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Full Show · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New York changed. The country changed. The world changed. We
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: all changed on this day 25 years ago, September 11th, 2001.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: We all have our memories. It's just as important that
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: we gather as a community, much like we did right
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: after 9-11. There was a unity in this country that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: hasn't existed since. But in memory of that day, we
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: should unify once again And so we're going to dedicate
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: this show not only to what's going on down at
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Ground Zero, but to the memory of those who died
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and those who have died since. But also, remembering that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: day is a very personal experience, isn't it? We all
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: have our stories. Some are tragic. Some are wonderful. I mean,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: people coming from all over the country to respond to this.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: And there's unity and there's heroes and there's devils. And
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: there are so many stories to share. We want to
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: hear yours. You can leave us a talk back at
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: any point this morning, anytime you want to share a story.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Remember a loved one or just let us know how
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you're feeling today. Because for many of us, the feelings
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of that day are rushing back today. You can do
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that by going to 710WOR. on the iHeartRadio app. Once again,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: 710WOR on the iHeartRadio app. And today, by the way,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: we're giving out the caller of the week, the C-Crane radio,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: radios that work when it matters most. And I'm sure
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a call from today. So please,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: we want to hear from you. But I think it's important, Curtis,
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  Speaker 1: on this day, especially from you and Natalie, since you
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: were both here on that day, I can talk about
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: my experience, but it's much different than yours. Curtis, why
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: don't you start? What was it like on 9-11, 2001?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Clear day.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: There was a Democratic primary taking place because Rudy Giuliani
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: had been term-limited out. The Democrats were way ahead in
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the polls, whether it was Mark Green or Fernando Ferrer,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: were running against one another. They want to beat the
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The polls were overwhelming. So people were
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: going out to vote. I was at WABC at the time.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: I had just come back from Florida where I spoke
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the night before. And we were going through the assignments
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: of what are we going to cover? What are we
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: going to do? And nobody obviously had any idea what
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: was awaiting us. With the smashing of that plane into
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Tower One, eventually its implosion, followed quickly by the smashing
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: of a plane into Tower 2 and its implosion. And
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  Speaker 3: I think from a radio perspective, remember, we didn't have
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: the internet to rely on for news and information. And
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: when the towers went down, by the time that catastrophe
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  Speaker 3: took place, there was no TV.
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  Speaker 2: That's it.
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  Speaker 3: All the towers were where the big antenna were up
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  Speaker 3: on the World Trade Center.
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  Speaker 2: They had been moved from the Empire State Building.
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  Speaker 1: And there was no streaming.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 3: Now people were so dependent on radio, like they are
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: during blackouts or other major disasters. So we had to
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: hold it down. There was no breaks. There were no advertisements.
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  Speaker 3: It was just whatever we could get our hands on
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  Speaker 3: to inform the general public that everybody was shocked. We
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: were getting calls coming in. People were basically being deputized
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to tell us what was going on in their area.
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  Speaker 3: And the shock of it all, being on the air
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  Speaker 3: for 12 straight hours.
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  Speaker 2: Before we were relieved.
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  Speaker 3: And then eventually I worked my way down to the
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  Speaker 3: World Trade Center site. You could see the plume in
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: the distance. And it was easy access in and out.
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  Speaker 3: But it's something that all the pictures, all the video,
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  Speaker 3: all the commemorations don't do justice to. It was a catastrophe.
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  Speaker 3: It was, I would say, like Dante's Inferno. If there
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: was anything that could possibly equate to Dante's Inferno, it
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  Speaker 3: was that.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Joe Bartlett, who is retired now,
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  Speaker 1: but he was the newsman at WOR on that day.
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  Speaker 1: And he saw the second plane hit the tower, which
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: is amazing. So we're going to be talking to him
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  Speaker 1: coming up. But Natalie Vaca was also here that day.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: And you were here for many days after. I think
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  Speaker 1: you slept at the station. So can you share what
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you went through on that day?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I was still pretty young in my career.
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  Speaker 5: And I was producing the morning show. It was with
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: Ed Walsh at that time. John Gambling had just left
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: a year earlier. And it started off like Curtis was saying.
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  Speaker 5: It was a beautiful morning. We were kind of wrapping
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  Speaker 5: up the show at that point. And we have a line.
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  Speaker 5: It was called Star 710 where people could call with traffic.
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  Speaker 5: And I saw it ringing and I said, we only
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: have one more report, but I guess I'll pick it up.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: I picked it up and it was a regular caller.
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  Speaker 5: It was a truck driver from the Jersey Turnpike. And
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  Speaker 5: he said to me, he's like, Natalie, he goes, the
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  Speaker 5: Twin Towers, it's on fire. I was like, what is
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  Speaker 5: he talking about? Because I'm staring at television. They got
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: the Today Show on. They didn't have anything on. I'm
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: looking at the AP. Nothing is coming up. So I said, well,
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: I could see the Twin Towers from our newsroom.
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  Speaker 2: I'll walk over.
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  Speaker 6: Joe Bartlett's doing the news.
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  Speaker 5: And he has his back to the window and he's
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  Speaker 5: typing away for the 9 o'clock news.
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  Speaker 6: I was like, Joe, turn around. From that moment on.
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  Speaker 5: When I told him to turn around, everything changed. And I, as,
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  Speaker 5: you know, Curtis was saying, I spent the morning with
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: the listeners, these WOR listeners. And I meet them a
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: lot still 25 years later. And they'll talk about that day.
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  Speaker 5: and how they stayed with us because they had no
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: other place to go. And they felt like we were
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: the family that they needed at that moment. And I
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  Speaker 5: didn't feel it for a very long time, the heaviness
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: of that moment.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been here for a couple 9-11 anniversaries, and
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I've heard some of your coverage, and it was stellar.
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  Speaker 1: It was amazing. You did a great public service on
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  Speaker 1: that day, and it was so important that you were
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: on the air and that Joe Bartlett was on the
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  Speaker 1: air because my God, my God, his coverage was amazing
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: because it was appropriately enough information mixed with raw emotion.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: Raw emotion.
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  Speaker 1: Because you were feeling it. You were feeling it in
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  Speaker 1: real time as it was happening outside the window. I'll
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: share my story just very quickly because it's much different
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: than the people that were here, but it is an
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: American experience. I was sound asleep because I was anchoring
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the evening news. And my wife was on the air
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  Speaker 1: at CBS at the time. And my wife called me
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: and said, wake up. Do you see what's going on?
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  Speaker 1: Do you see? And I turned the television on and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I said, well, planes fly into buildings that's happened before
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: in New York. And she said, yeah, but this is,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: this looked like an airliner. And I said, really? And
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: then as we're talking on the phone, the second plane
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  Speaker 1: hit the building. And I said, is that a replay
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  Speaker 1: of the, and she goes, no, that's, that's another plane.
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  Speaker 1: And I said to her, we're under attack. I got
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to go. And I hung up the phone and I
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  Speaker 1: listened to the radio and they were still talking sports.
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  Speaker 1: And I called in and I said, do you understand
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  Speaker 1: what's going on? And they said, we can't get this
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  Speaker 1: one guy to shut up. I said, well, shut him up,
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  Speaker 1: shut him off. And she goes, can you go on?
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  Speaker 1: And from that moment, as I'm getting dressed, as I'm
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: driving in, I was on the air talking about what
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: was happening. And I get into the newsroom and everybody's crying.
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  Speaker 1: And I couldn't understand it. I've never been in a
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  Speaker 1: newsroom where everybody was crying. That's the first time ever
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  Speaker 1: I've seen that. And because I've covered so many stories,
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  Speaker 1: I was wondering why I wasn't feeling that. But I was,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you're hyped up with an emotion of covering
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  Speaker 1: a story. It was on the air straight for four
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  Speaker 1: weeks covering the story.
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  Speaker 3: And I think our role became trying to cut through
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  Speaker 3: all the misinformation that was coming out, the rumors, the innuendos. Again,
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  Speaker 3: there was no internet. It's not like you could take
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  Speaker 3: your flip phone and you could see what was going on.
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  Speaker 2: It was nothing.
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  Speaker 3: People were completely dependent on whatever information we could get
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  Speaker 3: our hands on. And we had the responsibilities. Yeah, that
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  Speaker 3: was a big one.
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  Speaker 5: I remember being so worried about what we were saying
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  Speaker 5: because I knew how it was affecting people.
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  Speaker 6: And we were extremely.
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  Speaker 5: Lucky to have George Meade in the studio with us,
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  Speaker 5: who is our traffic reporter, but had been a helicopter pilot.
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  Speaker 5: You know, he probably did more miles around the city
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  Speaker 5: in a helicopter than anyone. And he initially looked at
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  Speaker 5: us and said, I cannot understand how a plane could
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  Speaker 5: be misguided.
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  Speaker 6: Into that building on this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly. It was so obvious when it was the second
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  Speaker 1: plane what was happening. I will tell you this. I
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  Speaker 1: was on the air too, not at the time, but
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  Speaker 1: in the days afterwards. And things were happening so fast
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  Speaker 1: and so quickly. And we had so many different news sources.
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  Speaker 1: And let me tell you that that was an amazing
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  Speaker 1: day for the media. They did an incredible job. Don't
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  Speaker 1: you wish they could go back to that, to being...
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  Speaker 1: All together, just focusing on one story and making sure
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  Speaker 1: the correct information comes through. So it was a day
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  Speaker 1: that changed everything. And it certainly changed all of us individually,
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  Speaker 1: but it changed the media. But then again, we've all
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  Speaker 1: slipped back.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I remember on that day, more so than the
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  Speaker 3: heroic news people who ran down to the attack site,
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  Speaker 3: many of them who would have nightmares for the rest
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  Speaker 3: of their lives for what they saw, because they were
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  Speaker 3: down in the area when the implosion took place, was
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  Speaker 3: the fact That everybody understood what their responsibilities were. Because
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: then later on, we learned about the attack on the Pentagon.
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  Speaker 7: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And then the one that nobody pays attention to now
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  Speaker 3: with everything leading up to the 25th anniversary, Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 3: Then realizing later that it was the Flight 93 that
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  Speaker 3: went down there that was on its way to crash
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  Speaker 3: into our nation's capital. And all of that, we had
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  Speaker 3: to sort through. And we had to depend on a
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: lot of callers to be our eyes and ears out
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  Speaker 3: there in all these surrounding areas.
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  Speaker 1: But remember when the other planes crashed. There was this
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: feeling around the country, oh my God, what's next? Nobody
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: had any idea of how many planes could be up there.
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  Speaker 1: And every city... was on high alert because they could
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: be next. It was a frightening time after that happened
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: for several days that, oh my God, we are vulnerable.
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  Speaker 1: What's next? But we want to hear from you. You
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: can leave us a talk back again at any time
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: during this morning to share your stories, remember a loved one,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: or just let us know how you're feeling today. You
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: can do that by going to 710WOR on the iHeartRadio app.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with your thoughts. From anywhere in
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the U.S. The attacks on 9-11 25 years ago today,
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  Speaker 1: that was a shared experience, globally shared, shared across the country,
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  Speaker 1: but especially in the New York City area. And everyone
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: has their stories. We want you to share them with
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  Speaker 1: us because we're all here together this morning to remembering,
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  Speaker 1: and just kind of holding each other close. So here
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: is the first talk back of the morning, and this
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  Speaker 1: is coming from someone who got very lucky that day.
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  Speaker 8: That morning, I was in the Winter Garden. I had
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  Speaker 8: just stepped onto the first step of the marble staircase
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  Speaker 8: leading up to the North Overpass, where the I.M. Pei
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  Speaker 8: Atrium is. I felt the earth move. I looked up
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  Speaker 8: through the atrium, and I saw white smoke and, like,
• 12:35
  Speaker 8: ticker tape paper coming out of the North Tower. I
• 12:39
  Speaker 8: turned around, went back to the New York Waterway Ferry,
• 12:42
  Speaker 8: got on the 9 o'clock boat. Halfway across the Hudson,
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  Speaker 8: I saw a commercial airliner fly through my building.
