The 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks is approaching. Radio World is presenting a series in which people share their memories.
John Mullen originally shared this account with Carol Archer of Radio & Records, its smooth jazz editor. This excerpt was shared with Nick Langan as part of a book he is writing on the history of the smooth jazz radio format.
John Mullen is the general manager of WRHU(FM), the radio station operated by Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Before joining Hofstra, he spent several years with what was then Emmis Communications-owned WRKS(FM) and WQCD(FM) in New York City, as director of operations.
He recounted the events of that morning to Carol Archer of Radio & Records in October 2001.
At 8:40 a.m. on Sept. 11, Mullen was drinking coffee and talking with co-workers in Emmis’ lower Manhattan offices, less than a mile from the World Trade Center.
A colleague dashed in to say her sister had called with news that a plane hit one of the towers.
“I freaked,” Mullen said, “because we ran the syndicated Tom Joyner morning show on WRKS.”
He directed award-winning WRKS News Director Bob Slade to break in mid-song with a bulletin, while WQCD morning host Steve Harris announced that there was a fire in the World Trade Center, advising listeners to evacuate the building.
“Half of our staff left, running for their lives,” Mullen recalled. “There was a sea of people walking up Hudson St., like in a horror movie. By the time the Pentagon was hit, I figured it was World War III, and it was all over,” Mullen told Archer.
Mullen remembered that his wife, Julie, begged him to come home, but they lived approximately 50 miles away on Long Island. Mullen also felt it was right. “It was the most important thing I’ve ever done in radio,” he said.
WQCD and WRKS pulled regular music, promos and advertisements off the air. The stations ultimately ran the ABC Network News television feed, breaking in every five to ten minutes with local updates hosted by Slade.
“There was an immediate need for dry clothes,” Mullen said. “So we would run announcements saying bring boots, because there were active firemen trying to put out the fire who were getting soaking wet.”
Later that day, only a few personnel remained at Emmis’ headquarters: Mullen, Harris, Slade, WRKS Producer Billy Robinson, WQCD Program Director Charley Connolly, WQCD Midday Host Deborah Rath, and Emmis New York President and GM Judy Ellis.
Mullen knew people who died in the towers and was terrified that WRKS staff member David Ellis, whom he had sent to the scene, had been killed.
“Somehow, he ended up getting pushed into a drugstore,” Mullen recalled. “When he asked to use the phone, the woman said, ‘Give me 20 dollars.’ He handed her a twenty-dollar bill and used the phone just so he could tell us he was alive.”
At the time, “CD 101.9” frequently hosted lunchtime concerts at the World Trade Center. Mullen remembered a young woman with braids named Matilda who would always watch the shows from the backstage doors. For days following the attacks, her face kept flashing into his head.
Several days later, he saw her being interviewed on “The Montel Williams Show.”
“Matilda’s alive!” he cried in relief.
He described the scene as a war zone. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told Archer. “But I believe in my heart that when those planes hit, people left the building because we told them to.”
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