Trivia

Early in the story, Paul tells the adults that their TV set has gone blank and that the viewers have been told to tune into the CONELRAD stations. CONELRAD - which stood for Control of Electromagnetic Radiation - was a Civil Defense radio system that went into effect on December 10, 1951. Under CONELRAD, most AM radio stations and all FM radio and TV stations in the United States would go off the air in the event of a national emergency. Selected AM stations would then air official information and instructions to the public on the 640 and 1240 frequencies on the AM dial. Radios sold in the United States from 1953 to 1963 were required to display the triangular Civil Defense symbol on their dials at those frequencies. Effective August 5, 1963, CONELRAD was replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), under which most AM, FM, and TV stations would remain on the air in the event of an emergency, but would switch over to official news and information. On January 1, 1997, EBS was replaced by the current Emergency Alert System (EAS), which is essentially EBS plus cable TV and satellite TV and radio. See more