Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Joe Concha| Remembering 9/11 25 Years Later

Transcript

Joe Concha| Remembering 9/11 25 Years Later · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: John, you know, I haven't, we've talked so much about
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: 9-11 on this program. I've actually never had the chance
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to ask you about your 9-11 experience. Where were you
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: when it happened? How did you respond? I'd love to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: hear that story.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I was at, where was I? I was in,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: we had an office on 87th Street or 56th Street,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: 56th Street. And we had a television set in my office.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And in those days, not everybody had a television set
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: in their office. And everybody from the whole office gathered
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: around watching what's happening. And then we went up to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the roof of the roof of our building on 56th
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Street and 11th Avenue, opposite across the street from CBS.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: And we could see the World Trade Center. And my God,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: my God, the tears in everybody's eyes.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Um, Joe conscious with this from the Joe conscious show
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and Joe, um, we've been talking, yeah, we've been talking,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: we've been talking all morning about not only the gala
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: that's coming up Friday, but also just this 25th year. Uh,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: it's hard to call the word anniversary. I know a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: lot of people have been calling it the 25th remembrance,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: but you know, I, someone will figure out a better
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: wording than I can, but, um, you know, what do
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: you think is, is the best message really to put
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: across it? It's literally been 25 years when I thought
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: about it this morning. 25 years before 2001 was 1976.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: So just trying to think about how long ago all
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: of that was. What are some of the thoughts going
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: through your mind now about this?
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, you know, I talked about this on Fox last
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: night when we did a panel on The Big Weekend
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Show as far as where were you on September 11th.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: And I was the only one on the panel who
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: was actually in New York that day, like John Katsimatidis.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I was on 46th and 5th. I had a job
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: there at the time. And it was I remember a
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: couple of things just as far as like where we
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: were in 2001 and 2026, as far as technology. So
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: I got off at the Port Authority from New Jersey
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: and was just walking to work. And one of the
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: planes already hit the World Trade Center. And I had
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: no idea because, again, we don't have instant access to
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: news and information at that time. I think I had
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: like a flip phone or something.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: So maybe someone can text you. And it was right
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: after one of the planes. So I'm just walking through.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: But I see people looking down. They're looking south. And
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I don't quite know why. And I'm a little late
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: for a meeting. So I'm just kind of like put
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: my head down and making sure I get there. And
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: once I get to Fifth Avenue, from the ground, you
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: had a clear field of view, like a vision of
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the World Trade Center, and you saw one of them
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: on fire. And you're like, wow, what? Again, the whole
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: thought process is that we couldn't possibly be attacked by
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: our own airplanes by hijackers. You just thought, okay, this
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: must have been some sort of horrible accident. Somebody accidentally
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: must have lost control of an airplane and it hit
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: the World Trade Center. This is bad. And then once
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: I got up to my office, then my boss, as
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I got out of the elevator, he points at me.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: He goes, we're all getting out of here now. I'm like, oh,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: is it because of that smoke that's coming out of
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: the World Trade Center? I heard it was a plane
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: or something. And he says, no, a second plane just hit.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: And we got to evacuate. So they shut down at
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: that point all the tunnels, all the bridges. The only
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: way you could get off the island was by ferry.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: And I was able to get on a ferry. But again,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: you're now at this point, you understand what's happening. And
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: even through Times Square, people are running now at this point.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: And one I remember one gentleman yelling, he goes, they're
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: coming after Times Square next day. Who what what's going on?
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: You know, so I got off and that was that.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: And the thing that resonated with me the most was
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: actually about 10 days later. And my friend Courtney, who
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: I went to grade school with. And she married a
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: friend of mine that I actually did a high school
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: TV show with on community access television. Same as Paul.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: He worked down at Cantor Fitzgerald. So they were high
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: school sweethearts, and they got married. And when I went
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: to the funeral and I saw Courtney, again, this person
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: I've known my whole life, she's pregnant. And I didn't
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: realize that. And I'm like, oh, my God. They were
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: about to have their second baby. And now I think
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: 25 years later that that baby is now grown up
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: as a 25-year-old person, an adult probably working in the
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: real world. And I always just think like, boy, just
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: how how cruel this was, like the people that were
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: obviously left behind, especially in this case, a young couple
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: about to start their great life with with two kids.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And you're right. Anniversary has to go away. I think
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: it would be smart on the president's part or any
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: president's part to make September 11th a federal holiday. I
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: had to look it up while I was listening to
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: you guys. And it's not. And I think it should
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: be because you talk about a day that impacted so
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: many Americans. I think that's That's the deal. And I
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: think about a month and a half later, George W.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Bush going to the mound, to the rubber, Yankee Stadium,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Game 3, Yankees, Diamondbacks, World Series, throws a perfect strike
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: and the roar from the crowd in USA. And what
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I worry about, guys, is that are we at a
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: place now, if we had another 9-11, would the country
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: come together and rally behind the president? if an attack
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: like that happened again? My answer was answered by Riley Gaines,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: who I was doing the show with last night. She said, no,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: she goes, I know this because of what happened with
