Today's Presidential Alert: What You Should Know

Sheriff Steve Prator, who is also head of the Caddo Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, talks with 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCarty about today's Presidential Alert Test.

Here's what theverge.com has to say about the event:

Today at 1:18 pm, CDT, FEMA will send out a "Presidential Alert" to nearly every single cellphone in the country to test its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). In other words, President Trump will text you (and every other US resident) this afternoon — but there’s no need to be alarmed.
If you’ve ever received a severe weather alert, flood warning, or Amber Alert on your phone, you can expect something similar with the Presidential Alert. The difference is that instead of notifying a local area, the new test will (assuming all goes right) notify nearly every cellphone user in the country. The alert system is meant to give the White House the ability to issue a notification to the entire US in the instance of an emergency so there’s no way to opt out of the message.
Along with today’s message at 1:18 pm, CST, FEMA will also test its Emergency Alert System, which will broadcast the same message two minutes later at 1:20 pm on TV and radio.
The test was originally scheduled to happen on September 20th, but it was postponed due to an ongoing severe weather emergency response that was taking place in various parts of the country.