Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Hour 1: Remembering 9/11

Transcript

Hour 1: Remembering 9/11 · 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
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: that by going to 710WOR. org. 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,
• 1:52
  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. There was a Democratic primary taking place because
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Rudy Giuliani had been term-limited out. The Democrats were way
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: ahead in the polls, whether it was Mark Green or
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Fernando Ferrer, were running against one another. They want to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: beat the billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The polls were overwhelming. So
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: people were going out to vote. I was at WABC
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: at the time. I had just come back from Florida
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: where I spoke the night before. And we were going
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: through the assignments of what are we going to cover?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: What are we going to do? And nobody obviously had
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: any idea what was awaiting us. With the smashing of
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: that plane into Tower One, eventually its implosion, followed quickly
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: by the smashing of a plane into Tower 2 and
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: its implosion. And I think from a radio perspective, remember,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: we didn't have the Internet to rely on for news
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: and information. And when the towers went down, by the
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: time that catastrophe took place, there was no TV.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: That's it. All the towers collapsed.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Where the big antenna were up on the World Trade Center.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: They had been moved from the Empire State Building. And
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: there was no streaming.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: No.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Now people were so dependent on radio, like they are
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: during blackouts or other major disasters. So we had to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: hold it down. There was no breaks. There were no advertisements.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It was just whatever we could get our hands on
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: to inform the general public that everybody was shocked. We
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: were getting calls coming in. People were basically being deputized
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to tell us what was going on in their area.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And the shock of it all, being on the air
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: for 12 straight hours.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Before we were relieved.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: And then eventually I worked my way down to the
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: World Trade Center site. You could see the plume in
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: the distance. And it was easy access in and out.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: But it's something that all the pictures, all the video,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: all the commemorations don't do justice to. It was a catastrophe.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: It was, I would say, like Dante's Inferno. If there
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: was anything that could possibly equate to Dante's Inferno, it
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: was that.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Joe Bartlett, who is retired now,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: but he was the newsman at WOR on that day.
• 4:37
  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
• 4:41
  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
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you slept at the station. So can you share what
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you went through on that day?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I was still pretty young in my career.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: And I was producing the morning show. It was with
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: Ed Walsh at that time. John Gambling had just left
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: a year earlier. And it started off like Curtis was saying.
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: It was a beautiful morning. We were kind of wrapping
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: up the show at that point. And we have a line.
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  Speaker 4: It was called Star 710 where people could call with traffic.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: And I saw it ringing and I said, we only
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: have one more report, but I guess I'll pick it up.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: I picked it up and it was a regular call.
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: It was a truck driver from the Jersey Turnpike. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: he said to me, he's like, Natalie, he goes, the
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Twin Towers, it's on fire. I was like, what is
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: he talking about? Because I'm staring at television. They got
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: the Today Show on. They didn't have anything on. I'm
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: looking at the AP. Nothing is coming up. So I said, well,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: I could see the Twin Towers from our newsroom.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: I'll walk over.
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  Speaker 4: Joe Bartlett's doing the news. And he has his back
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: to the window and he's typing away for the 9
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: o'clock news. I was like, Joe, turn around. From that
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: moment on when I told him to turn around, everything changed.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: And I, as, you know, Curtis was saying, I spent
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: the morning with the listeners, these WOR listeners. And I
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: meet them a lot. still 25 years later, and they'll
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: talk about that day and how they stayed with us
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: because they had no other place to go. And they
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: felt like we were the family that they needed at
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: that moment. And I didn't feel it for a very
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: long time, the heaviness 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.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: It was amazing. It was it was, you did a
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: great public service on that day. And it was so
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: important that you were on the air and that Joe
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Bartlett was on the air because my God, my God,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: his coverage was amazing because it was appropriately enough information
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: mixed with raw emotion. Raw emotion. Because you were feeling it.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: You were feeling it in real time as it was
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: happening outside the window. I'll share my story just very
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: quickly because it's much different than than the people that
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: were here, but it is an American experience. I was
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: sound asleep and I was anchoring the evening news and
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: my wife was on the air at CBS at the time.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: And my wife called me and said, wake up, do
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: you see what's going on? Do you see? And I
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: turned the television on and I said, well, planes fly
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: into buildings that's happened before in New York. And she said, yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: but this is, this looked like an airliner. And I said, really?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And then as we're talking on the phone, the second
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: plane hit the building. And I said, is that a
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: replay of the, and she goes, no, that's, that's another plane.
