet]

The police in my area (Ascension Parish) used to do that through my cable provider (COX). It was a siren. They did that during hurricanes (Andrew, TS Allison, Lili, Katrina, & Gustav). They tested it Mondays at Noon CT. Years later, it was at 5:30AM CT. I'm not sure if they still do that or not. They still have the EAS tests.

[newstarcadefan]

I definately remember these days back when there were only 40 channels on cable. That scared the crap outta anybody.

[EncoreEnterprisesLLC]

Interesting that the cable system break-in never had an EBS tone.

[ASKconard]

That bulletin at the end from the police dept is so creepy...my area has that capability but not as creepy.

[millsfreak]

Totally awesome, our police dept does not do that...!!!!!!!!