It’s easy to recall the events I experienced on 9/11/01. Tens of millions of others can say the same thing.. The previous Sunday September 9th I attended the wedding of my cousin Bills’ son and had Monday the 10th off from work on the radio. The fall ratings period would start in a few days and we were discouraged from taking time off once the fall listenership started getting measured. It was later learned those hijacking terrorists chose Tuesday and not Monday for their attack because they were aware how often Americans took three day weekends during the summer months. The killers knew most people would be back to work and in their offices by Tuesday.
I was producing the Big John Howell and Trish Biondo morning show at US*99. On Tuesday 9/11 we were having a regular broadcast when Trish came into my studio a few minutes before eight a.m. to tell me to tune my TV to the Today Show. I switched channels to see that first plane stuck in the side of the north tower of the World Trade Center. I wasn’t even sure if it was an airliner or a private plane. There’d been times when small planes crashed into office buildings or outdoor sports stadiums. Heck, the previous year WGN radio legend Bob Collins died when the plane he piloted had a mid-air collision with another small plane and crashed into the roof of a local hospital. John Howell told listeners about what was on TV but nobody knew what was happening. I stayed in my studio to screen calls and monitor the TV.
Less than twenty minutes later, while on the phone with a listener, I kept one eye on my TV screen and saw another plane hitting the World Trade Center’s south tower! I was frozen with shock. Howell announced what just happened and that we were under attack. I wondered to myself if there was some computer hacking that took over the airliners’ controls and steered them into the towers. Our phones were lit up, pulsing fast like my heart rate and I answered every call. So many questions and updates from listeners kept coming in and it was crazy.
About a half hour after the south tower was hit came word that a jet crashed into the Pentagon in D.C. A caller told me this and I flipped TV channels to get confirmation. With the Pentagon attacked the first words that came to my mind were what Governor Connelly said when JFK’s motorcade was being fired on in Dallas in 1963, “My God they’re going to kill us all!” I truly remember thinking this.
My rationale was if the Pentagon is our country’s base for military operations/defense and it’s under siege, who the hell makes calls on how our country defends us? We were in a world of shit. I was never more scared in my life than when the Pentagon got crashed into. Was this the end? Was this our end?
Next was a local news report that a bomb threat had been phoned into Chicago’s Sears Tower and they were evacuating the entire building. I picked up a hotline call from our GM Steve Ennen. Steve, who heard about the Sears Tower evacuation, told me if the Hancock received the same ‘get out’ order we were to switch our transmission to simulcast sister station WBBM AM, Newsradio 78, then get out of the building ASAP. I relayed this information to Big John on the air and noted that since the Hancock was considered to be one of the most recognized buildings in the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a similar threat.
As I left the air studio an announcement blared out of a hall speaker from the Hancock Security people ordering everyone out of the building immediately. I told John this news and Trish left the studio, grabbed her purse and was out the lobby door. John and I were talking about the Hancock evacuation and he wanted to stay. I said, “John, we HAVE to go.” He grudgingly agreed, signed off then switched our broadcast transmission to Newsradio 780.
Hustling into the morning show office I grabbed my briefcase and called my mother. I told her I was O.K., on my way out of here, and that I loved her. Mom was puzzled. “What are you talking about?” Turns out she was in her garden tending to her flowers and tomatoes and just got back in the house when I called. She knew nothing about the planes and the unfolding chaos. My mom told me to be careful getting out of the city and said she loved me too. In just about an hour’s time we went from a plane has struck one of the World Trade Center buildings to evacuating our building because the world went nuts.
Before leaving the 13th floor, I needed a quick bathroom break. When I got to the men’s room, the paralyzing fear I had over the Pentagon getting hit suddenly lifted. I thought, “If this is it, and it’s my last day on this earth, I’m O.K. with it. I had a good life and if the worst happened, I’m ready for what’s next.” Washing my hands, I smiled thinking if the Hancock got slammed by a jet right at this very minute, I could die like Elvis did, in the bathroom.
John and I met up at the elevators and headed down to the Hancock lobby together. The doors opened and I pivoted toward the parking garage elevators so I could get my car. John walked to the street exit doors and saw I wasn’t with him. He called out and asked if I was going to stay downtown and wait out the building’s evacuation. I told John this might be the end of everything and I was going to be with those I love. With that, my elevator door opened and I was on the way up to fetch my car to get out of Dodge. It was very spooky to see a practically abandoned parking garage and my car was one of the last in the place.
Minutes later while driving across Michigan Avenue en route to the hopefully safe suburbs, I saw so many people on the sidewalks on their cell-phones. Nobody knew what to say or what to make of anything. A couple months later Alan Jackson would come up with the best words to describe 9/11 with the song “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” Alan nailed the mood and the feelings we all had in ways that can still be felt today.
Once the Hancock evacuation was lifted, John Howell did make it back on the US*99 airwaves and did a stellar job updating listeners on the insanity of the terrorist attacks. He took calls and provided a smart, calm and measured voice of sanity during an insane day. I admired what he did but at the same time was fine with getting the hell out of the city and taking everything in from the TV reports at home.
The day after the planes hit, concrete barricades surrounded the Hancock and every car coming into the parking garage needed to be searched at street level. I had to pop my trunk for inspection and the guards used long poles with mirrors on them for security to check for bombs under every vehicle about to drive up the ramp. This went on for a couple of weeks. Within a month, all Hancock workers had picture ID badges that were to be worn at all times and everyone was on high alert. “Vigilant” was the new watchword.
We all knew 9/11 would change hundreds of millions of lives forever. However, the depth and scope of those changes were way beyond what anyone ever anticipated. To this day, it’s pretty scary to think nineteen hi-jacking terrorists could have such an effect on the world. Alan Jackson’s song was a profound moment to come out of 9/11 and while the world turns in a different way these days, I’m just glad we’re still here to live in it.
NEXT BLOG- A new round of “Have You Evers”