• 7:34
  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
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: listened to the radio and they were still talking sports.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: And I called in and I said, do you understand
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: what's going on? And they said, we, if we can't
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: get this one guy to shut up, I said, well,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: shut them up, shut them off. And she goes, can
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  Speaker 1: you go on? And from that moment, as I'm getting dressed,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: as I'm driving in, I was on the air talking
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: about what was happening and I get into the newsroom
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and everybody's crying. And I couldn't understand it. I've never
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: been in a newsroom where everybody was crying. That's the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: first time ever I've seen that. And because I've covered
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: so many stories, I was wondering why I wasn't feeling that.
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  Speaker 1: But you're hyped up with an emotion of covering a story.
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  Speaker 1: I was on the air straight for four weeks covering
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  Speaker 1: the story.
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  Speaker 2: And I think our role became... Trying to cut through
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  Speaker 2: all the misinformation that was coming out, the rumors, the innuendos. Again,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: there was no internet. It's not like you could take
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: your flip phone and you could see what was going on.
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  Speaker 2: It was nothing. People were completely dependent on whatever information
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  Speaker 2: we could get our hands on. We had the responsibilities.
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  Speaker 2: not to put misinformation.
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  Speaker 1: On the air.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was a big one. I remember being so
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: worried about what we were saying because I knew how
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: it was affecting people. And we were extremely lucky to
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: have George Meade in the studio with us, who is
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: our traffic reporter, but had been a helicopter pilot. He
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: probably did more miles around the city in a helicopter
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: than anyone. And he initially looked at us and said,
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  Speaker 4: I cannot understand how a plane could be misguided. into
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: that building on this morning.
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  Speaker 6: Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: It was so obvious when it was the second plane
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  Speaker 1: what was happening. I will tell you this. I was
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: on the air too, not at the time, but in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the days afterwards. And things were happening so fast and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: so quickly. And we had so many different news sources.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And let me tell you that that was an amazing
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: day for the media. They did an incredible job. Don't
• 9:41
  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
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: slipped back.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Well, I remember on that day, more so than the
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: heroic news people who ran down to the attack site,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: many of them who would have nightmares for the rest
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: of their lives. So what they saw, because they were
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: down in the area when the implosion took place, was
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: the fact That everybody understood what their responsibilities were. Because
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: then later on, we learned about the attack on the Pentagon.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And then the one that nobody pays attention to now
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: with everything leading up to the 25th anniversary, Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 2: Then realizing later that it was the Flight 93 that
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: went down there that was on its way to crash
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: into our nation's capital. And all of that, we had
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: to sort through. And we had to depend on a
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: lot of callers to be our eyes and ears out
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: there in all these surrounding areas.
• 10:54
  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.
• 11:07
  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
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: for several days that, oh my God, we are vulnerable.
