End-of-world prediction interrupts TV broadcasts

New Religious Claim Says World Will End September 23

Television programming for some California viewers was interrupted for about a minute Thursday with a disturbing message warning of the end of the world.

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"Realize this, extremely violent times will come," a voice in the alert said, according to the Orange County Register.

The alert interrupted Cox and Spectrum broadcast customers in Orange County around 11:05 a.m.

The cause of the alert was because one or more radio stations conducted an emergency test and did not transmit the end tone which completes the test, Joe Camero, a Cox spokesman told the Register Thursday. Broadcast stations then picked up the audio feed that sent the alert.

“We don’t want to alarm anyone with any false emergency alerts,” Camero said.

Both providers are investigating the cause of the alert and whether it was done intentionally.

It is not known if the alert has anything to do with the end of the world prophecy by David Meade, a numerologist, who claims catastrophic events will occur Saturday, according to the Washington Post.

"I was definitely startled, because the volume increased exponentially," Erin Mireles told the Register. "I wasn't alarmed in the sense of thinking something was wrong, because I assumed it was some sort of hack. My channel changed back to Bravo after a couple minutes."