The 38-minute thing makes me think that the guy accidentally pushed the button, and then went to the bathroom for a long while, and only when he got back and answered a call or two...he realized what he’d done.
I’ll say this as well....if this had occurred in Alabama or Mississippi...the weather guy for the local station would have looked at the mess going on about three minutes into this and stopped the feed from going out from the station.
THAT is all automated if it is a State EM system.