• 11:21
  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. The attacks on
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: 9-11 25 years ago today, that was a shared experience,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: globally shared, shared across the country, but especially in the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: New York City area. And everyone has their stories. We
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: want you to share them with us because we're all
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: here together this morning. remembering, and just kind of holding
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: each other close. So here is the first talk back
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of the morning, and this is coming from someone who
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: got very lucky that day.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: That morning, I was in the Winter Garden. I had
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: just stepped onto the first step of the marble staircase
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: leading up to the North Overpass, where the I.M. Pei
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Atrium is. I felt the earth move. I looked up
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: through the atrium, and I saw white smoke and, like,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: ticker tape paper coming out of the North Tower. I
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: turned around, went back to the New York Waterway Ferry,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: got on the 9 o'clock boat. Halfway across the Hudson,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: I saw a commercial airliner fly through my building.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And just remember, as he was getting on the ferries,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: People eventually were being organized and removed on ferries, probably
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the greatest mass evacuation utilizing boats and ferries that has
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: ever occurred in our history. And a lot of people,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: their lives were saved as a result of what appeared
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: to be disorganized and then quickly became organized to try
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: to get people to evacuate that whole area. I remember
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: we had news people run down there. We had no
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: contact with them. Again, when the towers went down, the
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: cell towers went down. So there was no phone communication. Remember,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: our firefighters had no radio communication. There were orders being given, abandon, abandon,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: get out of the towers. Now, they couldn't hear that
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: on their radios. Many, many more lives would have been
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: saved if, in fact, the technology had worked. But everything
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: was dependent on communications from on top of both the towers. And,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: you know, you can look back at it and know
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: how many people's lives were saved who could have also
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: 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
• 14:14
  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 decades. 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 2: The good thing from my perspective is with all the
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: politics leading and surrounding this 25th commemoration and anniversary, the
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: rest of the country has been made aware. I'm telling you,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: having traveled the country years afterwards, it's almost as if
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: 9-11 hadn't occurred in other different parts of the country.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: We felt it in our region, obviously down near the Pentagon,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: El It's Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But the rest of the country,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: they were having no flashbacks, no memories. It's almost like
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: they wanted to discard it. And the sad thing is
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: that one third of our population was born after the
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: attack on 9-11. And they've had little, if any, information
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: about it. Shame on all of us for not letting
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: them know everything that led up to it, what happened
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: during the attack. And all the things that transpired after
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: the attack, hopefully we correct that because this generation coming up,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: the Gen Zers and the new generation following them should
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: be told, should be given the facts. 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.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: Daria.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Good morning, guys.
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: Sunny today, less humid and a high of 79 degrees.
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: It was 25 years ago. Terrorists hijacked four commercial jetliners,
• 17:04
  Speaker 7: crashing two into the World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon,
• 17:07
  Speaker 7: and one in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Today, the nation will pause
• 17:11
  Speaker 7: to remember the September 11th attacks.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: For the last 24 years, six moments of silence have
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: been held on this day to commemorate moments from the
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: attacks in New York and Virginia. and the crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Today,
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: a seventh moment of silence will be held to honor
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: the lives lost in later years from 9-11-related illnesses.
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: ABC's Olivia Rubin's ceremonies at Ground Zero will begin at
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: 8.30 this morning. Former Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: will attend. President Trump will mark 9-11.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: At the Pentagon.
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: Security will be ramped up as expected for the 9-11 ceremonies,
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: but the NYPD... is also preparing for Rosh Hashanah, the
• 17:53
  Speaker 7: first of the Jewish High Holy Days, will begin at sunset.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: Officers will be deployed at synagogues, yeshivas, and other Jewish
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: cultural centers starting today. Well, there may be a new
• 18:03
  Speaker 7: deadly Legionnaires cluster in the city. This one in the Bronx.
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: City health officials Thursday revealed what they're calling a likely
• 18:11
  Speaker 8: community cluster in parts of the Melrose and Morrisania sections
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: of the Bronx. They also announced one death in that cluster,
• 18:18
  Speaker 8: five other positive tests, and other potential positives. They say
• 18:23
  Speaker 8: the cluster is limited to zip codes 10451 and 10456
• 18:27
  Speaker 8: so far. Anyone in or who has visited those areas
• 18:31
  Speaker 8: since late August and comes down with flu-like symptoms is
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: urged to see a doctor. Eleven people died from Legionnaires
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: in a summer outbreak on the Upper East Side. Seven
• 18:40
  Speaker 8: people died in a Harlem outbreak last summer. Andrew Whitman,
• 18:45
  Speaker 8: WOR News.
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: The Yankees beat Colorado 10-3. They host the Mets tonight.
