Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Beth Feehan, Creator and Executive Producer of 'Aftermath'

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Beth Feehan, Creator and Executive Producer of 'Aftermath' · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let me introduce you all to somebody I got to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: talk to and got to know a little bit. She
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: is a great storyteller. Her name is Beth Fionn, executive
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: producer of the award-winning documentary Chief and creator-producer of Aftermath,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: 9-11 Stories of Hope and Resilience. That is a weekly
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: 710 WOR radio show. You can hear Sundays at 9 a.m.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And the podcast can be found on the iHeartRadio app. Beth,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: it's wonderful to be able to talk to you again.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get from you a quick reaction from
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you about the 9-11 air quality documents finally being released
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: by the city.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Larry. Thank you for having me.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: On.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not surprised by the report. We started to do
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: this podcast last because we understood there were long-term health
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: implications for anyone who was downtown. A lot of the
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: stories we have in Aftermath are about families affected by
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the aftermath of the air quality and the toxins that
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: were created by those buildings falling. That's not the focus
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: or the feature of our podcast, but we're telling stories
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  Speaker 2: of first responder families that were down there, community members
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  Speaker 2: that were down there, and how the past 25 years
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: have played out. So I'm not surprised by the report.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: We're not in this for political purposes, but I'm not
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: surprised by the report.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Well, Beth, I think it's important that this broadcast go
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: forward because With all the politics that has led up
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  Speaker 3: to this 25th commemoration, who should show up, who should
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: not show up, what is said, what was not said,
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  Speaker 3: I think the stories of the people involved have been
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: lost up until this point, and we're running out of time.
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  Speaker 3: The 25th commemoration is on Friday, so I salute you.
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  Speaker 3: What are some of those stories that our audience should
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: really be aware of?
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that the mental health toll on the
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  Speaker 2: entire New York region has not been digested yet. We
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: have one episode talking about the mental health of first responders.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: That is part of, I think, the craziness of what's
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: going on now. It's just the vitriol. And I will
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: say that my father-in-law's way of operating was so... uh,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: steady and how do you be of service? And he
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  Speaker 2: was not a political animal. He was a man who
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  Speaker 2: did the job and stayed away from the spotlight. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: and his method of operating was worthy of, of studying
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: because his leadership, the respect that he had and the
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  Speaker 2: leadership that he presented to the department that, you is
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: what we wanted to share with people and not get
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: into the finger-pointing and the politics.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we should point out that your father-in-law, Bill Feehan,
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  Speaker 1: was the FDNY's first deputy commissioner and one of the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: most recognizable leaders in the department. And it was Bill
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  Speaker 1: that inspired the documentary, right, Chief?
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  Speaker 2: Correct, correct. My husband had done an interview with a
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  Speaker 2: good friend, Harvey Wang, when Chief Feehan was made Deputy Commissioner,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I believe. And that three-hour interview was the basis for
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  Speaker 2: making Chief, because I felt at the 20th anniversary, like
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  Speaker 2: three years before the 20th anniversary, that his story needed
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: to be told. He was such an incredible icon for
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  Speaker 2: leadership that... That's that's how that movie came about.
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  Speaker 3: And what is the message that everybody should get out
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  Speaker 3: of this commemoration? Because one third for a full one
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  Speaker 3: third of our citizens were not born at the time
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  Speaker 3: of 9-11. And I'm finding that many of these young men,
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  Speaker 3: young women now were never taught about 9-11 in their
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  Speaker 3: school system or whether it's parochial or public schools.
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  Speaker 2: I would say that my takeaway is that anyone who
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  Speaker 2: takes advantage of civil service workers and screams about the
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: taxes that they have to pay for fire and police
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  Speaker 2: and public entities like schools is missing the absolute infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: for a city like this that is so vast and
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  Speaker 2: so complex. And, you know, it's not a perfect beast
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  Speaker 2: for sure. New York's got a lot of issues. But
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  Speaker 2: considering how many people live here and work here and
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  Speaker 2: the diversity that exists here, the civil service workers are
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  Speaker 2: absolutely one of the most important entities to be funded
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  Speaker 2: and to make sure that those who do those jobs
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  Speaker 2: are paid back, can live here. We have rules in
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  Speaker 2: New York that you have to be living within certain
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  Speaker 2: boroughs and certain regional areas in order to live here.
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  Speaker 2: But if it is... not able to be, if it's
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  Speaker 2: too expensive to live here, we're going to lose that workforce.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't know. I think the takeaway is that
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  Speaker 2: civil service and our institutions, we need to support them
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  Speaker 2: financially because they were the ones who got us through
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  Speaker 2: that day.
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  Speaker 1: I want to thank you, Beth, for what you do
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  Speaker 1: because a lot of people say never forget and then
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  Speaker 1: memories start to fade a little bit and you and
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  Speaker 1: your work make sure that doesn't happen. You've interviewed So
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  Speaker 1: many people, I was going to say dozens, but it
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  Speaker 1: might be hundreds at this point, that were there that day.
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  Speaker 1: What is the common theme? Is there a common theme
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  Speaker 1: among all the people that you talk to?
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  Speaker 2: Well, because our podcast is FDNY birthed, you know, because
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  Speaker 2: of the connection I have through my in-laws and my father-in-law.
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  Speaker 2: and my brother-in-laws and all the folks who, that's where
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  Speaker 2: we started. It was a natural place to start. There
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  Speaker 2: are so many more stories that could be told. I
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  Speaker 2: believe that the thousands of stories we're seeing right now
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  Speaker 2: on the 25th anniversary, if anybody is on social media,
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  Speaker 2: on Instagram, you can see that everyone is focusing on
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  Speaker 2: this right now because it's a seminal date. 25 years
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  Speaker 2: is just huge. We don't want to forget the stories
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  Speaker 2: or the people because so many lives were affected. So
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  Speaker 2: many lives beyond the first responders. This entire region was affected.
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  Speaker 2: And as the country, as the world, the world shifted
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  Speaker 2: on 9-11. And there are still so many lessons to
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  Speaker 2: be learned from that. So I think that's why we
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  Speaker 2: keep talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, amen to that. And you can listen to more
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  Speaker 1: from Beth Fee, an executive producer of the award-winning documentary Chief.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, where can people see Chief?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I just want to say humbly, it's not award-winning,
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  Speaker 2: but thank you for that. It should be. It is
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  Speaker 2: available on YouTube. Our YouTube page is Be the Can-Man Studio.
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  Speaker 2: And our Instagram page is Aftermath Stories. And I hope
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  Speaker 2: people will check us out.
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  Speaker 1: She also does a weekly podcast on 710WOR. Tune in
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  Speaker 1: this Sunday at 9 a.m. to the podcast. What's coming
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  Speaker 1: up this Sunday?
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  Speaker 2: We have former city agency employees and a CBS, Peter Haskell,
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  Speaker 2: who was a former reporter, is interviewing Frank Cookie McCartin,
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  Speaker 2: who has worked for several city agencies and was down
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  Speaker 2: there on 9-11, met his wife, His wife was a
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: producer on Aftermath, met his wife because of 9-11, Ann McCartan.
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  Speaker 2: And Matt Higgins was a communications director for Giuliani's office
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: on 9-11. So they will talk about that day.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: All right. Thanks a lot, Beth.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: And the Aftermath.
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  Speaker 1: We'll be listening on Sunday at 9 a.m. Thank you
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: for talking to us today, Beth.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Thanks.