CONELRAD

CONELRAD

CONELRAD Logo, incorporating the shield of United States Civil Defense
Type	Emergency warning system
Country	United States
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Ownership
Owner	Federal Civil Defense Administration
History
Launch date	1951
Closed	August 5, 1963
Replaced by	Emergency Broadcast System (as Emergency Action Notification System)
Coverage
Stations	640 AM or 1240 AM
Transmitters	Various

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 was intended to allow continuous broadcast of civil defense information to the public using radio stations, while rapidly switching the transmitter stations to make the broadcasts unsuitable for Soviet bombers that might attempt to home in on the signals (as was done during World War II, when German radio stations, based in or near cities, were used as beacons by bomber pilots).

U.S. President Harry S. Truman established CONELRAD in 1951. After the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced the likelihood of a bomber attack, and the development of superior navigation systems that did not rely on radio direction finding for use in those bomber aircraft which were sent against the United States, CONELRAD was replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) on August 5, 1963, which was later replaced by the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on January 1, 1997; all have been administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).^[1]

Unlike the EBS and EAS, CONELRAD was never intended for use in local civil emergencies such as severe weather. However, the system's alerting protocol could be used for alerting of a natural disaster by 1957.^[2]