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: And San Francisco beat the LA Rams 27-7 last night
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: in Australia. Next news, 7 o'clock, bulletins at once. I'm
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: Daria Albinger on 710 WOR.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Daria. We all have stories about 9-11. We
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: want you to share yours. Go to the iHeartRadio app.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Look for 710 WOR and hit the talkback button because
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: this is a day where 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
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: area because 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 that
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: day would be extremely important. It is the solution if
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: you have bad reception. With the CC Wi-Fi 3, you
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: can receive thousands of radio stations from across America and
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: around the world right here at home. No apps to download,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: no monthly fees, no ads on the screen, and no
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: microphones listening in. Best of all, you can listen to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: our show with crystal clear audio without static or fading.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: The CC Wi-Fi 3 comes with a full-size remote control,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and you can pick up a strong Wi-Fi signal even
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: when it's farther away from your home router. This week's
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: purchase with the CC Wi-Fi 3 receives $ 10 off. That
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: means you can get $ 10 off your purchase of the
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: CC Wi-Fi 3 This week only. So to order the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: CC Wi-Fi 3 and receive $ 10 off, call C-Crane at 800-522-8863.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: That's 800-522-8863. Or visit C-Crane.com. That's C-C-R-A-N-E.com. We are honored
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: right now to welcome Assistant Chief Michael Myers, a 35-year
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: veteran of the FDNY and the department's chief of training
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to the show. He has responded to many events, the
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and of course, September 11th. There's
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: so much, sir. By the way, thank you for joining
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: us today. There is so much we want to talk
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: to you about, but let's start with that date, September 11th, 2001.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: What are your memories?
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: One of the biggest memories that I have from that
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: morning was getting to rescue force quarters while both buildings
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: were still burning. I was coming in from home, but
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: I knew that it was going to be a large
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: scale event. I was in special operations at the time
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: and that they were going to need our services down
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: there because of the magnitude of the incident. So I
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: remember getting to rescue force quarters, meeting up with a
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: whole bunch of other guys and from that company in
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: Queens and commandeering a city bus. One of the city
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: bus drivers was brave enough to drive us in there,
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: drive through all the smoke and get us there. We
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: got there about 20 minutes after the second collapse. And
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: I remember as we were coming down the West Side
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: Highway towards the Trade Center, once we finally got down
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: to the Trade Center, just the wave of people that
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: were walking towards us, including police, firefighters, civilians, And they
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: were all caked in World Trade Center dust, three or
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: four inches on their helmets, on their hats, on their bodies.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: As they were walking towards us, kind of like almost
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: in a, I call it a fog of war state.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: And as they were walking towards us, we were gathering
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: their equipment, their tools, because we knew we were going
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: to need that in order to help down at the scene.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: So we were handing stuff off, handing radios off. and
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: getting there. And then I just remember the, when I
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: finally got down to the trade center site, cause we
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: had to park about a half mile out because of
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: the traffic and because the way the cars and first
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: responder vehicles will park just being the enormous immensity of
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: the task at hand, seeing all those two buildings down
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: on the ground, which I never thought would have collapsed
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: in a million years.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Now, Michael, uh, What became of the firefighters who first
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: went in? What impediments did they face as they tried
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: to move up the floors to fight the fire that
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: was engulfing the buildings?
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, one of the first impediments that they had was
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: the elevators won't be working to a certain level inside
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: of the Trade Center, inside both towers, because of the
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: way that the plane sheared into the building and because
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: of the type of construction of the Trade Center. buildings
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: and complex itself. So they weren't able to take elevators up.
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: I think they were only able to get to about
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: the 40th or 50th floor. So when you know as
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: a firefighter wearing full gear and carrying equipment, tools and equipment,
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: it's very heavy. So encapsulated in our full gear, we
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: have 100 pounds of gear on. So if you have
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: to go up, you know, in gear, 100 pounds and
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: then the equipment that you're carrying, you're talking about 125,
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: 130 pounds of equipment and gear. You're going up 25,
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: 30 flights of stairs. You can imagine just how rough
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: and tough that is. And with the folks coming down
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: from upstairs, as well as the smoke and whatnot that
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: was coming down. So there was a tremendous amount for
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: them to face, as well as just, again, the sheer
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: size and magnitudes of two buildings being struck and fully
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: 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 6: Yeah, well, that day 100% changed the way that we
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: look at firefighting, you know, not only in New York City,
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: but around the world. We constantly, since that day, and
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: since the first World Trade Center attack was the initial
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: phases of it in 1993, was again, like we started
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: to have to worry about terrorism and And our hazmat
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: responses or hazmat material responses became much more significant. And again,
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: now coming into play today, right, every response we go on,
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: we have to worry about that terrorism aspect of things.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: So it's an aspect of the job when I first
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: came on in 1991 that nobody really looked at. But
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: now every fire department in and around New York City
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: and around the country and around the world has to
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: look at that now.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Now, Assistant Chief Michael Myers, big controversy about radio communication.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: It was thought that many of the men who had
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: gone up in the tower for the fire department had
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: no idea that the order had been given for them
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: to leave that building, to get down as fast as possible.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Was that a radio error, leadership error? Has that been corrected?