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  Speaker 3: And just remember, as he was getting on the ferries,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: People eventually were being organized and removed on ferries, probably
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: the greatest mass evacuation utilizing boats and ferries that has
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: ever occurred in our history. And a lot of people,
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: their lives were saved as a result of what appeared
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: to be disorganized and then quickly became organized to try
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: to get people to evacuate that whole area. I remember
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: we had news people run down there. We had no
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: contact with them. Again, when the towers went down, the
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: cell towers went down. So there was no phone communication. Remember,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: our firefighters had no radio communication. There were orders being given, abandon, abandon,
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: get out of the towers. Now, they couldn't hear that
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: on their radios. Many, many more lives would have been
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: saved if, in fact, the technology had worked. But everything
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: was dependent on communications from on top of both the towers. And,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: you know, you can look back at it and know
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: how many people's lives were saved who could have also
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: have been victimized with the implosion of the two towers.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll tell you one thing that I took from
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: that day was how much a tragedy like that unites
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: all of us. I still remember people going, traveling to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: New York City immediately from across the country, from everywhere.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Because they just wanted to help. Remember, they couldn't even
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: fit them all in. They said, no, no, no, we
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: can't let you in. And all of them gathered. Firefighters, priests,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: construction workers, all gathering on the Jersey side, waiting for
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: their chance to help. And they waited patiently until they
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: were called and allowed in. It was one of those
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: moments that so unified the country and lasted forever. For months,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: lasted maybe for a year, people were flying American flags.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: People were nice to one another. Everybody was sharing the
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: experience together across the country. And that was maybe the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: only positive that came out of that. We're safer now, too.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, we learned a lot of lessons from that day.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: But the day was so immensely tragic, it is even
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: hard 25 years later to look back and say, well,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: there's some good things that came out of it. No,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: it was still that tragic that it overshadows a lot.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: The good thing from my perspective is with all the
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: politics leading and surrounding this 25th commemoration and anniversary, the
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: rest of the country has been made aware. I'm telling you,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: having traveled the country years afterwards, it's almost as if
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: 9-11 hadn't occurred in other different parts of the country.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: We felt it in our region, obviously down near the Pentagon,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: El this is Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but the rest of the country,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: they were having no flashbacks, no memories. It's almost like
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: they wanted to discard it. And the sad thing is
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: that one-third of our population was born after the attack
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: on 9-11, and they've had little, if any, information about it.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Shame on all of us for not letting them know
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: everything that led up to it, what happened during the attack.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: And all the things that transpired after the attack, hopefully
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: we correct that because this generation coming up, the Gen
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Zers and the new generation following them should be told,
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: should be given the facts.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And let's just try to remember in the days after
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: how unified we were. That's why it's so important that
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: we have these memorials, not only to pay tribute to
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: the first responders and to also honor those that died.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: But just to remember that we were so united and
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: maybe we can get that back somehow. Now, Daria Albinger
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: with the 630 News. Daria.
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: Good morning, guys. Sunny today, less humid and a high
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: of 79 degrees. It was 25 years ago. Terrorists hijacked
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: four commercial jetliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center,
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: another into the Pentagon, and one in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Today,
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: the nation will pause to remember the September 11th attacks.
• 17:14
  Speaker 9: For the last 24 years, six moments of silence have
• 17:17
  Speaker 9: been held on this day to commemorate moments from the
• 17:20
  Speaker 9: attacks in New York and Virginia and the crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Today,
• 17:26
  Speaker 9: a seventh moment of silence will be held to honor
• 17:29
  Speaker 9: the lives lost in later years from 9-11-related illnesses.
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: ABC's Olivia Rubin, ceremonies at Ground Zero will begin at
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: 8.30 this morning. Former Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush and Clinton
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: will attend. President Trump will mark 9-11 at the Pentagon.
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: Security will be ramped up as expected for the 9-11 ceremonies,
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: but the NYPD is also preparing for Rosh Hashanah, the
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: first of the Jewish High Holy Days, will begin at sunset.
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: Officers will be deployed at synagogues, yeshivas and other Jewish
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: cultural centers starting today. Well, there may be a new
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: deadly Legionnaires cluster in the city. This one in the Bronx.
• 18:07
  Speaker 10: City health officials Thursday revealed what they're calling a likely
• 18:11
  Speaker 10: community cluster in parts of the Melrose and Morrisania sections
• 18:15
  Speaker 10: of the Bronx. They also announced one death in that cluster,
• 18:18
  Speaker 10: five other positive tests, and other potential positives. They say
• 18:23
  Speaker 10: the cluster is limited to zip codes 10451 and 10456
• 18:25
  Speaker 10: so far. Anyone in or who has visited those areas
• 18:31
  Speaker 10: since late August and comes down with flu-like symptoms is
• 18:34
  Speaker 10: urged to see a doctor. Eleven people died from Legionnaires
• 18:37
  Speaker 10: in a summer outbreak on the Upper East Side. Seven
• 18:40
  Speaker 10: people died in a Harlem outbreak last summer. Andrew Whitman,
• 18:45
  Speaker 10: WOR News.
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: The Yankees beat Colorado 10-3. They host the Mets tonight.
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: And San Francisco beat the LA Rams 27-7 last night
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: in Australia. Next news, 7 o'clock, bulletins at once. I'm
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: Daria Albinger on 710WOR.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Daria. We all have stories about 9-11. We
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: want you to share yours. Go to the iHeartRadio app,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: look for 710WOR and hit the Talk Back button because
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: this is a day to share those memories and unite.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: And somebody that has an amazing story from that day.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Assistant Chief Michael Myers, a 35-year veteran of the FDNY,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: was there that day and for many days afterwards. We're
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: going to talk to him coming up next. But right now,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about the C-Crane radios.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: C-Crane radios, as Curtis was talking about a second ago,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: radios were so important during that time, especially in the area,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: because on many occasions in many areas, that's all people had.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: And so having a C crane Wi-Fi internet radio for
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: that day would be extremely important it is the solution
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: if you have bad reception with the CC Wi-Fi 3
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: you can receive thousands of radio stations from across America
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and around the world right here at home no apps
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: to download no monthly fees no ads on the screen
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: and no microphones listening in Best of all, you can
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: listen to our show with crystal clear audio without static
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: or fading. The CC Wi-Fi 3 comes with a full-size
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: remote control and you can pick up a strong Wi-Fi
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: signal even when it's farther away from your home router.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: This week's purchase with the CC Wi-Fi 3 receives $ 10 off.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: That means you can get $ 10 off your purchase of
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the CC Wi-Fi 3 This week only. So to order
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the CC Wi-Fi 3 and receive $ 10 off, call C-Crane
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: at 800-522-8863.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: That's 800-522-8863.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Or visit C-Crane.com. That's C-C-R-A-N-E.com. We are honored right now
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: to welcome Assistant Chief Michael Myers, a 35-year veteran of
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the FDNY and the department's chief of training to the show.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: He has responded to many events, the Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and of course, September 11th. There's so much, sir. By
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the way, thank you for joining us today. There is
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: so much we want to talk to you about, but
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: let's start with that date, September 11th, 2001. What are
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: your memories?
• 21:28
  Speaker 11: One of the biggest memories that I have from that
• 21:30
  Speaker 11: morning was getting to rescue force quarters while both buildings
• 21:35
  Speaker 11: were still burning. I was coming in from home, but
• 21:38
  Speaker 11: I knew that it was going to be a large
• 21:39
  Speaker 11: scale event. I was in special operations at the time
• 21:43
  Speaker 11: and that they were going to need our services down
• 21:46
  Speaker 11: there because of the magnitude of the incident. So I
• 21:49
  Speaker 11: remember getting to rescue force quarters, meeting up with a
• 21:52
  Speaker 11: whole bunch of other guys, from that company in Queens
• 21:56
  Speaker 11: and commandeering a city bus. One of the city bus
• 21:59
  Speaker 11: drivers was brave enough to drive us in there, drive
• 22:02
  Speaker 11: through all the smoke and get us there. We got
• 22:04
  Speaker 11: there about 20 minutes after the second collapse. And I
• 22:08
  Speaker 11: remember as we were coming down the West Side Highway
• 22:11
  Speaker 11: towards the Trade Center, once we finally got down to
• 22:14
  Speaker 11: the Trade Center, just the wave of people that were
• 22:18
  Speaker 11: walking towards us, including police, firefighters, civilians, And they were
• 22:23
  Speaker 11: all caked in World Trade Center dust, three or four
• 22:28
  Speaker 11: inches on their helmets, on their hats, on their bodies.
• 22:33
  Speaker 11: As they were walking towards us, kind of like almost
• 22:36
  Speaker 11: in a, I call it a fog of war state.
• 22:39
  Speaker 11: And as they were walking towards us, we were gathering
• 22:42
  Speaker 11: their equipment, their tools, because we knew we were going
• 22:44
  Speaker 11: to need that in order to help down at the scene.
• 22:48
  Speaker 11: So we were handing stuff off, handing radios off.
• 22:51
  Speaker 12: And getting there.
• 22:52
  Speaker 11: And then I just remember the, when I finally got
• 22:55
  Speaker 11: down to the trade center site, cause we had to
• 22:57
  Speaker 11: park about a half mile out because of the traffic
• 23:00
  Speaker 11: and because the way the cars and first responder vehicles
• 23:02
  Speaker 11: will park just the, the enormous immensity of the task
• 23:09
  Speaker 11: at hand, seeing all those two buildings down on the ground,
• 23:12
  Speaker 11: which I never thought would have collapsed in a million years.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Now, Michael, uh, What became of the firefighters who first
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: went in? What impediments did they face as they tried
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: to move up the floors to fight the fire that
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: was engulfing the buildings?
• 23:30
  Speaker 11: Yeah, one of the first impediments that they had was
• 23:33
  Speaker 11: the elevators won't be working to a certain level inside
• 23:36
  Speaker 11: of the Trade Center, inside both towers, because of the
• 23:39
  Speaker 11: way that the plane sheared into the building and because
• 23:43
  Speaker 11: of the type of construction of the Trade Center. buildings
• 23:47
  Speaker 11: and complex itself. So they weren't able to take elevators up.
• 23:50
  Speaker 11: I think they were only able to get to about
• 23:52
  Speaker 11: the 40th or 50th floor. So when you know, as
• 23:55
  Speaker 11: a firefighter wearing full gear and carrying equipment, tools and equipment,
• 24:00
  Speaker 11: it's very heavy. So encapsulated in our full gear, we
• 24:04
  Speaker 11: have a hundred pounds of gear on. So if you
• 24:06
  Speaker 11: have to go up, you know, in, in gear, a
• 24:10
  Speaker 11: hundred pounds and then the equipment that you're carrying, you
• 24:12
  Speaker 11: took about 125, 130 pounds of equipment and gear and,
• 24:16
  Speaker 11: You're going up 25, 30 flights of stairs. You can
• 24:20
  Speaker 11: imagine just how rough and tough that is. And with
• 24:24
  Speaker 11: the folks coming down from upstairs, as well as the
• 24:27
  Speaker 11: smoke and whatnot that was coming down. So there was
• 24:31
  Speaker 11: a tremendous amount for them to face, as well as just, again,
• 24:35
  Speaker 11: the sheer size and magnitudes of two buildings being struck
• 24:39
  Speaker 11: and fully involved on fire on certain floors.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Now, sir, you are the department's chief of training. Are
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: there things that were learned on that day that are
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: used in training today?
• 24:49
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, that day 100% changed the way that we
• 24:53
  Speaker 11: look at firefighting, you know, not only in New York City,
• 24:57
  Speaker 11: but around the world. We constantly, since that day, and
• 25:01
  Speaker 11: since the first World Trade Center attack was the initial
• 25:05
  Speaker 11: phases of it in 1993, was again, like we started
• 25:08
  Speaker 11: to have to worry about terrorism and And our hazmat
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: responses or hazmaterial responses became much more significant. And again,
• 25:16
  Speaker 11: now coming into play today, right, every response we go on,
• 25:22
  Speaker 11: we have to worry about that terrorism aspect of things.
• 25:25
  Speaker 11: So it's an aspect of the job when I first
• 25:27
  Speaker 11: came on in 1991 that nobody really looked at. But
• 25:31
  Speaker 11: now every fire department in and around New York City
• 25:36
  Speaker 11: and around the country and around the world has to
• 25:38
  Speaker 11: look at that now.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: Now, Assistant Chief Michael Myers, big controversy about radio communication.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: It was thought that many of the men who had
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: gone up in the tower for the fire department had
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: no idea that the order had been given for them
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: to leave that building, to get down as fast as possible.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Was that a radio error, leadership error? Has that been corrected?
