I was still asleep in my apartment in Valley Village, Los Angeles. I had my clock radio set to turn on at 5:45 in time for the “Ralph Garman Show Biz Report” during the Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ. but instead of the familiar old timey “Hooray For Hollywood” Music that usually plays in the background, Ralph in a somber tone, introduces Doc, KROQ's newsman who reports that a commercial plane has just struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. I woke up my wife and turned on the TV in time to see the second plane hit the South Tower. Deirdre and I sat there numb, as the reports of other plane crashes a the Pentagon in DC and PA. confirmed that this was no accident. Watching the smoldering towers, we stayed glued to the TV and saw them fall.
I didn't know what else to do. So I decided to go to work. I had just started a new job as the daytime assistant editor at Termite Art Productions. I had only been there 10 days and I didn't really know anyone yet and I wanted to make a good impression. We had just started production on a new show about The sinking of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. The consensus in the office was that this was going to be our Pearl Harbor.
I worked on a few things I had but mostly everyone was watching the news for any more information. I didn't have a TV in my office but I found the CBS was streaming video on the net so tried to watch it on a old Mac I had on my desk (Streaming video was still rather primitive in 2001). I remember Alana, one of our producers, telling me she just got off the phone with her panicked sister in who thought every Landmark in every city in the US was under attack. “The Statue of Liberty, gone! the Washington Monument,gone!”... her sister was yelling. Eventually we were all in the kitchen watching the news play the crash over and over again. By this time they had received more angles on the second plane hit and footage of people covered in dust running from the site. By noon my Post-Supervisor, Randy sent everyone home.
I mention the video footage a lot because in the years to come, I had to log much of the footage collected that day for the documentaries we would eventually produce about the events and it's aftermath. I can't tell you how many times I watched the planes hit. Video of the first hit eventually surfaced and footage of the search and rescue effort which then turned to a salvage operation continued to pour in.
One of the first shows we did was about Nostradamus, it was partly inspired by an Internet rumor that He accurately predicted the attacks. The email included a quote from his writings which turned out to be made of two separate passages spliced together.
Barely a few months had gone by and the tapes started coming in. At first, it was almost unbearable, I would load tapes without actually watching them. Spot checking to make sure they were in but not looking to closely at content. It was just too hard to watch. I know it sounds childish but it was the only way I could cope. I'm sure a lot a people in the business felt this way. Over time it got (for lack of a better word) easier. But it still effects me when ever I see it.
We had several historical documentaries mention it when appropriate and wee did a show about the
salvage effort a Fresh kills landfill. This is where they brought the debris from the WTC including the fire trucks and ambulances destroyed by the collapse. They recovered 1,000s of personal belongings and tried to return them to the victims families if possible. It put very intimate and human face on the tragedy.
The last show I worked on was about the geology and infrastructure of New York City and Ground Zero played an important role as the excavation site gave geologists a chance to do some research before the new buildings were started. I think it also documented the beginning of the healing process for the city
September 11th will always be a hard day for America. Most people experienced it through their televisions. I didn't get back to New York until late 2008 when the construction of the new World Trade Center was well underway and yet I felt like I had been there all along because of the projects I have worked on. I am proud to have helped create work that I hope will preserve the memories and help people understand those terrible days in my own small way.
