The FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau has announced that technical updates to the EAS Test Reporting System (“ETRS”) have been completed and the ETRS is open and available to accept filings of Form One by EAS participants. Under the FCC’s EAS Rules, EAS participants must update their identifying information annually via a Form One filing. This is typically done in connection with a nationwide EAS test. However, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not conduct such a test in 2022, and has not yet announced a 2023 nationwide test. Therefore, the Form One must be submitted independently of a test to comply with the annual updating requirement.

All broadcasters are generally required to submit a Form One, including low power FM stations, Class D noncommercial educational FM stations, and stations that are silent pursuant to a grant of Special Temporary Authority. Certain broadcasters are exempt from filing a Form One, including:

• TV translator stations;
• FM booster stations;
• FM translator stations that entirely rebroadcast the programming of other local FM broadcast stations; and
• Stations that operate as satellites or repeaters of a hub station (or common studio or control point if there is no hub station) and rebroadcast 100 percent of the programming of the hub station (or common studio or control point). Note that the hub station (or common studio or control point) must file a Form One.

To complete the Form One, the filer must have created a FCC Username and password in the FCC’s User Registration System and associated that FCC Username with the licensee’s FCC Registration Number (“FRN”). Once in the ETRS, the filer will be able to pull down the FRN(s) associated with their FCC Username, which will pre-populate some information in their Form One. Filers should confirm that the pre-populated data remains accurate or update it. EAS participants must file a separate Form One for each of their EAS decoders, encoders, or combined encoder/decoder units.

Filers should review the Form One filing guide, and consult their state’s EAS Plan before responding to the Form One’s EAS operational area and monitoring assignments prompts. Filers should begin working on the Form One in advance of the filing deadline to allow time to collect the required information. If necessary, filers may update or correct filings within 30 days of submission.

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