• 26:03
  Speaker 11: Yeah, we've corrected it as best as possible. And so
• 26:06
  Speaker 11: what I would account that for at that time, whenever
• 26:09
  Speaker 11: you're in a high-rise building, just because of the distance
• 26:13
  Speaker 11: away from everybody that you are, and most high-rises today
• 26:17
  Speaker 11: are constructed of concrete and don't have a great ability
• 26:22
  Speaker 11: to communicate with the radios that we had at that time.
• 26:24
  Speaker 11: We have obviously upgraded our radios two or three times
• 26:27
  Speaker 11: since then. But at that time, we can also do
• 26:31
  Speaker 11: some triangulation and do other things that we use now
• 26:34
  Speaker 11: in order that we'd be able to get the word
• 26:36
  Speaker 11: up there. We also have post radios that we would
• 26:39
  Speaker 11: place on certain floors now so that we'd be able
• 26:42
  Speaker 11: to get that communication into play and be able to
• 26:45
  Speaker 11: communicate with each other. So we'd be able to get
• 26:49
  Speaker 11: that order up there at that time.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: We appreciate your time so much. Is there anybody in
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: particular that you want to remember on this day?
• 26:59
  Speaker 11: I could go through a list of so many different people.
• 27:03
  Speaker 11: You know, the first person that comes to top of
• 27:05
  Speaker 11: mind to me would be, you know, my college roommate
• 27:09
  Speaker 11: and best friend. We played football together in college. And
• 27:12
  Speaker 11: for the FDNY football team, it would be Darrell Bronco-Pearsall, who,
• 27:17
  Speaker 11: you know, I miss every day, you know, so, so much.
• 27:22
  Speaker 11: You know, I could go down all the members of
• 27:25
  Speaker 11: Rescue 4 who passed away and died, the members of
• 27:28
  Speaker 11: Ladder 4, Ladder 11, the places that I worked where
• 27:31
  Speaker 11: I got to know all the families. over the course
• 27:33
  Speaker 11: of 25 years. And one of the things when you
• 27:36
  Speaker 11: see these folks and what breaks my heart every year
• 27:39
  Speaker 11: at the ceremony is that when your son or daughter
• 27:42
  Speaker 11: dies in an event like this, they carry a sadness
• 27:47
  Speaker 11: in their eyes forever. And we all carry that same
• 27:50
  Speaker 11: sadness in our hearts as first responders for everybody who
• 27:56
  Speaker 11: died there that day. And then to live with the
• 27:58
  Speaker 11: 453 members of the department who've gotten World Trade Center
• 28:03
  Speaker 11: cancers and diseases and have died since then. And we
• 28:06
  Speaker 11: have about three people in hospice in any given month,
• 28:11
  Speaker 11: you know, succumbing to World Trade Center diseases. So we
• 28:14
  Speaker 11: remember each and every one of them and we try
• 28:16
  Speaker 11: to pay tribute to each and every one of them.
• 28:18
  Speaker 11: And it's one of the things that we ask everyone
• 28:20
  Speaker 11: to always do is to never forget. And, you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 11: especially as New Yorkers and being all in this together,
• 28:26
  Speaker 11: you know, we need to never forget that.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Well, Sarah, thank you so much for your time today.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: And thank you. Thank you for your service. We really
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Assistant Chief Michael Myers, a 35-year veteran of
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the FDNY, and he is the department's chief of training.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: So let's go down to the World Trade Center site
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: where our own Natalie Migliore is there before the commemoration starts. Natalie,
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: can you paint a picture of what's transpiring now?
• 28:57
  Speaker 13: Yeah. So I am sitting literally in the shadow of
• 29:02
  Speaker 13: the Oculus and the Freedom Tower here in lower Manhattan.
• 29:06
  Speaker 13: And I'm watching people, I've been watching them all morning,
• 29:09
  Speaker 13: walk up because there is a huge security presence, probably
• 29:14
  Speaker 13: larger than years past. Of course, it's 25 years. So
• 29:18
  Speaker 13: there's more presence expected and there's more security this time around.
• 29:23
  Speaker 13: But all morning, I've been watching people walk up to
• 29:25
  Speaker 13: the metal barricades, just staring at the Freedom Tower, at
• 29:31
  Speaker 13: the area, either nodding their heads, reflecting, kind of looking
• 29:38
  Speaker 13: around in a sense of, you know, it's quieter down
• 29:42
  Speaker 13: here this morning, Curtis, Larry.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you said the security is extremely tight and that
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the whole area is cornered off at this point. So
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: anybody that wants to go down there is going to
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: be kept away for a while, right?
• 29:58
  Speaker 13: Yeah, no cars in this area. That closed down about
• 30:02
  Speaker 13: an hour ago to traffic. Pedestrians are still flowing, but
• 30:07
  Speaker 13: there's just a slew of police officers. And there's a
• 30:12
  Speaker 13: pedestrian plaza that's typically open, even on previous anniversaries for 9-11.
• 30:18
  Speaker 13: It sits right under the Oculus. And a couple years ago,
• 30:22
  Speaker 13: I watched actually nuns give sort of this prayer service
• 30:27
  Speaker 13: this prayer ceremony during the 9-11 commemoration ceremony outside of it.
• 30:33
  Speaker 13: That won't even be able to happen today because that
• 30:35
  Speaker 13: space is not open. People are not allowed in to
• 30:38
  Speaker 13: that space.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: So the advice to anybody listening is don't come down
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: to the World Trade Center site. You're not going to
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: get anywhere near it until later on in the day. When, again,
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: you can come and pay your tribute to those who
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: have passed, you know, at the museum site where all
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: the names are listed. But don't come down there now.
• 31:02
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 31:02
  Speaker 13: That's not going to open until about 3 o'clock in
• 31:04
  Speaker 13: the afternoon. So you definitely got some time where this
• 31:07
  Speaker 13: area is pretty paralyzed to traffic, to pedestrian, to even
• 31:12
  Speaker 13: if you want to go down to pay your respects,
• 31:13
  Speaker 13: you got to wait.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to talk with anybody down there?
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: And if so, who were they and why are they there?
• 31:24
  Speaker 13: I spoke to a gentleman who was in from California.
• 31:27
  Speaker 11: He told me he.
• 31:29
  Speaker 13: Lost his brother 25 years ago. You could see it
• 31:33
  Speaker 13: in his face as he was talking. You could see,
• 31:37
  Speaker 13: first of all, that he really maybe didn't want to talk,
• 31:40
  Speaker 13: especially in the beginning. But you could see that 25
• 31:43
  Speaker 13: years later, it just doesn't get any easier for these families.
• 31:49
  Speaker 13: And he couldn't even, he choked up even trying to
• 31:52
  Speaker 13: tell me about who his brother, you know, who he
• 31:56
  Speaker 13: was as a person. So it's sort of, you can
• 31:59
  Speaker 13: see just 25 years later that that pain is, It
• 32:05
  Speaker 13: just doesn't dissipate.
• 32:06
  Speaker 11: It doesn't go away.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I can understand that. Did he fly in
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: from California just for today, just to be there today?
• 32:14
  Speaker 13: Yeah, yeah, he did. He was staying in the area.
• 32:20
  Speaker 13: He flew in. This seems to be deeply important to people.
• 32:26
  Speaker 13: It is 25 years, a long time to unexpectedly lose somebody.
• 32:34
  Speaker 13: so tragically in such a way.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: But for it to be so fresh, you know, for
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: you to be able to see that in his eyes,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: that the fact that he is still tearing up after
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: all this time, I, I think this day is bringing
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: that kind of memory back and those emotions back for
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of people. Uh, Natalie, good, good work. Thanks
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: for sharing that story with us. And I know we're
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: going to be checking in with you all morning. Really,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: really appreciate your time down there today. I, I know
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: it can be tough for you, too. I mean, your
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: memories have to not be as fresh as everybody else's
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: because of how young you are, but you're still a
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: New Yorker. When we come back, one of the media
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: stars of that day, Joe Bartlett from 710WOR, after the news.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: 25 years after 9-11, the day New York changed forever.
• 33:24
  Speaker 14: We remember.
• 33:24
  Speaker 15: 710 WOR, the voice of New York, an iHeartRadio station.
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: It's 71 degrees at 7 o'clock. Good morning. I'm Daria Alvinger.
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: Sunny and less humid today with a high of 79 degrees.
• 33:45
  Speaker 6: The Weather Channel forecast is just ahead. The world changed
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: 25 years ago today, and it's fair to say so
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: did many of us who lived through the September 11th attacks.
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: And today, New York and the nation will remember.
• 33:57
  Speaker 16: The annual ceremony has six moments of silence to mark
• 34:00
  Speaker 16: the key moments of the terror attacks. But 9-11 Memorial
• 34:03
  Speaker 16: Museum President Beth Hillman says there will be another moment
• 34:07
  Speaker 16: of silence to honor the service and sacrifice of all
• 34:09
  Speaker 16: those who have passed away from 9-11 related health effects.
• 34:13
  Speaker 17: All those people who, by virtue of their proximity to
• 34:15
  Speaker 17: the attacks or their service in response to the attacks
• 34:19
  Speaker 17: and their willingness to help in a myriad of different ways,
• 34:22
  Speaker 17: how they suffered and how their families suffered.
• 34:24
  Speaker 16: The added moment of silence will happen after the reading
• 34:27
  Speaker 16: of the names of the victims killed on 9-11. I'm
• 34:29
  Speaker 16: Scott Pringle, WOR News.
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: Former Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton will be there.
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: President Trump will make remarks at the Pentagon. There are
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: also ceremonies in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. New York's baseball teams will
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: mark 25 years since the attacks before their subway series
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: begins tonight.
• 34:47
  Speaker 18: Players will be wearing hats honoring first responders with their
• 34:50
  Speaker 18: team logos. Tonight's first pitch will be thrown by the
• 34:53
  Speaker 18: daughter of the captain on United Flight 175 that struck
• 34:56
  Speaker 18: the World Trade Center's South Tower. Off the field, the
• 34:59
  Speaker 18: Mets are hosting a meal-packing event at Citi Field in
• 35:02
  Speaker 18: collaboration with non-profit 9-11 Day, as today also marks the
• 35:06
  Speaker 18: largest national day of service. Across the league, all players
• 35:09
  Speaker 18: will wear a special hat with a side patch reading,
• 35:12
  Speaker 18: We Shall Never Forget. Each ballpark will also host a
• 35:15
  Speaker 18: rendition of God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch.
• 35:18
  Speaker 18: I'm Lizzie Radabali, WOR News.
• 35:20
  Speaker 6: President Trump ended the first RNC midterm convention by delivering
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: the closing remarks and asking delegates to take an oath.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: We swear that on November 3rd, we are going to
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: go out and vote. And you know what?
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: Vice President Vance delivered the keynote address. He accused Democrats
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: of wanting to abolish the nuclear family. WOR News Time 702.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: And on that day, a lot of the media that
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: responded to the first plane hitting a World Trade Center
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: tower got to see the second plane in real time
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: and report on it live. And one of those people
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: is the legendary former WOR news director, Joe Bartlett. And
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: in the old WOR studios, you could see the towers
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: from the windows. Joe looked out his window and reported live.
• 36:17
  Speaker 19: Oh my God, Ed, another plane just hit the World
• 36:19
  Speaker 19: Trade Center. Another plane. It was a medium-sized plane.
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: Unbelievable.
• 36:25
  Speaker 19: It looked like, oh my God, this is a deliberate act, Ed.
• 36:30
  Speaker 19: This plane flew directly into the second World Trade Center.
• 36:35
  Speaker 19: A huge flame and conflagration just broke out.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: And we have Joe Bartlett on the phone live, former
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: WOR news director. Joe, that was an incredible job that day.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: And just that what we played for you was an
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: incredible combination of journalistic skills and human emotion, exactly what
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: that moment called for. Can you tell us, walk us
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: through that moment?
• 37:03
  Speaker 12: You know, it was good morning, Larry and Curtis. It
• 37:07
  Speaker 12: was just an ordinary day. And then we got the
• 37:10
  Speaker 12: call that there was a plane had hit the first
• 37:12
  Speaker 12: tower and we're trying to figure out what happened. And
• 37:16
  Speaker 12: as you said, I could look directly south to the
• 37:18
  Speaker 12: World Trade Center. And I'm watching that as I see
• 37:20
  Speaker 12: this other plane come down the Hudson. Really, it was
• 37:24
  Speaker 12: surreal because it was at a low level and I'm
• 37:27
  Speaker 12: trying to figure out what's going on with the tower.
• 37:29
  Speaker 12: And I see this small, not small, but a large plane.
