CONELRAD

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This article is about the emergency broadcasting method. For the band, see Conelrad (band).

CONELRAD Logo, incorporating the shield of United States Civil Defense

CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the cold war. It served two purposes; to prevent Soviet bombers from homing-in on American cities by using broadcast stations as beacons, and to provide essential civil defense information. U.S. President Harry S. Truman established CONELRAD in 1951. After the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced the likelihood of a bomber attack, CONELRAD was replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System in 1963, and the Emergency Alert System in 1994; all were administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

CONELRAD had a simple system for alerting the public and other "downstream" stations that consisted of a sequence of shutting the station off for five seconds, returning to the air for five seconds, again shutting down for five seconds, and then transmitting a tone for 15 seconds. Key stations would be alerted directly. All other broadcast stations would monitor a designated station in an area. In the event of an emergency, all United States television and FM radio stations were required to stop broadcasting. Selected Mediumwave AM stations would broadcast on one of two frequencies, 640 kHz or 1240 kHz, at low power. By law, radio sets manufactured between 1953 and 1963 had these frequencies marked by the triangle-in-circle ("CD Mark") symbol of Civil Defense.

A "CD Mark" symbol like this was on every radio sold in the U.S.

Although the system by which the CONELRAD system was initiated (switching the transmitter on and off) was simple, it was prone to numerous false alarms, especially during lightning storms. [1] Transmitters could also be damaged by the quick cycling. The switching later became known informally as the "EBS Stress Test" (due to many transmitters failing during tests) and was eventually discontinued when broadcast technology advanced enough to make it unnecessary.

Beginning in 1957, operating U.S. amateur radio stations were required to verify at least once every 10 minutes that a normal broadcast station was on the air. If not, the amateurs were required to stop transmitting. Several companies marketed special receivers that would sound an alarm and automatically deactivate the amateur's transmitter when the monitored broadcast station went off the air.

[edit] CONELRAD in pop culture

Fictional treatments of how CONELRAD would work can be found in the novel Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, and the 1962 movie Panic in Year Zero, the 1955 "Medic" TV episode entitled "Flash of Darkness" starring Richard Boone, as well as the CBS television network's 1958 made-for-TV movie A Day Called 'X'. The movie The Omega Man (1971) contains an anachronistic depiction of a CONELRAD transmission during a biological warfare attack ("CONELRAD channel! This is a Class 1 emergency! Stay in your homes!")--the attack is shown as taking place in 1975, 12 years after CONELRAD was discontinued.

There was also a hardcore punk-rock band in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, named Conelrad, and there is an active electronic musician who uses the same name. There is also a teleplay for "The Twilight Zone" called "The Shelter" involving the Conelrad station as well as an episode of Quantum Leap called "Nuclear Family" that plays part of a Conelrad broadcast.

Bob Dylan references the system in the song "Talkin' World War III Blues."

Comedian Bill Cosby made a passing reference to this in a stand up routine about Dads. "You find them asleep in front of the TV (turned on) at 3AM, when you turn off the TV they wake up. 'Leave it on, I was watching that.' 'But Dad, it was CONELRAD!' 'Leave him on, he's a hell of a detective!' "