Report: Errant EAN Issued During Bobby Bones Show

The nationally syndicated The Bobby Bones Show, based out of Nashville, may have accidentally caused a glitch that affected thousands of AT&T U-verse customers in several states, including Tennessee.

WKRN-TV reports a message, which appeared early Friday morning on customer's televisions, stated in part, “The station has interrupted its regular programming at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System.”

The emergency alert also warned customers to not make phone calls, stating that telephone lines "should be kept open for emergency use."

Customers also reported that their programming was re-directed to another channel without access to others.

The erroneous emergency warning, which AT&T reported as false, reportedly affected customers in states including Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee.

During a segment discussing an EAS test that went off during Game 2 of the World Series somebody on the Bobby Bones Show made the mistake of playing a YouTube clip of the 2011 national test over the air.

Courtesy of engineer Barry Mishkind, Click Here For Audio.

Whit Adamson

Friday afternoon, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters President Whit Adamson said once the emergency message was sent out, it was automatically picked up by other local and syndicated markets.

“We have discovered that this audio tone origination and possibly others was sent from WSIX-FM studios during the Bobby Bones Show in Nashville this morning and was evidently picked up by the Premiere Network program syndication in other markets,” he said in a statement.

AT&T has since released a statement apologizing to customers for the error.

"Earlier today, an emergency message was carried on our network, as well as some other providers. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) investigation indicates that a nationally syndicated radio show not affiliated with AT&T accidentally sent a message over the National Emergency Alert System. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience."

iHeartMedia has not commented; however, they can expect a fine.