• 37:33
  Speaker 12: going directly toward the scene. And I'm thinking to myself
• 37:36
  Speaker 12: in the back of my mind, why is he there?
• 37:38
  Speaker 12: And then bang, it hit the building. And right away,
• 37:43
  Speaker 12: you knew something awful had occurred. In fact, I remember
• 37:47
  Speaker 12: as I was describing this, I said something sinister has
• 37:50
  Speaker 12: just happened. And I think what struck me about all
• 37:55
  Speaker 12: of this is the enormity of what was happening. But
• 38:01
  Speaker 12: beyond that, just the rapid succession of unbelievable events. Just
• 38:08
  Speaker 12: think about it. 846, the first plane hits the North Tower. 903,
• 38:14
  Speaker 12: the second plane hits the South Tower. Then a plane
• 38:18
  Speaker 12: hits the Pentagon. And it's unbelievable. All these things are
• 38:23
  Speaker 12: happening every 10 minutes or so. Then the tower collapsed.
• 38:29
  Speaker 12: The South Tower collapsed.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable.
• 38:31
  Speaker 12: And I'm thinking to myself, how many people were in
• 38:34
  Speaker 12: that tower? How many people have just died? And it
• 38:38
  Speaker 12: was hard to get a grasp on what was happening.
• 38:42
  Speaker 12: And obviously, you're just shocked.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: You're sad.
• 38:46
  Speaker 12: You're scared. And all those emotions are going through your mind.
• 38:51
  Speaker 12: And I just keep talking about what's happening, describe the events,
• 38:56
  Speaker 12: and We'll figure out the rest later. That's my thought.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: And Joe, later on, when the towers have completely gone down,
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: there's no TV coverage. Everyone is dependent on radio. People
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: down in the lower Manhattan area had no cell phone contact.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: So as the go-to news guy, how did you handle
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: trying to sort of sort through the rumors, the innuendos?
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: There was no internet at the time. How did you
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: handle that to make sure you were putting out the
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: writing information as opposed to maybe even stoking more fear
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: and more concerns that people had who were in shock?
• 39:39
  Speaker 12: Well, we relied mainly on callers who would call us
• 39:44
  Speaker 12: and tell us firsthand what they have seen. I remember
• 39:47
  Speaker 12: we had one of our reporters down there, Mara Rubin,
• 39:51
  Speaker 12: and we were extremely concerned when the towers fell because
• 39:54
  Speaker 12: we thought she had been reporting from the scene. So
• 39:57
  Speaker 12: we thought that she was right there. Fortunately, she was
• 40:00
  Speaker 12: with Mayor Giuliani and was safe. But I don't know, Curtis,
• 40:05
  Speaker 12: you just keep going. You just keep going and you
• 40:10
  Speaker 12: try to be as accurate as possible. There were probably
• 40:14
  Speaker 12: some moments where we were maybe a little inaccurate, but
• 40:19
  Speaker 12: you just do the best you can. And you're thrown
• 40:22
  Speaker 12: into this situation. And as your natural instincts as a
• 40:27
  Speaker 12: reporter come out, just describe the scene and insert a
• 40:31
  Speaker 12: little bit of your personal opinion from time to time.
• 40:34
  Speaker 12: and figure it out later. And it's just, but it
• 40:37
  Speaker 12: was hour after hour after hour. And the uncertainty, you
• 40:42
  Speaker 12: didn't know what was going on. That's another factor that's
• 40:45
  Speaker 12: in your head. But again, you just plod forward with
• 40:49
  Speaker 12: your job.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: You talked about Mara. I want to play something you
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: said about Mara on that day.
• 40:54
  Speaker 19: Oh my gosh, this is terrible. And as we heard
• 40:59
  Speaker 19: earlier from Mara Rubin, and I certainly hope she's all right.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you were concerned about her. I know a lot
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: of news organizations that were concerned about their people at
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: the scene.
• 41:11
  Speaker 12: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we didn't think that the tower
• 41:15
  Speaker 12: was going to collapse. Okay, it got hit by a plane.
• 41:18
  Speaker 12: That's terrible. But to collapse, and you're watching it. I
• 41:23
  Speaker 12: remember watching the scene, and I'm looking, and then all
• 41:26
  Speaker 12: of a sudden, Like the tower disappeared. It's like you
• 41:30
  Speaker 12: can't even think of that. You could never really think
• 41:36
  Speaker 12: of that kind of scenario because I thought those buildings
• 41:38
  Speaker 12: were pretty sturdy.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's very important that people realize the
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: importance that radio played because no other forms of communication
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: and explanation were taking place. Now, in radio, we have
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: an emergency broadcast system. So if there is a national emergency,
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: the president could be heard from wherever he happened to
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: be at that moment. We didn't know where the president was.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: We didn't know where the vice president was. It wasn't
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: until later on the day we heard from the mayor, Rudy,
• 42:08
  Speaker 3: to give us updates. So people had to. Many people
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: hadn't listened to radio in years. Now we're forced to
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: rediscover radio because it was their only way to know
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: what was going on.
• 42:22
  Speaker 12: The other thing about that moment, Curtis, is we really
• 42:25
  Speaker 12: didn't know what was going on. We were under attack.
• 42:29
  Speaker 12: And for Americans, it's never a thought. We thought we
• 42:34
  Speaker 12: were very well protected. We have two oceans protecting us.
• 42:38
  Speaker 12: We have the massive military of the United States of America.
• 42:43
  Speaker 12: So we don't get attacked. And it was hard to
• 42:47
  Speaker 12: figure out what was.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: Happening, although.
• 42:50
  Speaker 12: I do remember in our discussion that we did kind
• 42:53
  Speaker 12: of quickly surmise that it may have been Osama bin
• 42:57
  Speaker 12: Laden because he had been behind the bombing of the
• 43:00
  Speaker 12: USS Cole in Yemen and claimed responsibility for that. So
• 43:07
  Speaker 12: we thought it could be Osama bin Laden. Keep in mind, too,
• 43:10
  Speaker 12: we did have a previous attack on the World Trade
• 43:13
  Speaker 12: Center in 1993.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: I want to play something for you because you mentioned
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: a moment ago, I think I even said on the air,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: this is sinister. We have a clip of that, and
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: then I have a question afterwards.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: There's no doubt about this.
• 43:26
  Speaker 19: If you have two eyes, you know what happened here.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: This is absolutely sinister. And you were correct, and you
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: were correct about Osama bin Laden. You did a wonderful job.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I thought journalism that day
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: and the days after was amazing. I wish we could
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: get back to that, but it's moments like this. where
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: we all rise to our best, and you certainly did.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: After that, how long were you on this story and
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: were you able to go home?
• 43:56
  Speaker 12: You know, I don't even remember. I probably did go
• 43:59
  Speaker 12: home because I didn't live that far away, but I
• 44:02
  Speaker 12: was on the air almost through the afternoon, I think.
• 44:05
  Speaker 12: And then, you know, right back the next day, And
• 44:08
  Speaker 12: then I think it was like maybe two days later
• 44:11
  Speaker 12: that I went down to Lower Manhattan, as far as
• 44:14
  Speaker 12: they would let you go. I think it was a
• 44:16
  Speaker 12: little bit south of Canal Street. But I think Curtis
• 44:18
  Speaker 12: mentioned it earlier. When you went down there, you smelled death.
• 44:22
  Speaker 12: I mean, he said it smelled like a crematorium. There
• 44:26
  Speaker 12: was an awful, awful smell in the air. And it
• 44:30
  Speaker 12: was pungent. You really knew it. And it was the
• 44:33
  Speaker 12: smell of death. And it was just a horrific scene
• 44:37
  Speaker 12: down there.
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: And I think the other thing to you, Joe, and
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: so many others who are down there reporting to all
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: of us, you didn't stoke the fear, fright, and hysteria
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: that nowadays, because there's so many forms of communication, would
• 44:53
  Speaker 3: have existed. Conspiracies, everything would have surfaced. You guys and
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: gals were cool, calm, and collected in the most perilous
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: of times that we would ever experience in our lifetimes.
• 45:09
  Speaker 12: Yeah, because you really didn't know. This was a very
• 45:11
  Speaker 12: historic moment. I thought the irony, too, was 9-11, 9-1-1.
• 45:16
  Speaker 12: It was hard to know what to make of it.
• 45:23
  Speaker 12: You knew this was a historic moment, but you didn't
• 45:27
  Speaker 12: know the context. You didn't know what it was all
• 45:34
  Speaker 12: about for a while. And it was just America was
• 45:38
  Speaker 12: under attack. We were afraid. And the one thing that
• 45:42
  Speaker 12: I tried to do in all of the reporting was
• 45:45
  Speaker 12: just to be calm and not overly frighten people and
• 45:50
  Speaker 12: just basically describe the scene as we saw it.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Well, you did that. I will say this. In my career,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: I've seen some awful, awful things. And it stays with you.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it haunts you when you don't even think
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: about it. Is this still haunting you? Have you been
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: able to forget certain moments?
• 46:10
  Speaker 12: Well, look, I haven't been affected as severely as people
• 46:14
  Speaker 12: who lost loved ones or people who were on the
• 46:16
  Speaker 12: pile and eventually got cancer. But yes, there's a couple
• 46:20
  Speaker 12: of things. On 9-11, there's an anxiousness that I go through.
• 46:27
  Speaker 12: And When I see a clear blue sky any day,
• 46:31
  Speaker 12: and I see a lot of blue skies down here
• 46:33
  Speaker 12: in South Carolina, when you look at the clear blue sky,
• 46:35
  Speaker 12: I think of 9-11. It was a beautiful day, spectacular morning.
• 46:40
  Speaker 12: And the sights of those planes flying through the clear
• 46:44
  Speaker 12: blue sky to the World Trade Center and what happened
• 46:46
  Speaker 12: after that, it's just amazing. It's in my mind. It
• 46:51
  Speaker 12: will always be there. And that's what I think about
• 46:53
  Speaker 12: when I see the blue skies. And sadly, all the
• 46:56
  Speaker 12: people that died on that day, people that just went
• 46:58
  Speaker 12: to work, they got caught up in this horrific moment.
• 47:04
  Speaker 12: And sadly, it cost them their lives.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Joe Bartlett, former WOR news director. Thank you so much, Joe.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks for spending some time with us this morning.
• 47:13
  Speaker 12: You're welcome, Larry. You too, Curtis.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: Take care.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: I just heard from Joe Bartlett.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: That was a magnificent memory of his, and we heard
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: his live audio that he had done of the attack
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: itself and his conclusion that it was Osama bin Laden.
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: Your management here, Natalie, did not in any way, shape,
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: or form interfere with his professional opinion because of everything
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: that led up to it. I was on the air
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: at WABC, 846, that North Tower is hit with a flight.
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: I come on the air and say, look, it's Osama
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: bin Laden. He has fulfilled his promise. My management pulled
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: me right off the air, said, you say anything like
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: that again, you're fired. Later on in the day, they
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: apologized once they began connecting the dots.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: But how could you not?
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: The attack of the coal, the attack of our embassy
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: in Tanzania and Kenya, John Miller's exclusive interview in Afghanistan
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: with Osama bin Laden, he was telling us, And we
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: knew he had been attacked on 93. So I salute
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: WOR that allowed Joe Bartlett his experience to express his feelings.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: And it turned out he was correct. Yeah, Joe Bartlett
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: is amazing. I could just sit and listen to tapes
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: of Joe Bartlett's coverage that day just to learn from
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: it because he was amazing. Let's get some talkbacks.
• 48:39
  Speaker 20: One story you really don't hear too much about is
• 48:42
  Speaker 20: that after the second plane hit, they locked down the city,
• 48:45
  Speaker 20: closed the bridges, closed the tunnels. I was in a
• 48:49
  Speaker 20: truck working for Fashion Week, so I couldn't get home
• 48:52
  Speaker 20: until late, late that evening. But everyone came together because
• 48:56
  Speaker 20: when they started letting cars go through, you couldn't leave
• 49:00
  Speaker 20: unless you filled your car to capacity, and everybody did
• 49:03
  Speaker 20: it gladly, helping each other out to get out of Manhattan.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: The effect was felt across the country.
• 49:11
  Speaker 21: No chaos.
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: People came together where you would have normally assumed there
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: would have been chaos because of fear, fright, and hysteria.
• 49:17
  Speaker 6: I mean, people were welcoming strangers.
• 49:20
  Speaker 5: Into their cars because you wanted to help somebody, you know,
• 49:23
  Speaker 5: get out.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: It was an amazing time and it lasted for months.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, there was a togetherness in this country for months.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: I wish we had that again.
