Sig-alert
January 29 through March 20, 1999

DEFINITION OF THE WORD SIGALERT
In Southern California, a Sigalert is a radio announcement sent out by the California
Highway Patrol to make the community aware of an incident on the freeway that will
block one or more lanes for at least thirty minutes. It was named for Loyd Sigmon,
its inventor, who was co-owner of radio station KMPC in the 1950's. Mr. Sigmon's
original idea was to give the Los Angeles Police Department direct access to LA radio
stations to broadcast emergency public safety information. Each radio station was given
a receiver that had "Sigalert" stamped on its side.
source: http://kfwb.com/trafques.html
More detailed information regarding Loyd 'Sig' Sigmon and the development of the Sigalert can be found in the curator's essay of the exhibition Netalogue.

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