KEWS History

Immediately after the terrible tornadoes in 1974 that left 73 Kentuckians dead, Governor Wendell Ford pushed his telephone buttons in rapid succession saying "Hello?  Hello...?  Hello...?!?!" in an effort to find out if anyone was attempting to call him regarding the natural disaster.  There was nothing but silence in the Governor’s Mansion except for a police radio a few feet away (operating on a battery), broadcasting information from a trooper to his supervisor about a windstorm on I-64 that almost overturned his car -- he was abandoning it to immediately dive into a ditch.  The commercialized phone services failed miserably while the police radio was able to operate and provide information regarding status updates on law enforcement, fire, and EMS activities, but only within a localized area.  There was no statewide communication infrastructure to command and control public safety activities between the local and state agencies. 

Governor Wendall Ford will never forget that terrible day in Kentucky’s history when the protection of its people, and the ability to adequately respond to a disaster situation, was compromised by reliance on commercialized voice communication systems.  Governor Ford vowed that "Never again will Kentucky be in that position".

"Lest We Forget..."

Governor Julian Carroll and the 1976 Kentucky General Assembly did not forget and set out to build a state-wide public safety communications network that would be maintained and controlled by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and would be so named the Kentucky Emergency Warning System (KEWS).  KEWS would be a robust all weather communications network that would be a highly survivable emergency communications network.  The cost was approximately 22 million dollars using Microwave Technology to operate 1,200 Voice Channels to be used by public safety agencies including the State Police, Emergency Management, Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources, Transportation, National Guard, Military Affairs, Corrections, Sheriffs, 911 Centers, and local EMS. 

Since its service was initiated in 1979, KEWS has evolved and expanded its communication services to serve not only the Commonwealth agencies such as the Kentucky State Police, Department of Military Affairs, Kentucky Educational Television, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Department of Natural Resources, Kentucky Emergency Management, and the University of Kentucky, but also Federal and Local agencies such as Federal Bureau of Investigations, National Weather Service, and numerous Local / County Emergency Medical Services.

KEWS operates using older analog technologies that are obsolete and will not support modern digital technologies that are rapidly emerging and necessary for increased capacity and high speed data capabilities.  Manufacturers of analog equipment have migrated to digital equipment and replacement or introduction of new analog products are nonexistent.

Today, the KEWS microwave infrastructure is over 25 years old, with replacement parts that are no longer available and network failures that impact the various communication systems riding on the KEWS network increasing at an alarming rate.  With the modern digital upgrade, KEWS will evolve again to provide a secure, highly survivable and redundant wireless digital Public Safety Communication system that is critical for the protection of life and property in the Commonwealth.