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: It's a time for us to all pause and reflect,
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: reflect on what's important in life. Peace, love, unity, not
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: only when there's a tragedy, but every day. We need
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: to come together. We need to accept each other's differences
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: and not let it matter. God bless all of us.
• 49:52
  Speaker 4: God bless the United States. And God bless our president,
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: our leader. Maybe we'll be peaceful each and every day.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was wonderful.
• 50:03
  Speaker 22: Hey guys, so I was in Manhattan on 9-11, a
• 50:06
  Speaker 22: little further uptown. And once everything went down, my father-in-law
• 50:12
  Speaker 22: and I met up to try to donate blood. We
• 50:14
  Speaker 22: wanted to do something to help. And it turned out
• 50:16
  Speaker 22: they were only accepting O-negative blood, which neither of us was.
• 50:21
  Speaker 22: And yet, even still, the line was around the block
• 50:24
  Speaker 22: to donate.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Well, God bless you.
• 50:26
  Speaker 20: Yeah, I.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: That unity, that's what a lot of people want to
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: talk about. That togetherness, that feeling that I need to
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: do something was pervasive on that day. And it is
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: wonderful to hear. Thanks for that.
• 50:42
  Speaker 7: I lived in Queens at the time. I started as
• 50:44
  Speaker 7: a normal day, took the express bus down the FDR
• 50:47
  Speaker 7: to my job at 59 Wall. Then someone from our
• 50:50
  Speaker 7: trading desk said a large plane had hit the tower.
• 50:53
  Speaker 7: And then another one. We were not allowed to leave
• 50:56
  Speaker 7: our building. As the two towers each time fell, we
• 50:59
  Speaker 7: felt the ground rumble and it was pitch black outside.
• 51:02
  Speaker 7: Couldn't see anything. I was not allowed to leave until
• 51:06
  Speaker 7: 5 p.m. to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to get
• 51:09
  Speaker 7: a bus home.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: You realize everyone has a story from that day. Everybody
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: remembers what it was like when the towers fell, when
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: the towers were hit. And the days and the moments afterwards.
• 51:24
  Speaker 5: And it's interesting the stories you do remember. I remember
• 51:28
  Speaker 5: a woman walking and she had lost her shoes coming
• 51:34
  Speaker 5: down because she was running down the stairs. And to
• 51:37
  Speaker 5: run down the stairs, she had to take her high
• 51:39
  Speaker 5: heels off. And there she was walking on the streets
• 51:43
  Speaker 5: without shoes so she can get escaped.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's just stayed in your memory all this time.
• 51:48
  Speaker 6: It stayed in the memory. I don't know why.
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: Two things for baby boomers. We will never forget the
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: moment we heard that JFK was assassinated in Dallas. You'll
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: never forget what you were doing and what was happening.
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: And likewise, the attack on 9-11.
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say those are the two. You're absolutely right.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Is this a new one here
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: or is this one that I played? No, it's not.
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: Let me just make mention that two weeks before the attack,
• 52:15
  Speaker 3: I had been up to Bryan and Seneca, the firehouse
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: in Hunts Point. I went for a lunch and the guys,
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: you know, were having their lunch. They had a manual
• 52:23
  Speaker 3: on the table with the World Trade Center sites in
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: a gun site because the men were training how to
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: scale these skyscrapers because the attack of ninety three. And
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: they were saying, you know, our radios don't communicate after
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: a certain level. We've been trying to let those in
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: charge know. And you say that, and I thank my
• 52:46
  Speaker 3: friend Eddie Brown, who eventually became the UFA treasurer, because
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: he had invited me for that. So I saw how
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: they were training for just such a situation. And we
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: did not provide them with the proper radio communication.
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: Shame on us.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: Let's get to Daria Albinger now with the 7.30 news, Daria.
• 53:05
  Speaker 23: Morning, guys.
• 53:05
  Speaker 6: I'm going to give you a cultural signpost here before
• 53:07
  Speaker 6: I start. Do you know what the lead story was
• 53:10
  Speaker 6: before 9-11, on 9-11?
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: The primary that day?
• 53:14
  Speaker 6: Michael Jordan returns to the NBA.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: Ah, that's right.
• 53:19
  Speaker 6: That was my lead at 6 and 7 o'clock when
• 53:22
  Speaker 6: I was anchoring on ABC News and Talk that morning.
• 53:25
  Speaker 6: Changed after 7.30 and 8 o'clock. And most people don't
• 53:28
  Speaker 6: remember what the other news was that day, but we
• 53:30
  Speaker 6: certainly remember.
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: Two years away, he was playing baseball with the Birmingham
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: Barons in the minor leagues. Two years he was away.
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: You're absolutely right. That was historic.
• 53:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that was the big story that morning.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: He was away because he was suspended. That's why he
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: was away. Gambling.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: Gambling.
• 53:47
  Speaker 6: But things changed. Sunny and less humid today, guys, with
• 53:50
  Speaker 6: a high of 79 degrees. For some of us, it
• 53:52
  Speaker 6: does seem like it happened yesterday when terrorist jets flew
• 53:54
  Speaker 6: into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Today,
• 53:58
  Speaker 6: we remember the 9-11 attacks 25 years later. The ceremonies
• 54:03
  Speaker 6: get underway in an hour from now and they will
• 54:05
  Speaker 6: include a new moment of silence.
• 54:07
  Speaker 9: Today, a seventh moment of silence will be held to
• 54:10
  Speaker 9: honor the lives lost in later years from 9-11 related illnesses.
• 54:13
  Speaker 9: More than 9,000 people, including 453 New York City firefighters.
• 54:20
  Speaker 9: A toll that now exceeds the number killed on the
• 54:23
  Speaker 9: day itself. Some dying from cancers related to toxic air
• 54:27
  Speaker 9: at Ground Zero.
• 54:28
  Speaker 6: That's ABC's Olivia Rubin. Security will be even tighter than usual.
• 54:33
  Speaker 24: With four former presidents due to attend, Joe Biden, Barack Obama,
• 54:36
  Speaker 24: Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, plus Vice President J.D. Vance,
• 54:41
  Speaker 24: The Secret Service has been installing special security fencing around
• 54:44
  Speaker 24: the 9-11 memorial. As always, the solemn ceremony is by
• 54:48
  Speaker 24: invitation only. The ceremony is not open to the general public.
• 54:53
  Speaker 25: And because of the security footprint around the site, New
• 54:55
  Speaker 25: Yorkers should expect significant traffic and pedestrian restrictions throughout lower Manhattan.
• 55:01
  Speaker 24: NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch urging those who aren't attending the
• 55:05
  Speaker 24: 25th 9-11 ceremony to stay away. Sally Kessler, WOR News.
• 55:11
  Speaker 6: President Trump will deliver remarks from the Pentagon. The 9-11
• 55:15
  Speaker 6: tribute in light will return at dusk tonight. The twin
• 55:18
  Speaker 6: beams will remain illuminated until dawn tomorrow. The president ending
• 55:22
  Speaker 6: the GOP midterm convention in Dallas last night, repeatedly pleading
• 55:26
  Speaker 6: with attendees to pretend he's on the ticket. He also
• 55:30
  Speaker 6: doubled down on his promise to pay every American adult
• 55:34
  Speaker 6: $ 5, 000 if Republicans maintain control of the House and the Senate.
• 55:38
  Speaker 6: Yankees beat Colorado 10-3. They host the Mets tonight. And
• 55:41
  Speaker 6: San Francisco beat the L.A. Rams 27-7 last night in Australia.
• 55:46
  Speaker 6: Next news, 8 o'clock bulletins at once. I'm Daria Albinger
• 55:49
  Speaker 6: on 710WOR.
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Daria. When we'll come back, a very emotional
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: interview with Matthew Bochy for a deeply personal look at
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the lasting impact of 9-11. Bochy was only nine years
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: old when he lost his dad on that day. And
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: now we're honored to be joined by Matthew John Bocci
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: for a deeply personal look at the lasting impact of
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: 9-11 from the families. He wrote a book from the
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: perspective of a child of 9-11. Matthew lost his father
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: in the World Trade Center, of course, when he was
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: just nine years old. Matthew, can we take you back
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: to that day and how it happened, how it unfolded
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 56:33
  Speaker 21: The morning was kind of... Eerily similar to the weather
• 56:37
  Speaker 21: we're having right now this week. And it was so beautiful.
• 56:39
  Speaker 21: I remember that feeling of summer transitioning into fall. And
• 56:44
  Speaker 21: I was pulled out of class at about 9 o'clock
• 56:45
  Speaker 21: in the morning. And when I walked into the hallway,
• 56:49
  Speaker 21: I saw my brother Nick standing there with his teacher.
• 56:51
  Speaker 21: And they told us that a plane hit our dad's building,
• 56:53
  Speaker 21: that he was safe. And they were evacuating the tower.
• 56:55
  Speaker 21: There was nothing to worry about. And I sort of
• 56:59
  Speaker 21: began to question what was going on because I watched
• 57:02
  Speaker 21: my friends and my classmates getting pulled out of school
• 57:04
  Speaker 21: one by one. their parents coming into school, into the classrooms,
• 57:07
  Speaker 21: taking their kids out. And I kind of questioned why
• 57:11
  Speaker 21: my mom decided to keep me in school. And I
• 57:14
  Speaker 21: sort of realized when I got home later that day,
• 57:17
  Speaker 21: as I reflect back now, why she chose to do
• 57:20
  Speaker 21: it that way. Because when my brother and I got
• 57:22
  Speaker 21: off the bus at three o'clock in the afternoon, we
• 57:24
  Speaker 21: walked up the hill to our house. I saw about
• 57:26
  Speaker 21: 30 or 40 cars parked in the driveway and walked
• 57:29
  Speaker 21: inside the house. And that's where I saw the footage
• 57:32
  Speaker 21: for the first time and slowly began to understand how, um,
• 57:36
  Speaker 21: how severe the events really were.
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: This is Curtis Lee with Matthew. At that point, recognizing
• 57:43
  Speaker 3: what had occurred, how did you and your family continue
• 57:48
  Speaker 3: on from that moment on?
• 57:51
  Speaker 21: So we held out on a lot of hope that
• 57:54
  Speaker 21: my dad would make it out of the building and
• 57:56
  Speaker 21: that he got out of the building. That day, seeing
• 58:00
  Speaker 21: the footage, was the day that they only showed in
• 58:05
  Speaker 21: my opinion, very specific and graphic things on TV. Some
• 58:10
  Speaker 21: of those images would, in my opinion, change my outlook
• 58:14
  Speaker 21: on life and that day in general. And sort of
• 58:18
  Speaker 21: fundamentally changed me and how I dealt with my grief
• 58:22
  Speaker 21: regarding my dad's death. Yet we still held out onto hope.
• 58:26
  Speaker 21: I would call my dad's cell phone every day, leave voicemails,
• 58:28
  Speaker 21: begging him to come home. I sort of fell into
• 58:30
  Speaker 21: this naive belief that maybe He was in the collapse
• 58:33
  Speaker 21: and that something hit him in the head. He didn't
• 58:35
  Speaker 21: remember who he was or where he was from and
• 58:37
  Speaker 21: that he'd eventually make his way back home. They found
• 58:40
  Speaker 21: him a few days later and then they came to
• 58:42
  Speaker 21: the house a week later to tell us that they
• 58:43
  Speaker 21: found him. We buried him 10 days after the event.
• 58:47
  Speaker 21: And I still kind of didn't want to believe it
• 58:51
  Speaker 21: to be true. I still didn't want to think that
• 58:53
  Speaker 21: it was true. And I thought that maybe one day
• 58:55
  Speaker 21: he still would come home.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine being that young and getting the news
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: that that way with an event that big. And I'm wondering,
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: as you went through this journey of trying to deal
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: with this, what were the low points and, and how
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: did you get through it?
• 59:15
  Speaker 21: I think there's no rule book into how people deal
• 59:18
  Speaker 21: with tragedies and loss in general.
• 59:19
  Speaker 26: Right.
• 59:20
  Speaker 21: But I think that, uh, losing my father in such
• 59:22
  Speaker 21: a publicized sensationalized way was something that I, I struggle
• 59:26
  Speaker 21: with and I challenged with a lot. Um, The fact
• 59:30
  Speaker 21: that I felt his death was essentially accessible for anyone
• 59:33
  Speaker 21: to witness and watch at any given point was a
• 59:36
  Speaker 21: really difficult part for me to sort of navigate and challenge.
