It has the size and appearance of a small digital travel alarm clock.

However, if this alarm sounds, it signals a possible emergency, not the start of another day.

Barnwell County Emergency Management obtained the 500 Alert FM radios, which are about the size of a cell phone. With its protective cover flipped over, the radio looks like a desktop digital clock.

Right now the radios are being made available to emergency responders and police, but eventually the public will be able to buy them, said Roger Riley, the Barnwell County Emergency Management director.

The radios transmit weather warnings from the National Weather Service and - its bigger feature - customized messages from Barnwell County Emergency Management.

The customized messages would alert the appropriate agencies or areas in the case of a localized emergency, such as a lost child or major accident, he said.

"It doesn't play music and you won't know it's there until it goes off," said Riley.

The radio would not sound for weather watches, only warnings, he said.

A warning, such as a tornado warning, means conditions are imminent for that particular storm or it is already occurring in the warned area. A watch means that weather conditions are favorable for severe weather in the watch area.

Riley received the radios through a $250,000 U.S. Department of Commerce grant. The grant paid for the radios and the installation of six transmitters in Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties, which are the first three counties in the state to try this system, he said.

"We have not had to spend a dime on this," Riley said.

All total, the three counties received 3,500 radios, he said.

Most areas in Alabama and Mississippi are covered with this alert system, Riley said.

Alert FM is meant as a secondary form of alerting the public in case of an emergency such as tornado or hurricane warnings, he said.

"These are not a primary notification system. It's secondary and works off of FM radio signals. It's just a back-up system," Riley said.

If a National Weather Service warning were to occur in this area, then the radio would chime and the owner could scroll through the radio's LCD display to read the warning.

Riley has been custom programming the radios since receiving them about two weeks ago. These will go to different agencies.

Riley is looking for a local retail store in Barnwell County willing to buy its own inventory of radios to sell. The radios for the general public would retail for about $40 and would receive transmissions from the National Weather Service and Barnwell County Emergency Management. The retailer would have to be trained to program in the radio signals for a Barnwell County general alert, he said.

The radio would be somewhat cheaper than the all-weather radios which receive constant meteorological bulletins and cost about $60, Riley said.

"Other than (storm) watches, it does the same thing," he said of the Alert FM radios.