Six New York City broadcast engineers were among the more than 2,750 lives lost 25 years ago in the World Trade Center attacks.
The Broadcasters Foundation of America is saluting those men as part of its Sept. 11 remembrance.
BFOA recounted how the engineers were on duty in the North Tower of the World Trade Center — some arriving for the morning shift, while others were still on duty from the night before. Radio World’s feature from 2011 provides background on each of the six.
“Their job was the same as every other day: keep the transmitters running and the signal on the air,” BFOA wrote.
When American Airlines Flight 11 struck 1 World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., the men were at their posts.
Minutes after the tower was hit by the commercial jetliner, WNBC(TV) transmitter engineer Bill Steckman was able to get word out by phone of the encroaching smoke on the 104th floor — half of which WNBC(TV) shared with financial bond trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Also working that morning in the windowless maintenance facility on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center were Don DiFranco of WABC(TV); Gerard “Rod” Coppola of WNET(TV); Steve Jacobson of WPIX(TV); and Bob Pattison and Isaias Rivera of WCBS(TV).
As television signals went dark, radio stations across the country delivered news coverage to those who could not reach a television screen.
“None of that would have been possible without the engineers who built and maintained the infrastructure, who climbed the towers every day and made sure the transmitters were running. They were the unseen foundation beneath every broadcast,” BFOA wrote.
BFOA also is highlighting the perspective of Scott Herman, former CBS Radio president, who in 2001 was vice president and general manager for WINS(AM) in New York.
“One lasting memory, etched in my brain, is when WINS reporter John Montone returned to the radio station around 3:00 in the afternoon, covered in soot, joined by a man whom he had met at Ground Zero,” Herman wrote. “The man said he was too afraid to be alone, and John was kind enough to stay with him and take him back to the station.
“Twenty-five years later, I remain extremely proud of the work of the men and women of 1010 WINS and the role that all of New York radio played in comforting New Yorkers and helping our city heal in the days and weeks following,” Herman said.
None of which would have been possible without the infrastructure that was kept operational by the efforts of those like Steckman, DiFranco, Coppola, Jacobson, Pattison and Rivera.
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