Sig Alerts
Some think that the "Sig" in Sig Alerts stands for "stay in the garage." In fact, it's a reference to the inventor of the Sig Alert, Lloyd Sigmon. As a co-owner of AM radio station KMPC, Sigmon felt that if the Police cooperated with the radio station, they would be able to broadcast traffic problems, hopefully reducing the amount of traffic flowing into the area. The Police Chief was not thrilled with the idea of diverting his resources to something as insignificant as getting in touch with a radio station so Sigmon, having worked as a radio engineer in World War II, set up a system so that when the police dispatcher was transmitting traffic calls, he could just press a button, activating a reciever in the radio station. The Police chief liked this idea so much that he implemented it in all radio stations by October 1955. At first the Sig Alert was used to report a number of different types of accidents, in cluding boat collisions in Long beach Harbor, a train derailment (which caused a traffic jame of emergency vehicles rushing to the scene), rabid dogs and dam failures. Though it never made him any money, Lloyd Sigmond was memorialized in the name of these alerts. He died in 2004 at the age of 95.
posted by kuaptic. @ 8:37 AM
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