The Missing and Endangered Persons Alert Is Live Nationwide Today - Opportunity Editorial

By Loris Taylor

Illustration by Áísínai'pi Candace June of the Niitsitapi Nation

September marks both an ending and a beginning. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has closed its doors, yet Tribal media now enters a new era of rugged resilience.

Today, on September 8, 2025, radio and television stations will be able to broadcast alerts for Missing and Endangered Persons. While alerting is not new, the MEP Alert is. Before the Federal Communications Commission approved the MEP Alert in 2024, Alerting Authorities were using other event codes to send out alerts about missing and endangered persons. Codes meant for civil disturbance, for instance. It was like using a hammer when you needed a shovel.

Native Public Media has always had a focus on expanding the use of its broadcast assets to serve the community. When the statistics about missing and murdered Indigenous persons continued to rise, NPM asked whether our broadcast network could do more than carry the stories of endangered relatives. The country did not have a Missing and Endangered Persons alert before. So, in 2024, Native Public Media petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to approve the MEP event code.

Event codes, consisting of three letters, are used to code software and equipment, enabling alerts to travel over the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and reach the public. For example, the AMBER Alert uses the CAE event code. CAE stands for Child Abduction Emergency. The Missing and Endangered Persons Alert will use the “MEP event code.”

Broadcast stations are true information hubs. They deliver safety messages during unpredictable weather and when relatives go missing. But when a station goes dark, a community loses more than music or news, it loses its emergency lifeline. That loss chips away at resilience.

To meet this challenge, the Native Public Media Board of Directors established two funds this September. The Tribal Media Endowment Fund and the Tribal Station Fund. The Endowment is a long-term investment, like planting an orchard whose fruit will nourish future generations. The Station Fund is immediate, designed for rapid response when a station faces a crisis. Together, they safeguard our broadcast network, ensuring Tribal voices remain strong, connected, and prepared.

Tribal stations have weathered storms since the 1970s. Their relevance has only grown, for invisibility is not a superpower. Our voices are our true power. Today, as we celebrate the creation of the MEP Alert, we also recognize the urgent need to keep our stations on-air, serving as the guardians of public safety.

You can strengthen Tribal resilience by contributing to the Tribal Media Endowment Fund, the Tribal Station Fund, or supporting NPM directly. Your investment keeps stations broadcasting, alerts flowing, and communities safe.