For stations without an engineer
Written by a working broadcaster for the person at a small station who ended up with all of this — in plain language, checked against the FCC’s own documents, and kept current.
Here about the program chain security rule? The Program Chain Compliance Kit is the implementation version — $149 for radio, $249 for television, or we do the work with you remotely.
Only the dates that are actually set. Each disappears from this list the day after it passes.
| Date | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
| October 10, 2026 | Quarterly issues/programs list for July–September in the public file | Every full-power station |
| October 20, 2026 | EEO audit response uploaded to the public file | The 400 stations selected |
| October 30, 2026 | ETRS Form One | Every EAS Participant |
| November 17, 2026 | National EAS Test, 2:20 pm Eastern, FEMA via IPAWS — it runs through the equipment § 11.35(d) covers | Every EAS Participant |
| November 19, 2026 | ETRS Form Two, within 48 hours of the test | Every EAS Participant |
| January 4, 2027 | ETRS Form Three | Every EAS Participant |
| January 10, 2027 | Quarterly issues/programs list for October–December | Every full-power station |
| June 1, 2027 | Biennial ownership reports (Forms 323 and 323-E) — the filing is waived until then | Most stations |
Several dates that compliance calendars print every year are really set annually by Public Notice, or waived. Which dates are fixed and which are not.
Since September 29, 2026, 47 CFR § 11.35(d) has required every EAS Participant — AM, FM, TV, LPFM, LPTV, Class A and noncommercial, with no small-station exemption — to do three things: strong passwords of at least 15 characters, prompt installation of security patches, and a firewall or comparable network segmentation limiting remote management access.
It is not an EAS-box rule. It reaches the STL, automation, processing, the RDS encoder, remote codecs, transmitter remote control and the network underneath them. There is nothing to file. The duties are ongoing: patches keep coming and staff keep leaving.
Rules change without warning — a deadline gets waived, a filing window opens, a Public Notice lands on a Friday. Leave an address and you get an email when something changes that affects a small station. Nothing else, and one click to leave.
FCC Watch · Week of October 5, 2026
Reply comments on software EAS closed September 29: broadcasters want it phased in, suppliers split on safeguards. Nothing changed on § 11.35(d).
The obligations that produce no daily symptom, which is why they are the ones small stations lose renewals over.
$149
The device-by-device reference, network patterns for a one-rack station, and the worksheets. Instant download, every station you own.
$249
The same kit for a television plant, which has more equipment in scope — including the device that puts the EAS crawl on screen.
$895 per station
We inventory the program chain with you remotely, fix what needs fixing, and leave the completed documentation in your file.