story1910.xml
Title
story1910.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-08
911DA Story: Story
I was still in bed asleep when the first tower was hit, although I was to wake up just a few minutes later.
My clock radio woke me at 5:55am PDT (8:55am EDT) that morning, just five minutes after the first tower was hit. I had it on a Phoenix news/talk station. As I was trying to wake up, the first things I remembered hearing were panicky voices and words like "fire" and "building". Then I heard "World Trade Center". I thought they were playing a tape of the first attack in 1993. Then I heard the local announcer's voice saying that we were listening to live coverage from NYC radio station WCBS Newsradio 880, then he said what happened. I then ran to the TV, put it on CBS and saw the most horrible sight I ever woke up to.
There was a hole in the North Tower and it was on fire. Bryant Gumbel, then the host of "The Early Show", was interviewing a witness by phone as they were showing the live pictures. Initially, no one was sure what to make of this, was it an accident? They also considered terrorism only because of the first attack years earlier, otherwise they had no clue what caused that plane to smack into the tower. The witness who called in said the plane did not show any signs of trouble, other that it flew "very low" and "looked as if was aiming for that building".
Just a few minutes later, I saw the second plane smack into the South Tower as it happened live. The person Gumbel was interviewing screamed, "oh my God, a second plane just hit the other tower!" She then concluded, "I think it's obvious, this was done on purpose."
To say that I was thinking "this day is not going to be like any other" was an understatement.
My clock radio woke me at 5:55am PDT (8:55am EDT) that morning, just five minutes after the first tower was hit. I had it on a Phoenix news/talk station. As I was trying to wake up, the first things I remembered hearing were panicky voices and words like "fire" and "building". Then I heard "World Trade Center". I thought they were playing a tape of the first attack in 1993. Then I heard the local announcer's voice saying that we were listening to live coverage from NYC radio station WCBS Newsradio 880, then he said what happened. I then ran to the TV, put it on CBS and saw the most horrible sight I ever woke up to.
There was a hole in the North Tower and it was on fire. Bryant Gumbel, then the host of "The Early Show", was interviewing a witness by phone as they were showing the live pictures. Initially, no one was sure what to make of this, was it an accident? They also considered terrorism only because of the first attack years earlier, otherwise they had no clue what caused that plane to smack into the tower. The witness who called in said the plane did not show any signs of trouble, other that it flew "very low" and "looked as if was aiming for that building".
Just a few minutes later, I saw the second plane smack into the South Tower as it happened live. The person Gumbel was interviewing screamed, "oh my God, a second plane just hit the other tower!" She then concluded, "I think it's obvious, this was done on purpose."
To say that I was thinking "this day is not going to be like any other" was an understatement.
Collection
Citation
“story1910.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 20, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13028.