• 59:40
  Speaker 21: So I became pretty obsessed from an early age in
• 59:44
  Speaker 21: the following days, weeks, months after he died into looking
• 59:48
  Speaker 21: at the footage and that took over my life. And
• 59:52
  Speaker 21: I got to this point when I was about 14
• 59:54
  Speaker 21: years old where I was questioning every family member that
• 59:58
  Speaker 21: spoke to him, mainly my mom and my dad's brother,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 21: and wondering what they thought happened to him. And unfortunately
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 21: for me, I had an uncle through marriage who stepped into.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: My life and.
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 21: Took advantage of that vulnerability and used it to take
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 21: advantage of me.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: And that would lead me down a road.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 21: Of drug and alcohol abuse for years and took me
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 21: a long time to pull myself out of that. And
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 21: today I'm now over 11 years sober, but But it
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 21: was a long journey and a long battle.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: To get here.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 21: And in all honesty, I don't think I've come to that.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 21: I didn't start coming to the peace regarding my father's
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 21: death and all the events surrounding it until only recently.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 21: It's taken a long time to get to this point.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 3: Now, Matthew, throughout that ordeal for yourself and your family
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 3: and extended family, your peer group who didn't have that
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: kind of personal loss, how did they relate to the
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 3: attack of 9-11 and how does your generation react to
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 3: it 25 years later?
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 21: My generation, we grew up in this, we remember what
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 21: it was like before. And we grew up throughout it.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 21: And obviously after it, I will say sadly that the,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 21: the check-ins and the phone calls every year have gotten
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 21: less and less as the years have gone by. I
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 21: feel like people reach out with more monumental years. Um,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 21: but a lot of my friends and I don't blame them.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 21: They didn't understand how to approach it in general. I mean, it's,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 21: It was not even anything that was taught in school
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 21: when we were in high school. And when we got
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 21: to college, it still wasn't taught in school. So how
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 21: do you sort of relate to someone who went through
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 21: a national worldwide tragedy, essentially, and an event that changed
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 21: all of our lives? How do you relate to someone
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 21: when you haven't gone through anything remotely similar? It's just
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 21: there's no way to sort of level with them, you know?
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 21: So I think they kind of struggle with that themselves
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 21: because they didn't know what to say at times.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: Did writing the book help?
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 21: Writing the book was extremely cathartic for me because it
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 21: was the first time I put pen to paper and
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 21: no longer had to carry the secrets anymore. And I
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 21: was free of it. It was therapeutic and extremely powerful
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 21: for me to finally let it out. Doing so, I
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 21: kind of found that a lot of other 9-11 children,
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 21: now adults, went through the same experiences that I went through.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 21: I thought I was very, very unique in the obsession
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 21: of looking at the footage and the struggles that I
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 21: went through after, mental health challenges.
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 12: And over the years, I found.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 21: numerous 9-11 children who have reached out to me and
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 21: basically expressed that they went through the same exact thing.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 21: They struggle with the same exact experiences, the feelings of
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 21: being different, the feelings of being judged and pitied and
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 21: looked at. And I sort of allowed myself to be
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 21: a voice for those kids who didn't have the power
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 21: to speak up about their struggles.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: Well, Matthew, you just are an amazing person. We really
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: appreciate so much you spending some time with us and
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: telling your story. The book is called Sway. And I'm
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: certain that people can get that anywhere on Amazon or bookstores?
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 21: Yeah, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, bookstores, etc.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Perfect. Thank you very much. Matthew John Bocci.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 3: Up next, we're going downtown to Natalie Magliore, who is
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 3: live from the World Trade Center site, before the commemoration
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 3: begins in the next hour.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 15: 25 years later, WOR remembers September 11th, 2001. Here's Curtis
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 15: and Larry.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 3: We're less than an hour away from when the first
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 3: flight hit the North Tower in the attack of 9-11.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 3: Natalie Migliore has been down at the site. Natalie will
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 3: continue to be there throughout this morning. But what is
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 3: happening at this.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: Moment, Natalie?
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 13: Good morning, uh, Curtis and Larry. I'm actually just watching
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 13: a family of families start pouring into the ceremony. Um,
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 13: there's actually a family wearing custom made shirts, um, in
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 13: an honor of their loved one. There has to be
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 13: at least a dozen of them that are now just
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 13: waiting to get into the ceremony. Uh, what started out
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 13: as a quiet moment has now become a quiet morning
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 13: has now become a little bit more chaotic as people
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 13: are starting to pour in and of course, uh, the
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 13: ceremony is starting to get underway. Now, I stand here
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 13: in a shadow of the Freedom Tower, and to my left,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 13: it's all gated, and I'm staring at what would lead
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 13: me to the reflecting pools if it wasn't for today's
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 13: ceremony where 2,983 names will be read aloud. That's the
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 13: World Trade, those who were lost in the World Trade Center,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 13: the Pentagon, and aboard Flight 93, along with the 1993
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 13: World Trade Center bombing. So, Billy, guys, ask anyone about
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 13: that day.
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I remember that day.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 14: I worked.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: I was NYPD, retired.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 27: I was home, then I said, I better get.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 25: Down there, and I went down there, and all hell
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 25: broke loose there.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 28: I'm guessing pretty much everyone remembers where they were at
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 28: that moment. Yeah, the world's gotten even wackier.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 27: Where were you at that moment?
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 6: I was with my husband.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 28: We were actually going to get a cup of coffee
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 28: before he dropped me off to work.
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 29: I was on West Street, heading towards the towers in
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 29: a taxi with two other guys, about, we don't know, 50,
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 29: 100 meters away. And after the first plane hit, a
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 29: policeman came up to us and the other cars and said,
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 29: turn us around and send us on.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 8: Our way back.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 13: Yeah, so that's John Hender, who was actually in New
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 13: York 25 years ago today, visiting from Australia for business,
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 13: heading in a taxi to a meeting at the World
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 13: Trade Center. His wife, Robin, tearfully recalling being woken up
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 13: in the middle of the night to a phone call
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 13: from John.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 30: I was probably a bit out of it.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 14: I didn't really understand.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 30: Then he rang back, I don't know how much longer,
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 30: and told me two planes had flown into the tower
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 30: and he said he'd seen wheels coming down the street
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 30: and he didn't know where the rest of the party
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 30: was that he'd come here with. So it was quite,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 30: it was a shock, it was upsetting, it was sort
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 30: of surreal, unbelievable and seemed like it took forever. You know,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 30: he then couldn't come out of, couldn't get out of
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 30: New York.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 13: Yeah, it took John six days to get home. But
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 13: the Henders are so emotional because they know so many
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 13: weren't able to come home. They'll visit the reflecting pools
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 13: for the first time tomorrow, actually, not knowing what to
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 13: expect they'll feel.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 29: I just want to see it again.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 6: Do you suspect you'll get emotional?
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, I think so.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: I think so.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 29: It took a little while to hit home what was happening.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 29: But once the towers came down, we knew this was serious,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 29: and a lot of people were lost, and it was
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 29: very emotional.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 13: Now, it's a day that's earmarked by long pauses and
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 13: tolling bells. The bells are actually not part of the ceremony,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 13: but church bells are ringing right now as I speak
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 13: to you guys. New York City's Bryant Park has 2,753
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 13: empty chairs on its lawn today. symbolizing all the people
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 13: lost just in the Twin Towers that day. And it
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 13: would be more than double that if we counted the
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 13: people who have died due to 9-11-related illnesses in the
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 13: past two and a half decades since, whether working in
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 13: the pile or living or working in the area. So, again,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 13: a lot of commotion as we sort of watch people
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 13: filtering to this ceremony right now, a heavy press presence
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 13: as well. And we'll just be here. We'll be here today.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 3: Well, what I liked about your report, it was devoid
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 3: of politics. It's focused on the day, the commemoration, and
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 3: the memories that people had. I hope our politicians abide
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: by this. Follow the lead that you're sensing from all
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 3: the people who are starting to relate to you what
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 3: their experience was.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: No politics mentioned, Larry, at all.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: I think they will. I think that's been the case
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: in the past. And everybody knows I would be surprised
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: if anybody at ground zero that's a politician even speaks today.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: Many of them won't. I know four presidents are going
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: to be there. Donald Trump's at the Pentagon. He is
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: going to speak. But I'd be shocked if even he
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: talked about politics today. It's just not the day for that.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: And they know better. Natalie, you get the sense, I
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: would imagine, from the family is that this is all
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: about the person they lost, nothing else this day.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 11: Absolutely.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 13: I mean, some people do. don't even have anything to say.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 13: I wanted to interview this young woman. She was dressed
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 13: in all black, but she was crying, and I just,
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 13: I didn't want to stop her. There was just this
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 13: sense of, it was just bringing up memories for her
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 13: as she was entering the the ceremony. And I just,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 13: I couldn't, I don't know. Like I wanted to give
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 13: her that moment. And I don't typically do that, but
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 13: I think that this is truly about reflecting on people
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 13: who they lost. And she seems so young that maybe
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 13: she was reflecting on somebody who she maybe never really
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 13: even had the time with.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Natalie. And up next, Warner Wolf. He
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 3: was at the fan. He was not in the studio
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 3: that day. He was right near the world trade center
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 3: site and he'll, Connect us to his memories of that day.
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 3: But first, the news at 8 o'clock.
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 15: 25 years after 9-11, the day New York changed forever.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 15: We remember 710WOR, the voice of New York, an iHeartRadio station.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 6: 75 degrees at 8 o'clock. Good morning. I'm Daria Albinger.
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 6: Sunny and less humid today with a high of 79 degrees.
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 6: The Weather Channel forecast is coming up. Right about now,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 6: 25 years ago today, we still had no idea what
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 6: was going to happen in less than an hour. That's
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 6: when the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center. Today,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 6: we pause to remember the September 11th attacks.
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 27: John Hender is one of those people who was visiting
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 27: New York City on business from Australia on September 11th, 2001,
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 27: in a taxi heading straight to the World Trade Center.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 29: A couple of big lumps of building hit. just in
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 29: front of the taxi. One hit the taxi, but it
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 29: wasn't very big. So we were very, very lucky. We
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 29: were heading to a meeting, a business meeting. I think
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 29: it was either in the first tower or a building immediately.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: After the tower.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 27: This is the first time he's returned to New York
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 27: City after taking off on the first plane back to
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 27: Australia six days after the attacks. He plans to visit
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 27: the reflecting pools. Natalie Migliore, WOR News.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 6: Almost 3,000 people were killed at what is now known
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 6: as Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. And some
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 6: of the families still do not have closure.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 23: Forty percent, about 1,100 people, have still never been formally identified.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 23: The New York City Medical Examiner's Office will never stop trying.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 23: Fragments of human remains recovered from the dust and debris
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 23: are stored at the 9-11 Memorial and will be frequently
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 23: tested as DNA testing evolves.
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 6: ABC's Erin Katursky, former Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush and Clinton
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 6: will be here in New York. President Trump will give
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 6: remarks at the Pentagon. And tonight, the annual Tribute in
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 6: Light will return. Starting at dusk, the twin beams will
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 6: shine four miles into the sky and stay illuminated until dawn.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 6: WOR News Time 802.
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: On this 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: Trade Center in New York, there were several people that
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: saw it happen, including the legendary sportscaster, our own Warner Wolf,
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: who was on the air at the time with Don Imus.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 2: MSNBC has just flashed on my screen.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 19: It looks like there is a plane that's crashed into
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 19: the World Trade Center. We got Warner on.
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 2: The phone who's.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 11: Looking at it right now.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 10: Warner?
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: Hi, man.
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 8: What's the deal?
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 31: Something hit the World Trade Center.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 14: I think it was a plane.
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: I heard it right over my head, and the explosion.
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 2: Rocked the building.
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 11: Really?
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 14: And I'm looking at.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 25: It right now.
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 31: The smoke is just bellowing out of the World Trade Center.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's horrible.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: The great Warner Wolf is on the air with us now. Warner,
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: can you further describe that moment in retrospect?
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 31: Yeah, I'll tell you what, Larry. The plane, we lived
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 31: on the top floor on North Moore Street in Tribeca.
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 31: And that plane, I thought it was going to hit
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 31: our roof. I've never heard a plane closer in my life.
