Telephones warn of emergency
NZPA-AP Charlotte, North Carolina Telephones of the future may place automatic calls to warn of an emergency such as a nuclear meltdown, or perform less urgent jobs like reading your electricity meter or telling cable television companies what you are watching. “It sounds like (the science fiction movie) ‘Star Wars,’ but the technology is here today,” said Eugene McKinney, an account executive with the Southern. Bell telephone company. Southern Bell has already looked into setting up an
emergency notification system for the Catawba nuclear-power plant, under construction near Charlotte, North Carolina. No such system exists or is under development elsewhere, but “the technology is there,” said Bob Freedman, a Southern Bell district manager. During hearings on the Catawba plant, Mr McKinney told Government and power company officials that it would take at least ?5 million and two years to complete . the telephone emergency warning system, which would, theoretically,
operate through two different systems. In the first type of system, a computer at the phone company’s central office could make 1700 calls a minute with pre-recorded messages. “If there was a meltdown or whatever, you could warn any segment of the population with any message,” Mr McKinney said. In the second type of system, a sub-channel of existing phone lines would put a “black box” in each home, allowing a two-way flow of information.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841106.2.125.2
Bibliographic details
Press, 6 November 1984, Page 26
Word Count
227Telephones warn of emergency Press, 6 November 1984, Page 26
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.