Editing CONELRAD (section)

{{short description|Former method of emergency broadcasting in the United States}}
{{For|the band|Conelrad (band)}}
{{Infobox radio network
| name = CONELRAD
| logo = Conelrad logo.svg
| logo_size = 150x150px
| logo_caption = CONELRAD Logo, incorporating the shield of [[United States Civil Defense]]
| type = [[Emergency population warning|Emergency warning system]]
| country = United States
| area = Nationwide
| owner = [[Federal Civil Defense Administration]]
| founder = [[Harry S. Truman]], U.S. President
| launch_date = 1951
| closed = August 5, 1963
| replaced_by = [[Emergency Broadcast System]] (as Emergency Action Notification System)
| radio_stations = 640 AM or 1240 AM
| radio_transmitters = Various
}}
'''CONELRAD''' ('''''Con'''trol of '''El'''ectromagnetic '''Rad'''iation'') was a method of [[State of emergency|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 Union|Soviet]] bombers that might attempt to [[radio direction finding|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).<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,940303,00.html|title=Defense: Sign-off for conelrad|date=July 12, 1963|magazine=TIME|access-date=20 July 2023}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Janzen |first1=Lukas |title=WE MUST BE READY FOR A NEW DANGER: OPERATION ALERT, CONELRAD, AND CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE EARLY COLD WAR |date=December 2017 |url=https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/c247dt262 |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref>