Viewers of morning television got a jolt on Friday morning after a radio broadcast falsely triggered an emergency warning system which is normally used to alert people in times of national distress.

The warning message flashed across television screens with a message that said that is was coming “at the request of the White House.” According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the message was triggered after a syndicated radio show played a series of tones that set off alerts that were played at other radio shows and TV stations.

Following the false message, the Federal Emergency Management Agency posted a message to its website.

“This morning, there was an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast. There is not a national emergency,” said the agency. “Today’s broadcast triggered alert notification in states where the alert has been played. Certain alerts, like the one broadcast today, are designed to be automatically picked up and rebroadcasted by other radio and TV stations. FEMA is currently working with the FCC and broadcasters to determine the full scope of the situation.”

The message was displayed to AT&T U-Verse customers in Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Fortunately the message did not cause any form of panic.

FEMA is currently working with the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the incident, along with AT&T which has said that it is also trying to figure out what happened.

“Certain alerts, like the one broadcast today, are designed to be automatically picked up and rebroadcast by other radio and TV stations. FEMA and the FCC are currently working with broadcasters to determine the full scope of the situation,” said a FEMA spokesperson.