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 31: My wife and I were getting up. I wasn't working
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 31: that day, and man, that plane, I tell you, it
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 31: was unbelievable. The sound was incredible. I can still hear it. And,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 31: you know, you can see all the movies and TV, films, everything.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 31: There's nothing like when it happened. There's nothing like seeing
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 31: it live. It's still with me. We were about 10
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 31: blocks from the World Trade Center. We could see it
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 31: lit up every night right out of our window. When
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 31: that first plane hit, we said, man, what is it,
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 31: a misguided pilot? It was like the bomber pilot. You
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 31: remember the bomber hit the Empire State Building in 1945?
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 31: I said, man, look at this, right? Oh, but wait
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 31: a minute. Uh, Oh, I started watching and I thought
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 31: they were, people were throwing tables and chairs out of
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 31: the window, but man, it was, they were jumping out
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 31: of the window. That was a, that was a horrible sight.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 31: And then, uh, I guess it was, well, 15, 16,
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 31: 17 minutes later, the plane came around and hit the
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 31: other tower. And now he said, oh, man, this is
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 31: no accident. So I ran on the roof of my building,
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 31: and I could see everything. And, oh, boy, the fire
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 31: and just terrible things. And I saw the buildings collapsed.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 31: Those are the worst thing I've ever seen. I saw
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 31: them just, oh man, am I really seeing it? This
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 31: was horrible.
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 6: It's gone.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 16: It collapsed.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 6: It's gone. It's not there.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: The whole tower.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 24: The whole tower.
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 32: It's gone.
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 31: There's only one tower. Oh, God.
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: This is horrible.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 28: It's gone.
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 16: It's not there.
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 19: It's like it disappeared.
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 31: And there's no way the first responders can ever get
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 31: enough credit for going into that burning building uh the
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 31: two towers and i'll tell you one more thing we
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 31: had a balcony and i'd say for at least a
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 31: month you there was this unusual smell coming from the
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 31: tower and they said no it's nothing it was a
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 31: sweet sour odor i've never smelled anything like it be
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 31: like A bad perfume would be, I guess, the way
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 31: I'd describe it. And it was the burning of the
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 31: metals and the materials of the World Trade Center. So
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 31: that was all unhealthy down there. And as we're finding
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 31: out now still, I'll tell you, Larry, I still can't
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 31: believe it was 25 years ago today.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one of your eyesight on the spot announcement on
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 3: the IMAS show of what it was like Even though
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 3: there was no internet at that time, things didn't go viral,
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 3: your announcement of what it was like was heard across
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 3: the nation because people were desperately trying to get information.
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 3: And your voice, I must say, even though I was
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 3: on the competing network, WABC, your voice resonated for an
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 3: entire nation that grew up with you.
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 31: Well, I never stopped to think of it that way
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 31: or looked at it that way. It was just... What
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 31: I was seeing myself, it was like just telling the story.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 31: My gosh, you know, I'm still uncomfortable talking about it
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 31: because it makes me think about it. I try not
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 31: to think about it, but like I said earlier, you
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 31: could see all the TV and movies of it years later.
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 31: When you see something in person, as you probably know,
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 31: It just sticks with you. It stays with you. And just,
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 31: you know, oh man, see those people. God, those poor souls.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you were there just in the neighborhood for
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: the excavation, the search for bodies, the rebuilding, all of it.
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: Can you talk us through some of that?
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 31: Oh, I was, oh my gosh. I was still on
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 31: WCBS at that time, so... You know, I went down
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 31: there and they brought a camera and, gosh, you could
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 31: see the weary workers and they had dogs, you know,
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 31: because they were sniffing out to see where people were.
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 31: It was just a dreadful, just a terrible scene. If
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 31: you go through it once, hopefully that's it. But, like,
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 31: I remember one of the Responders said, you know, it's
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 31: bad enough that we have close to 3,000 people dead,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 31: but it's the ripple effect. All the families from 3,000 people,
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 31: friends and family, it's not just... I'll tell you when
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 31: my wife and I moved to Tribeca we said oh
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 31: boy this is great you know nothing you never thought
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 31: that we were about 10 blocks from the World Trade
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 31: Center we used to you know I'd come home at
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 31: night you'd It was a beautiful sight.
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 3: The two of them.
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 31: We'd look out the window. There they are. What a
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 31: great sight. You can't see this anywhere else.
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I will tell you, Warner, that was powerful to
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: hear that from you since you experienced the whole thing
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: and how it haunts you to this day. And thank
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: you so much for sharing that, the great Warner Wolf.
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Warner.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 31: All right, gentlemen.
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 14: Thank you.
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: He certainly sounded different, didn't he?
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 26: I mean.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: Warner Wolf, you remember being fast-paced and getting through sports events,
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: but when he's remembering it, you could almost feel that
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: he was still seeing it.
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he was on the fan with Imus in
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 3: the morning. And remember the night before, Monday Night Football,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 3: the Giants versus the Denver Broncos. So they're a sports station.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 3: That's all they're talking about at that time. And then
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 3: Warner was magnificent because where he lived with his wife,
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 3: he could almost reach.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 2: Out and touch.
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 3: The Twin Towers, and then to be able to experience
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 3: it and relate it on WFAN was magnificent because it
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 3: got those guys all focused on, hey, forget sports. Everything
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 3: else goes to the sidelines. That's all anybody was talking
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 3: about for days and days and days thereafter.
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: And we're proud to have him here now. Let's get
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: some more reflections from our listeners.
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 11: Dr.
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 33: Barbary calling Captain Kathy Mazza. who was a cardiac surgery
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 33: nurse with me at St. Francis Hospital, went on to
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 33: become Port Authority policewoman. And after 10 years there, she
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 33: became the first female captain and commandant of the police
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 33: academy in New Jersey. She came over with new recruits
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 33: to the buildings, to the towers, saved many, many lives.
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 33: And that day, she was like a sister to me,
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 33: dearly missed.
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: And thanks for remembering her. Kathy Mazza, Captain Kathy Nancy Mazza,
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: was killed on September 11th, as he said, while attempting
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: to rescue the victims trapped in the World Trade Center.
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: She was leading a group of people downstairs when the
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: building started to collapse. Using her sidearm, Captain Mazza shot
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: out glass walls, enabling many to escape. Captain Mazza was
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: the first female commander of the Port Authority of New
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: York and New Jersey's police department. She had served with
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: for 13 years. Others survived because of her. She did
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: not survive. She has a husband and mother that live
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: on and still remember her. They're going to be there today.
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: She was only 46 years old. Kathy Mazza, one of
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: the great heroes. Thanks for that talk back and and
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: getting us to remember her. Kathy Mazza was one of
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: the heroes of 9-11.
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 3: And remember, that was a Port Authority building, two buildings.
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 3: Larry Silverstein had just purchased it, you know, private owner-operator.
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 3: So the Port Authority was embedded in that project from
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 3: beginning to end of the World Trade Center site, and
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 3: all the employees of the Port Authority valiantly stayed on.
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 3: and did not flee as almost most people would have.
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're trained. You don't run into the belly
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 3: of the beast. You run away. They stood, they ground,
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 3: they didn't leave, and they did everything they could to
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 3: help others.
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: Well, how about her story? She went in and saved lives.
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: She shot out a window so others could live, even
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: though she was sacrificing herself.
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 11: Correct.
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: An amazing story. Thanks so much for that talk back
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: and getting us to remember Kathy Mazza on this day. Well,
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: at Ground Zero, they're now getting ready for the ceremony.
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: We're going to go back down there to talk to
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: Natalie Migliore. And of course, we will continue with your
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: remembrances when we come back. And this is a special
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: time also to talk about LifeVac because an emergency can
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: happen at any moment. Remember, that was a beautiful day
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: when that happened. But there's all kinds of emergencies. There's
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: great and there's personal. And all are just as important
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: when you're there. And choking is one of those moments.
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: It can happen to anybody, a child, a parent, a grandparent,
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: when it does seconds matter. That's why I'm proud to
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: tell you about LifeVac. LifeVac is the first only FDA-authorized
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: suction anti-choking device to be used for second-line treatment when
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: recommended choking protocols like the Heimlich or just patting someone
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: in the back have been followed without success. Here's what's
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: really remarkable. LifeVac has helped save over 6,000 lives worldwide.
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: Think about that. That's not a number. These are people,
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: real families, real second chances. Preparedness matters. Having the right
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: tool nearby can make all the difference in the world.
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: So learn more about LifeVac today at LifeVac.net. That's LifeVac.net.
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and visit that site, lifevac.net, and you can
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: see how you will be ready when it counts.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 3: We're moments away from the beginning of the commemoration, so
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 3: let's once again go down to Natalie Migliore to get
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 3: an update on what's transpiring.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 2: Natalie, can you describe the scene?
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 13: Yeah, we still have families. It sort of slowed down,
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 13: but we've sort of had families filtering in over here.
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 13: And now I've got, I think, uh, former presidents are
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 13: currently passing me, I believe on church street right now
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 13: with just an excessive line. If I tell you, uh, uh,
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 13: Secret service vans and also NYPD police buses and empty buses.
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 13: So I think that we have officials and former presidents
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 13: arriving at this time. So that is what we're kind
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 13: of seeing now. So it's sort of a huge security issue.
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 13: And it's also a huge speculation as people are now
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 13: starting to gather on the other side of Church Street
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 13: now that a pedestrian plaza is closed off not far
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 13: from the reflecting pools, which is typically open for the
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 13: 9-11 ceremonies in terms of that pedestrian plaza that I'm
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 13: talking about under the oculus. But this year, security measures
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 13: are very, very tight, as you can imagine, with four
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 13: former presidents attending.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: Natalie Migliore, we'll check in with you again. Thanks so much.
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: Nice job this morning. Let's get to some talkbacks.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 34: Please mention all the young lads who signed up for
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 34: the military after this horrific event.
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Mass, mass signing up.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 3: People were just Anything that they could do to get
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 3: involved in uniformed services?
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 35: Honestly, right now, I'm crying thinking about the people that
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 35: worked in the food court. I know it sounds crazy,
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 35: but I remember going to the South Tower when I
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 35: was younger, and there was a food court on the
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 35: 107th floor. And not like their lives were more expendable
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 35: than anyone that worked in Cantor Fitzgerald or anything like that,
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 35: but They were just food service workers going to work.
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: It's not crazy at all. And nobody's expendable. I'm so
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: glad you called and remembered them.
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 26: Just because of iHeartRadio now, you guys get to hear
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 26: from all, I guess we're called expatriates, all of us
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 26: New Yorkers that live in North Carolina, South Carolina now.
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 26: And it's striking to me every year how I'm here
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 26: now that People don't commemorate it like we do. It's shocking,
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 26: and I just feel so bad that I can't be home.
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 3: Well, it's our responsibility as a nation, if nothing more,
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 3: to remind this new generation that wasn't born at that time.
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 3: One-third of Americans were not born at that time, and
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 3: they know little, if anything.
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 2: About this.
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing, though. She's saying even in North Carolina,
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: they're not having commemorations. I think if you searched, you're
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: going to find something. At least I hope that's true.
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 34: I flew from New York to Los Angeles on September 10, 2001.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 34: Because I delayed one of my company's meetings 24 hours,
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 34: three of my employees did not end up on United
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 34: Flight 93. Finally made it back to the East Coast
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 34: on Saturday morning with a flight from Chicago to Westchester County.
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 34: I remember seeing a pillar of gray smoke and debris
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 34: from the tip of Manhattan all the way up to
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 34: the heavens, almost as if God was calling those souls
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 34: back home.
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: Beautiful. Beautifully said. And I'm so sorry about the people
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: that work with you.
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 36: On 9-11, I was working at a very large law
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 36: firm in midtown Manhattan. My boss and I were always
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 36: in early. Very few staff members were there, but a
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 36: lot of attorneys were there working already. And the thing
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 36: I remember is that Most of the attorneys were headed
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 36: towards NYU to donate blood for any survivors, which, as
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 36: we know.
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 21: There were none.
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 3: You know, Larry, the first few years after the death
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 3: and destruction of the attack on 9-11, I would speak
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 3: to the private security firms whose men and women did
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 3: not leave their posts as they watched people running down
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 3: the stairwells at their instruction.
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 35: Wow.
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 3: They really have been forgotten in all of this because
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 3: they could have easily, remember, they're getting minimum wage at
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 3: that time.
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 2: They could have fled. They stood. And unfortunately, they died too,
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 2: like so many others.
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: Let's get to Daria Albinger with the 830 News.
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 2: Daria.
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: Morning, guys.
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 6: Sunny and less humid today with a high of 79 degrees.