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Charlie Kirk. And people celebrated that and people laughed. So
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: I don't know if we're together as a country like
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: we were on September 1st. That's my long answer to
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: your short question.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're not. And, you know, I did on my
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: history show here on WBC last night, I talked about
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the Iran hostage crisis. And do you know that After
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter ordered the rescue mission that ended up in
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: a terrible failure, and that was right at the height
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of the primaries, and he was being primaried by Ted Kennedy,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and of course the Republicans were running, every single candidate
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: for president stood up after that failed rescue mission and said,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: we need to stand with the president now. That would
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: never happen today. It's not even a question, and that
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: was something that wasn't even that impactful as far as
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: killing thousands of people. It was impactful in a political sense.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: There is no way.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there is no way right now that we would
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: be as unified. And you see that 9-11 was very
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: much seen as an opportunity by these Islamists to try
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: to spread lies about who caused it, to try to
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: spread lies about who the real victims were. I mean,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: if you listen to Mayor Mamdani, the victim is his
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: make-believe aunt. who was afraid on the subway. And yes,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I'm sure there were Muslim Americans in New York City
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: who were a little apprehensive. I'm not trying to water
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: that down. But my God, as the old here, the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: old Norm Macdonald joke, you know, if the if the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Muslims nuked a country, my first concern would be how
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: people would respond to the Muslim. That's not our first concern.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: We had thousands dead.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: My God, Joe Conch. Yeah, Mayor Mamdani talking about how
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: his teacher pulled him aside after the attacks and said,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: you know, life's going to be really hard for you
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: now as a Muslim. That's the first thing that went
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: through his mind.
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: I don't believe that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I also don't believe that.
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: You know, I got to say, I want to take
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: a little bit of a contrarian position on this one.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: All right. Sure.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: I believe that if, God forbid, the United States was
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: attacked again and again, I'm going to say it a
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: thousand times, God forbid. But I think Americans would actually
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: rally together and demand that the president retaliate. I do
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: truly believe it because I remember where I was. I
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: was in the high 20s on like 8th Avenue. And
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: I remember that walk up because I was so concerned
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: about my daughter who was in like first grade at
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: the time. And I remember there was no transportation. There
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: was nothing moving. So we walked all the way up
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: there in order to make sure she was okay. It
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: was panic and fear. I believe that Americans would rally together.
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: I really do. Because one thing we learned, whether it
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: was the loss of the folks at Cantor, and I
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: knew quite a few people, as well as all of
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: the other companies that were there in the World Trade Center,
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: It didn't matter if you were registered Republican, Democrat, or Independent.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: It was America being attacked. I don't want a situation
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: like this to have to happen in order to bring
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: us all back together. And that's what I'm hoping that
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: this 25th, we'll call it anniversary of that horrific day,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: what I hope it does is I hope it instills
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: American pride and just American... American feeling and unity back into.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: All of us. Michael, I admire your optimism. I absolutely do.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: And I wish I could agree with you. I just
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: think that it would be used as a political dynamite
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: to go after, oh, Pete Hegseth, we should impeach him.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: We had a guest on last night on Fox, a
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Democratic congressman named Jake, I forgot his last name, I'm sorry, Akulas,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I believe it was, from Massachusetts talking about day one,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: if they take back power, they're going to impeach Pete Hegseth.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: The secretary of defense. And when I asked her, like,
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: what what rises to the level of impeachment, he went
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: on about munitions or something. It's like I and with Trump,
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: you know that he would be blamed for X, Y, Z,
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: creating hatred in the world. And we deserve this, just
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: like Hassan Piker did. So I agree. We should have
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: a country like that. But I think after Charlie Kirk.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: And so many people celebrating the death of a guy
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: who encouraged open debate.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: A guy who went to campuses and sought out people
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: that disagree with him and then civilly had conversations with him.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: And he gets shot in the neck about a year ago.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: That's September 10th, by the way. That's another. I agree
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: with Jake. We need a better word than anniversary. It
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: just has such a positive connotation. Obviously, that's not an
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: anniversary there either. That that that and Luigi Mangione really. Really,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: just at this point, I don't have faith like I
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: used to that Americans come together in certain situations. And
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: the fact that Luigi Mangione raised more than a million
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: dollars for shooting a guy in the back dead on
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: a street in Manhattan, leaving behind two kids. And then
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: people actually donated to Luigi Mangione to the tune of
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: more than a million dollars to his GoFundMe page, saying
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: that he's a hero. And I'm like, oh, boy, we're
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: in a much different place right now.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: The right thing to do is to attend the gala
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: or at least do something for a first response. Let's,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you know, I guess it's just whether Michael Cohen is
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: right or Joe Conch is right.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: All the money we collect goes to Tunnels to Towers
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: or Police Athletic League or the Pataki Foundation, who's doing
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: so many great things. And it's all going to charity.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: Well, John, let's us all wish you again a very
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: happy birthday, many, many more, and keep doing the great
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: work that you're doing, not just here on 77WABC, but
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: for all of these different organizations and charities.