At 8:33 a.m. (CST) Feb. 20, 1971, bells loudly dinged from teletype machines in radio and television newsrooms across the United States, printing out a single urgent message.
An emergency action notification (EAN) message triggered a nationwide alert and disrupted broadcasting.
The EAN originated from the National Warning Center, located within the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.
But first, the backstory.
Wayland S. Eberhardt, a civilian teletype operator at the National Warning Center, prepared to transmit the weekly emergency broadcast system (EBS) routine test message for radio and television stations early Saturday morning, Feb. 20, 1971.
Stations used color-coded EAN cards with the EBS protocol to determine which message to broadcast based on the received EAN message and codeword.
The white card (EAN message number one) was used to alert broadcasters to an impending emergency, instruct them to interrupt regular programming, and inform their listeners to stay tuned for further instructions.
The red card (EAN message number two) was reserved for a confirmed attack on the US. It instructed stations to broadcast a warning message and direct listeners to seek shelter immediately.
Mr. Eberhardt had three punched paper tapes for the teletype machine in front of him: a routine test tape and two tapes for real emergencies, one instructing the use of EAN message number one and the other EAN message number two.
Unfortunately, instead of sending the routine test message, he accidentally transmitted the EAN message number one tape, along with its authenticator codeword “hatefulness,” to radio and television newsrooms nationwide.
EAN message number one, sent at 8:33 a.m. CST, was received by all Associated Press and United Press International teletype machines in radio and TV newsrooms across the country.
Cue the loudly dinging bells of the teletype machines.
“Hatefulness” matched the unique daily code word for Feb. 20. Thus, broadcasters considered the message an actual emergency alert.
Message number one read: “This is an emergency action notification (EAN) directed by the President. Normal broadcasting will cease immediately. All stations will broadcast EAN message number one.”
Several national radio stations and many across Minnesota went off the air, including KLFD in Litchfield, KBUN in Bemidji, WMFG in Hibbing, KTMF in New Prague, and KDOM in Windom.
However, radio station WCCO (830 AM), with its National Defense Emergency Authorization (NDEA), remained on the air to transmit official news and information.
Within minutes of receiving the teletype message, WCCO radio broadcast the following:
“This is an emergency action notification. All broadcast stations shall broadcast emergency action notification message number one white card. This station has interrupted its regular program at the request of the United States government to participate in the emergency broadcast system, serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area,” announced WCCO radio broadcaster Howard Viken.
He continued, “During this period, many radio stations will remain on the air, broadcasting news and official information for areas assigned to them. This station will remain on the air and will serve the Twin Cities area. If you are not located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, you should now tune your ra . . .” Viken’s audio was suddenly cut off.
After six seconds of radio silence, another voice is heard, “They’ve run the incorrect tape, Howard. This is a [the speaker hesitates] mistake.”
Viken then says, “This is ah . . . disregard . . . disregard the last message. Disregard the last message.”
He pauses, seemingly at a loss for words, and then says, “Fourteen until nine, Twin City temperature is 24 degrees. The wind is north-northeast at nine miles per hour.”
“Well, we’re sorry for that error on the part of somebody, but this was to be an emergency action notification, but there’s been an error, so disregard that emergency action notification. Disregard that last announcement,” Viken explained.
Approximately 15 minutes after the initial emergency action notification, Viken reported, “We just received this from our CONELRAD advisory. All stations. CONELRAD advises that they have run the incorrect tape for today’s test. Please disregard the authenticator message which moved on this circuit a short time ago. This notice came from CONELRAD in Chicago.”
Howard Viken (1924 to 2021), who started working at WCCO radio in 1950, likely used the term “CONELRAD” because it was still informally used among broadcasters at that time.
The CONELRAD (control of electromagnetic radiation) system was a Cold War-era emergency communications protocol designed in 1951 to disrupt enemy navigation during an attack on the US and to broadcast official news and information to the public.
In 1963, it was replaced by the emergency broadcast system.
It required most radio stations to cease transmissions, except for designated CONELRAD stations broadcasting at 640 kHz and 1240 kHz.
Many radio models during that time had symbols printed on their dials, such as triangles, indicating these frequencies.
Despite multiple attempts to officially retract the erroneous emergency action notification, it persisted for 40 minutes until 9:13 a.m. CST, when the EBS transmitted the correct code word, “impish,” finally canceling the EAN.
You can listen to the archived WCCO radio broadcast from Feb. 20, 1971, with the EAN announcement starting 26 seconds into the audio file, along with news clips from that day, at tinyurl.com/1971WCCO.
