[pfflier]

"We decided not to air the announcement we were ordered by the government to broadcast...We called station management and they agreed. We believed if a nuclear attack had already happened somewhere on US soil or one could be pending here and possibly any minute, why create chaos."

Really?? You admit that you overrode an apparently legitimate message from national command authorities. That was still the era where people had their own fallout shelters and many had storm cellars that did double duty.

Life around Carswell would have sucked if they got nuked but Dallas and the listening area covered a much wider and more survivable area if some people sheltered and there was an attack.

You had no way of knowing why the alert was released. What if it could have been something else, like a broken arrow at Carswell or in the surrounding area? That could have resulted in a risk to the population served by your station but not lethal if simple sheltering indoors was appropriate.

You and your station did not act responsibly and were in violation of your FCC broadcast license agreement...

Or maybe this is all just a "war story".

[garyb]

My recollection is that most stations did not interrupt programming. (As I mentioned a moment ago, neither the TV station I worked at that day, or the co-owned radio station went off the air)

[VTenigma]

Shorts a little tight?

[Sasparilla]

....Or, maybe this was all “just a war story.”

Yes, I admit that I overrode a questionable message from national command authorities. I wasnt the only one at broadcast media that did.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Think whatever you want to. But, the fact is that it was a correct decision. That is my opinion, and I acted on it with no regrets.