Early in the morning of September 11, 2001 I was in bed awoken by the radio...it was a newsman, Ray Woodson, of all people, on KNBR, of all stations, that one of the World Trade Center towers had been hit by a plane and that the building was on fire. I quickly got out of bed and turned on the TV and saw the tower. I was aghast --it looked pretty bad and I was automatically thinking this didn't look good. Later on, bad things turned to worse.
You know the story.
It was a day of flipping from Aaron Brown on CNN to Ashley Banfield on NBC. Oh, I won't forget Dan Rather on CBS too for all the wrong reasons.
I won't forget the late, great Lee Rodgers who broadcast a magnificent narration on KSFO --and Melanie Morgan ably assisting.
I won't forget Ray Taliaferro, of all people, providing much needed levity and comfort on the old KGO Radio after a terrible day.
I'm sure many of you out there have your own recollections.
I'm sick of it already. I don't want to remember it, even though I will never forget, and my life got fucked over that day also.
ReplyDeleteAt least I'm alive.
I'm not turning on the TV today.
Sorry about that. I'm sick of it because it's politicized to no end.
DeleteI agree with 9:16. How can we forget when the media shoves it down our throats? Of course we grieve for the victims but it has perpetuated so much hatred as well.
ReplyDeleteI was self employed and some days I worked out of my home office, thus I didn't wake up real early. I think I woke up around 8 a.m. to KGO,s Ed Baxter and Rosie Allan, first thing I heard was school closing, though it was another school shooting, then other tidbits, I forgot in what order, something about the Twin Towers, and a plane down or missing over Pennsylvania, I became wide awake, I also listened a little to Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan, but mostly I watched TV and called friends. I lived in Midtown Manhattan when the Towers was being built, and could see the progress when I walked home from work. I still have a girl friend in Brooklyn, I tried to call her, but couldn't get through. Instead of spending the day doing paperwork, I just sat in front of the TV, hardly leaving to even fix a meal. I did turn on KGO from time to time, Gene Burns was not on the air (had gone on vacation and had a medical emergency) I'm not sure if John Rothmann was filing in, I think perhaps he did, and if he did I know I would have listened. Bernie Ward was still on KGO back then, and although at times I liked Bernie, often I did not, he was much like Savage (except on the other end of the political spectrum) always critical of something or someone.
ReplyDeleteI did listen to Savage for a short while, he was on late afternoon, what little respect I had for him vanished soon, he was ranting and raving that among the pictures of fire fighters he didn't see any black or Hispanic, and insinuating the were too coward to go into the buildings, what a despicable notion, and totally untrue. Anyway in the next few days, when I was driving to business appointments or working at home KGO was my source of information and comfort. I don't remember if Pete Wilson was on KGO then, or it was Dr. Laura. However, the great thing about the old KGO was the reacted quickly to news, and would change programming to suit the situation. How I miss the old KGO, although right now they probably close to the best Cumulus has been since they took over, with Drex gone and Pat Thurston on at night, and John Rothmann filing in several times a week, at least the last few weeks. Hope they keep it up.
At that time, NBC was king of the morning tv, and I remember being tuned into NBC for most of the day that day. However, over the past few years, I have watched the MANY videos that are on youtube [search for "9/11"] with the basic title of "9/11, as it happened", which are what I find to be the most interesting now, after so many years, and having learned a whole lot more than we knew at the time. If you watch the various "as it happened" broadcasts, whether CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, or even the BBC, it is almost comical to listen to the "callers", who the networks put on the air, and their descriptions of "a small propeller plane" that hit the first building. Oddly enough, probably one of the first people who actually seemed to get it right, was Janice Huff, a former meteorologist from right here in the bay area [I think she was on KRON], who had moved to New York. While NBC was sharing reports from people who claimed they definitely saw a small plane, Janice Huff got it right almost immediately right after the first plane hit. She gave a remarkable report and considering the time and how reports were coming right and left, she was concise and composed. But like others have said, I too, am sick of the repeated media standard reports on 9/11, that show the "reading of the victims names", every year, etc. I don't think there needs to be this same thing going on every year, but I do agree that what happened on 9/11, which IS the modern day Pearl Harbor, should be remembered.
ReplyDeleteGary Radnich of all people, got real serious and said "this doesn't look too good we are going to be switching over to a news feed" or words to that effect. KNBR was news for maybe a couple days? Hard to recall...hard to forget.
ReplyDeletewe've had our personal ''911's'' too, but no one in ''government'' gives a rats ass about ''homeless'' and true equality. make the world better not just public memorial hype, phoniness.
ReplyDeleteCNBC replays their Today Show from 9/11 on every anniversary of the tragidy, but this time the last hour got pre-empted by a "Breaking News" about Hillary getting overheated, which repeated her condition over and over and over...
ReplyDeleteI awoke to Ed Baxter as well, mentioning the possibility of Bin Laden being behind the attacks. I was in a stupor as I turned on NBC, I think, as the first tower started to fall, it was utter disbelief in what I was seeing.
ReplyDeleteBernie was very good that night, and Ray was too, getting us through that tragic time.
I'm embarrassed to admit I first heard the news from Sarah and Vinnie when I got in my car at about 7AM. I hadn't taken the time to turn on the TV or radio, and it wasn't like it is today where the first thing you do before you get out of bed is check your iPhone for mail.
ReplyDeleteAround that time I would sometime listen to Bernie Wards in the evenings on KGO. Before I would go to bed, I would switch the radio back to KSFO so I could make sure I caught Lee Rodgers when I woke in the mornings. On September 10, 2001, I listened to Bernie. When I woke up on September 11, 2001, I switched on my radio, and I heard a bunch of news coverage. I wasn't paying attention to what was being said; I just figured it was the morning news on KGO and that I must have forgotten to switch the dial back to KSFO after having listened to Bernie the night before. So I went to switch the dial back to KSFO when I discovered--much to my surprise--that the dial was actually on KSFO. Huh! I found that very strange. So then I started paying attention to what was being said. It was then that I learned that there was some kind of major disaster in New York. I immediately turned on my TV, and it was then that I saw the horrific events unfold.
ReplyDeleteI watched on TV and then hopped on BART with a radio tuned to KCBS and rode to my job at a music station downtown. Listened as Stan Bunger relayed that a jet had crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Getting off BART and walking to work was like a fish swimming upstream as everyone was going HOME at 9am. Of course the PD had suspended regular programming and was trying to relay the latest info to our audience. I tried to help our News Director by passing along any confirmed info I could get. Around 11am we resumed regular music programming. Our GM had released the office staff to go home, but as the Production Director I still had commercial work to do to get set up for the next day's log. I was able to leave for home early around 4pm. Downtown was deserted. An SFPD cruiser slowed down and they watched me as I walked back to BART.
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