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we've corrected it as best as possible. And so
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: what I would account that for at that time, whenever
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: you're in a high-rise building, just because of the distance
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: away from everybody that you are, and most high-rises today
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: are constructed of concrete and don't have a great ability
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: to communicate with the radios that we had at that time.
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: We have obviously upgraded our radios two or three times
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: since then. But at that time, we can also do
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: some triangulation and do other things that we use now
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: in order that we'd be able to get the word
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: up there. We also have post radios that we would
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: place on certain floors now so that we'd be able
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: to get that communication into play and be able to
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: communicate with each other. So we'd be able to get
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: that water 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 6: I could go through a list of so many different people.
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: You know, the first person that comes to top of
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: mind to me would be, you know, my college roommate
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: and best friend. We played football together in college. And
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: for the FDNY football team, it would be Darrell Bronco-Pearsall, who,
• 27:17
  Speaker 6: you know, I miss every day, you know, so, so much.
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: You know, I could go down all the members of
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: Rescue 4 who passed away and died, the members of
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: Ladder 4, Ladder 11, the places that I worked where
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: I got to know all the families. over the course
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: of 25 years. And one of the things when you
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: see these folks and what breaks my heart every year
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: at the ceremony is that when your son or daughter
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: dies in an event like this, they carry a sadness
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: in their eyes forever. And we all carry that same
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: sadness in our hearts as first responders for everybody who
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: died there that day. And then to live with the
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: 453 members of the department who've gotten World Trade Center
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: cancers and diseases and have died since then. And we
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: have about three people in hospice in any given month,
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: you know, succumbing to World Trade Center diseases. So we
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: remember each and every one of them and we try
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: to pay tribute to each and every one of them.
• 28:18
  Speaker 6: And it's one of the things that we ask everyone
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: to always do is to never forget. And, you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: especially as New Yorkers and being all in this together,
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: 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 2: So let's go down to the World Trade Center site
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: where our own Natalie Migliore is there before the commemoration starts. Natalie,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: can you paint a picture of what's transpiring now?
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: Yeah. So I am sitting literally in the shadow of
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: the Oculus and the Freedom Tower here in lower Manhattan.
• 29:06
  Speaker 9: And I'm watching people, I've been watching them all morning,
• 29:09
  Speaker 9: walk up because there is a huge security presence, probably
• 29:14
  Speaker 9: larger than years past. Of course, it's 25 years. So
• 29:18
  Speaker 9: there's more presence expected and there's more security this time around.
• 29:23
  Speaker 9: But all morning, I've been watching people walk up to
• 29:25
  Speaker 9: the metal barricades, just Staring at the Freedom Tower, at
• 29:31
  Speaker 9: the area, either nodding their heads, reflecting, kind of looking,
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: around in a sense of, you know, it's quieter down
• 29:42
  Speaker 9: 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 9: Yeah, no cars in this area. That closed down about
• 30:02
  Speaker 9: an hour ago to traffic. Pedestrians are still flowing, but
• 30:07
  Speaker 9: there's just a slew of police officers. And there's a
• 30:12
  Speaker 9: pedestrian plaza that's typically open, even on previous anniversaries for 9-11.
• 30:18
  Speaker 9: It sits right under the Oculus. And a couple years ago,
• 30:22
  Speaker 9: I watched actually nuns give sort of this prayer service
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: prayer ceremony during the 9-11 commemoration ceremony outside of it.
• 30:33
  Speaker 9: That won't even be able to happen today because that
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: space is not open. People are not allowed in to
• 30:38
  Speaker 9: that space.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: So the advice to anybody listening is don't come down
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: to the World Trade Center site. You're not going to
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: get anywhere near it until later on in the day. When, again,
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: you can come and pay your tribute to those who
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: have passed, you know, at the museum site where all
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: the names are listed. But don't come down there now.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 31:02
  Speaker 9: That's not going to open until about 3 o'clock in
• 31:04
  Speaker 9: the afternoon. So you definitely got some time where this
• 31:07
  Speaker 9: area is pretty paralyzed to traffic, to pedestrian, to even
• 31:12
  Speaker 9: if you want to go down to pay your respects,
• 31:13
  Speaker 9: 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 9: I spoke to a gentleman who was in from California.
