The 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks is approaching. Radio World is presenting a series in which people share their memories.
At the time, Laurie Squire was the broadcast stage manager of the New York City Metropolitan Opera. Her husband, Herb, was a longtime New York City radio engineer, including for WOR(AM). At the time, he operated a consultancy under HS Recording & Engineering.
Admit it. Your first thought whenever you see a clear blue sky, particularly this time of year: 9/11.
A phone call from a friend in Canada woke me up that morning.
“Turn on the news.” [click]
Well, this being a radio family, instead of a TV remote, I reached for our bedside Sony red cube radio (2026 — it still works!).
It stayed on into the following day. 1010 WINS — “you give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world.”
I was home (broadcast stage manager of the Metropolitan Opera, our radio season didn’t start until December). My engineer husband Herb was at a transmitter in New Jersey — I think it was WBBR. He phoned me; while we on the phone he saw the second plane hit the South Tower. I did not see Herb again ‘til some time the next day.
The radio was a constant: When I wasn’t near enough to hear the Sony, I stayed with the story on a portable GE Superadio (again, still works). At that time, we were living on Long Island, just 18 miles east of Manhattan, across the bay and with a view of the skyline in the distance. Far enough to safely watch the sky, close enough that the next day the air smelled burnt and there were ashes on our yard.
Most of New York City’s TV stations lost their transmitting equipment in the attack. To the rescue — that wonderful brotherhood of broadcast engineers! —word got out and many assembled at Armstrong Tower in Alpine, N.J., putting in a group effort. Herb called it “the chewing gum and bailing wire approach” into getting stations back on the air at the historic site.
I did lose a friend from high school who had worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. She left a husband and three little girls.
It was the next day — September 12 — that still leaves me with a chill: A call had gone out for people to donate first aid supplies for the anticipated casualties. Private vehicles were not encouraged to enter Manhattan.
I like a challenge: I rationalized (and it turned out correct!) that a car with a radio station license plate was assumed to be covering this horrific news story and could drive on. I loaded up our car with items from CVS and headed into the city.
Driving on the Grand Central Parkway I glanced at a giant billboard along the way. It was an advertisement for Borders Bookstores and read, “More Stories than the World Trade Center.”
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