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 6: 25 years ago, right about now, life changed here in
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 6: New York City. And today, many of us are still
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 6: grieving after the 9-11 attacks.
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 27: Father Brian Jordan spent more than a year giving interfaith
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 27: services amid the rubble and loss.
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 37: We found fellowship coming together. They come together right there
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 37: on sacred ground in the midst of all this destruction.
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 27: Father Brian's close friend and mentor, FDNY chaplain Father Michael Judge,
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 27: died responding to the Twin Towers. His words of comfort
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 27: for those still grieving.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 37: We're going to be reunited with them in heaven again.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 37: We're going to be reunited. If you believe in the
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 37: words of everlasting life.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 27: Natalie Migliore, WOR News.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 6: The annual remembrance will begin soon this year with an
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 6: extra moment of silence to honor the first responders, rescue
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 6: and recovery workers, survivor and lower Manhattan residents, who died
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 6: from 9-11-related illnesses in the years following the tragedy. And
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 6: security is going to be tighter than ever.
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 16: There are now numerous streets in the area of the
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 16: 9-11 Memorial Museum.
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: Shut to traffic.
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 16: An eight-foot-tall fence surrounding the area where the ceremony is
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 16: taking place and a huge police officer presence. This is
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 16: all part of tight security. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 25: The ceremony is not open to the general public. And
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 25: because of the security footprint around the site, New Yorkers
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 25: should expect significant traffic delays. and pedestrian restrictions.
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 16: Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 16: Joe Biden among those attending the remembrance ceremony. I'm Scott Pringle,
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 16: WLR News.
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 6: President Trump is not going to be at the ceremony.
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 6: He is going to make remarks at the Pentagon today.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 6: There's also a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Yankees beat
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 6: Colorado 10-3. They'll host the Mets tonight. And San Francisco
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 6: beat the LA Rams 27-7 last night in a game
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 6: that was played in Australia. Next news, 9 o'clock bulletins
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 6: at once. I'm Daria Albinger on 710WOR.
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: Thank, Daria. Thank you very much. When we come back,
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 1: someone I consider a friend and a hero, John Feal,
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: longtime advocate for 9-11 survivors, reflects on the attacks. He
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: was there. The lasting toll on first responders and survivors
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: and the importance of preserving their memories and all the
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: memories of that day. And now we want to talk
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: to John Feal. I'm sure you all know John Feal
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: by now. He is the founder of the Feel Good
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: Foundation that has worked tirelessly for 9-11 first responders who
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: had seemed to be forgotten after 9-11. And he had
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: to take several trips down to Congress later on with
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: John Stewart to try to get them to finally pass
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: the James Zadroga 9-11 Health and Compensation Act. And he's
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: still battling to this day for those 9-11 first responders.
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: But then again, he was also a first responder. And
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: John joins us now from Ground Zero. John, as you're
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: at that site, I'm sure it's tough on you a
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: little bit every year that you're there. Oh, John's not
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: with us right now. I was getting all kinds of signals.
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, John. I was confused there for a second.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: I apologize. Please tell us about your time there.
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, Lab 1, thank you for having me
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 14: on such a somber day. And many people use this
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 14: 25 remembrance as a milestone. But for us, directly affected
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 14: by 9-11, it's a day that hasn't ended. And it's
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 14: a day that is still killing. And it's a day
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 14: to remember those that we lost to senseless violence and
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 14: to the heroes that ran into harm's way and never
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 14: went home. But it's also a day to remember that
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 14: those who went there that got sick and died or
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 14: are still suffering and going to die in the near future,
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 14: we need to remember these men and women in uniform
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 14: and non-uniform. And collectively, we could do better as a society.
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 14: And we need to create an environment where we bring
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 14: back humanity, compassion, and empathy.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: I want to get your reaction to Zoran Mamdani releasing
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 1: all of the files about what was in the air.
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: Files that have been locked away now for over 20 years.
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: Tell me what that means to you and what that
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: means to the 9-11 first responders.
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 14: There was no smoking gun in those 170,000 files and
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 14: the ones that are going to follow that. We knew
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 14: that they knew we were sick. It gives us validity.
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 14: But if they would have came clean in the beginning,
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 14: it would have made our fight in D.C. against Congress easier.
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 14: And shame on them. They've got to live with their
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 14: decisions because almost 10,000 people have died from a 9-11-related illness.
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 14: 57,000-plus have a certified 9-11-related cancer. So, you know, shame
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 14: on them. But today is not the day to point
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 14: fingers at anybody. Today is the day to embrace each
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 14: other instead of tearing each other down and lift everybody up.
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: And today's the day to remember, and I'm sure you
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: have so many memories. I remember something you told me
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: one time that I still, it's still shocking to me
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: and I still live with. I used to, I traveled
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: down when I worked at WPIX on buses, buses full
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: of first responders who were sick when you were fighting
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: for passage of the bill. And I remember seeing you
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: at an event afterwards, about a couple.
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 12: Just a.
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: And you looked at me and you said, you know,
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: the people you traveled with on that bus, half of
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: them have died. And it really shocked me. And it
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: made the whole thing real to me. And I know
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: it's real to you every single day. Are there some
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: people that you want to remember on this day?
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 14: Everybody that I've ever come in contact with that passed
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 14: away from the 9-11-related illness, I remember all of them,
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 14: and the list is too long. I've been to about
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 14: 213 funerals, and there's been so much pain and sorrow
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 14: in my life, and I'm never going to feel sorry
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 14: for myself, nor do I want anybody. But we can
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 14: take our grief and our pain and suffering, we can
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 14: turn it into positive energy, and we can help others.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 14: And today, we can hold the door open and buy
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 14: somebody a cup of coffee and lend a shoulder to
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 14: lean on. Or just listen to somebody who needs to
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 14: vent because this is a tough day for America across
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 14: the board. And I pray everybody gives it themselves because, Larry,
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 14: that's the true spirit of being a human being, to
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 14: give it yourself.
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's extremely well said. I know that you were
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: on the pile at 9-11. I know you spent several
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: days there. I know you don't like to talk about it,
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: but on this day, can you tell us some of
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: those memories and what you remember the most of that time?
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, I remember everything that I saw and
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 14: everything I did, but I went to therapy to block
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 14: it out. I'm never going to forget the smell. The
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 14: smell will follow me for my lifetime. But what I
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 14: choose to remember is the humanity, the outpour of love,
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 14: how we all put aside our titles, differences, ideologies, because
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 14: on September 10th to 12th, there was nothing but love
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 14: and an outpour from, you know, These people that worked
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 14: on the Pilari, they restored faith to a broken city
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 14: and a fractured nation. And these men and women who
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 14: were sick and dying, they deserve all the credit.
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: John Feal, you are a national hero. I love that
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: I got to know you. I love that I got
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: to travel with you.
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 6: I love you.
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: And I know your work continues. I know it does.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: How can people help?
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 14: Today, just be a human being. I don't ask for
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 14: anything other than just be a human being and do
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 14: the right thing.
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you, sir, so much. It was good to
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: talk to you again.
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 14: God bless you all. I love you guys.
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: Well, John Field, the founder and president of the Feel
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: Good Foundation. He's a remarkable human being.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 3: And the testimony that he and John Stewart and the
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 3: other man who looked like he was dying. Remember when
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 3: he testified? I forget his name, Larry, but you could
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 3: see death marked on his facial features.
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: Let's go to Ground Zero for the moment of silence.
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 38: Oh, the brave.
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 21: Oh, the brave.
• 1:39:13
  Speaker 1: The bells will ring for this moment of silence, and
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 1: then everyone will stay silent in remembrance of when the
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: first airliner went into the World Trade Center. You're looking
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: right now, as we're looking at some feet of this,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: of all the presidents standing in silence, and all the
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: people gathered standing in silence.
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 3: And what I marvel at is how each of the
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 3: family members continue to have the pictures of their lost
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 3: loved ones, whether they were uniformed services or had worked
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 3: in the area or involved in the process of helping people.
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 3: It's great that they are holding those pictures high in
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 3: the sky so that everybody sees it. Forget the politicians,
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 3: everybody who's there to pay their respects. These are the people.
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 3: This is what today is about. Their loss, their loss,
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 3: their sacrifice.
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: And you know, every single person there has a deep
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: relationship with someone who died. They're holding up pictures of
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: those people and that's all that is in their minds
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: right now. Even though it's a large gathering, it's very,
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: very personal for each and every one of them. And
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: it's so important that we remember every single year, not
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: just on the 25th anniversary, but every single year, the
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: sacrifice that these people made, not just the people that died,
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: but the families and what they sacrificed and what America
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: went through. We'll be right back. Curtis, any final thoughts?
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 3: No, I think we should just go down to the
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 3: reading of the names, which is the tradition as family
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 3: members come up and remember their loved ones, which is
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 3: really what the focus of this day is. hopefully will
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 3: remain until we reach midnight.
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 6: Jane Ellen Bassler.
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 28: Robert J.
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 16: Fairwalter.
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 6: Andrew J.
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 27: Bailey.
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 38: Brett T.
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 12: Bailey.
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 15: Garnet Ace Bailey.
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 38: Tatiana Bakalinskia.
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 2: Michael S.
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 3: Baksh.
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 38: Sharon M. Balkan.
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 27: Michael Andrew Bain.
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 38: Catherine Bantis.
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 27: And my uncle, Stephen Gerard Hoffman.
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 2: Uncle Stephen, we love.
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 9: And miss you.
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 18: And as my dad says, your twin, Greg, thank you
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 18: for the memories.
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 24: They're the best part.
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 38: And my husband, Tom Strada, you are missed more with
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 38: each year that passes. But how can it be 25
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 38: years and still we have no justice for the role
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 38: that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 2: She's right. She's absolutely right.
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 38: Yes, we finally made it into a court and have
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 38: proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 38: culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe. and then sent
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 38: its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 38: could attack you and all of our loved ones. But
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 38: for 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 38: of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 38: of standing with the 9-11 families.
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 26: She's correct.
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 3: Redacted from that 9-11 commission report is the Saudi involvement.
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 38: They vetoed JASTA. They broke promises, both public and private.
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 38: It has been one betrayal after another. President Trump can
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 38: still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 38: them that if they want to be friends with the USA,
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 38: They cannot continue to deny all of this, all of
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 38: the pain, all of the destruction that we have all
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 38: been suffering through. Vice President Vance, thank you for being
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 38: here today. Please carry that message back. Stand with the families.
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 38: Stand with the survivors. Stand with Americans. As my husband
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 38: Tom would have said, that is always the right thing
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 38: to do. God bless all of us.
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 27: God bless America.
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 10: Wow.
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 31: Wow.
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 2: She's absolutely right.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, my goodness. I mean, that obviously was planned. And wow,
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: how fortuitous that we took the reading of the names
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: right at that moment because that made news at that moment.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: That's something that's going to be talked about, well, throughout
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: the day and over the weekend.
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 3: And you know who's standing there, Bush 43. who was
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 3: responsible for that, protecting the Saudis. So let's see what happens.
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 3: If the wishes of the families are met. That was
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 3: an historic moment and you got to hear it live.
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 3: The Talkback of the Week is a listener who helps
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 3: us remember how even during all the hurt and the
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 3: pain of that day, 25 years ago, we did find
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 3: a way to come together.
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 32: I remember setting up a makeshift memorial when the towers
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 32: collapsed and I spelled USA in red, white, and blue
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 32: candles and added an American flag and flowers.
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: It was amazing how fast it grew.
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 32: Everybody just started adding more flowers, adding more candles, adding
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 32: more American.
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: Flags, adding notes.
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 32: And I kept thinking to myself, this is amazing how
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 32: together we are on a bad day.
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: We will be sending him a morning show T-shirt and
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: a C-Crane radio as well. C-Crane radios that work when
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: it matters most. I also hope you'll tune in on
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: Sunday at noon. I'm going to be hosting the New
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: York Roadrunners Fifth Avenue Mile. It'll be me, Tim McClune,
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: and Bex Jenry. It should be a great race and
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: a great forecast.
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 3: Follow 710WOR on Instagram and Facebook. We have a thread
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 3: going on about making sure... The 9-11 education is mandatory.
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 3: One-third of Americans were born after the attack on 9-11.
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 3: Let's make our voices heard everywhere in our educational system.
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 3: Coming up, Mark Simone at 9, with the iconic Scott Shannon,
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 3: who has his own memories to share with all of you.
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 3: But right now, it's the news at 9.