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: He told me he.
• 31:29
  Speaker 9: Lost his brother 25 years ago. You could see it
• 31:33
  Speaker 9: in his face as he was talking. You could see,
• 31:37
  Speaker 9: first of all, that he really maybe didn't want to talk,
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: especially in the beginning. But you could see that 25
• 31:43
  Speaker 9: years later, it just doesn't get any easier for these families.
• 31:49
  Speaker 9: And he couldn't even, he choked up even trying to
• 31:52
  Speaker 9: tell me about who his brother, you know, who he
• 31:56
  Speaker 9: was as a person. So it's sort of, you can
• 31:59
  Speaker 9: see just 25 years later that that pain is, It
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: just doesn't dissipate. 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 9: Yeah, yeah, he did. He was staying in the area.
• 32:20
  Speaker 9: He flew in. This seems to be deeply important to people.
• 32:26
  Speaker 9: It is 25 years, a long time to unexpectedly lose somebody.
• 32:34
  Speaker 9: 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
• 33:10
  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.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: We remember 710WOR, the voice of New York, an iHeartRadio station.
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: It's 71 degrees at 7 o'clock.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: I'm Daria. All things are sunny and less humid today
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: with a high of 79 degrees. The Weather Channel forecast
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: is just ahead. The world changed 25 years ago today,
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: and it's fair to say so did many of us
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: who lived through the September 11th attacks. And today, New
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: York and the nation will remember.
• 33:57
  Speaker 10: The annual ceremony has six moments of silence to mark
• 34:00
  Speaker 10: the key moments of the terror attacks, but 9-11 Memorial
• 34:03
  Speaker 10: Museum President Beth Hillman says there will be another moment
• 34:06
  Speaker 10: of silence to honor the service and sacrifice of all
• 34:09
  Speaker 10: those who have passed away from 9-11-related health effects.
• 34:13
  Speaker 11: All those people who, by virtue of their proximity to
• 34:15
  Speaker 11: the attacks or their service in response to the attacks
• 34:19
  Speaker 11: and their willingness to help in a myriad of different ways,
• 34:22
  Speaker 11: how they suffered and how their families suffered.
• 34:24
  Speaker 10: The added moment of silence will happen after the reading
• 34:27
  Speaker 10: of the names of the victims killed on 9-11. I'm
• 34:29
  Speaker 10: Scott Pringle, WOR News.
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: Former Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush, and Clinton will be there.
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: President Trump will make remarks at the Pentagon. There are
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: also ceremonies in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. New York's baseball teams will
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: mark 25 years since the attacks before their subway series
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: begins tonight.
• 34:47
  Speaker 12: Players will be wearing hats honoring first responders with their
• 34:50
  Speaker 12: team logos. Tonight's first pitch will be thrown by the
• 34:53
  Speaker 12: daughter of the captain on United Flight 175 that struck
• 34:56
  Speaker 12: the World Trade Center's South Tower. Off the field, the
• 34:59
  Speaker 12: Mets are hosting a meal packing event at Citi Field
• 35:01
  Speaker 12: in collaboration with non-profit 9-11 Day, as today also marks
• 35:05
  Speaker 12: the largest national day of service. Across the league, all
• 35:09
  Speaker 12: players will wear a special hat with a side patch reading,
• 35:11
  Speaker 12: We Shall Never Forget. Each ballpark will also host a
• 35:15
  Speaker 12: rendition of God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch.
• 35:18
  Speaker 12: I'm Lizzie Radabali, WOR News.
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: President Trump ended the first RNC midterm convention by delivering
• 35:25
  Speaker 7: the closing remarks and asking delegates to take an oath.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: We swear that on November 3rd, we are going to
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: go out and vote.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: Vice President Vance delivered the keynote address. He accused Democrats
• 35:40
  Speaker 7: of wanting to abolish the nuclear family. WOR News Time 702.