George Weber - the news guy

Audio Notebook SPECIAL EDITION


We felt so safe and secure just one year ago ... but that innocense was shattered when terrorists attacked America on September 11, 2001. Two passenger jets were rammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center…just 15 minutes apart. Later that morning, another jet crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane--destined for Washington D.C---plunged into the woods of suburban Pittsburgh---thanks to the heroic efforts of the passengers. Just over an hour after the first plane struck the 110-story skyscrapers, the South tower crumbled. 20-minutes later, the North tower collapsed. Originally, officials figured nearly 8,000 had died in the attacks. The final toll was just under 3000. Like you, I will never forget that sunny autumn morning…a crisp breeze and not a cloud in the sky. I had just finished anchoring the morning news on WABC when the newsroom got word that one of the twin towers was on fire. After doing a bulletin, I rushed to the scene. As I emerged from the Chambers street subway station, both towers were on ablaze. What follows is a Timeline of Terror and the actual reports as they were heard on 77-WABC the day of and the day after the worst terrorist attack in American history.
"TIMELINE OF TERROR"
08:45	American Airlines flight 11 out of Boston was hijacked and rammed into the North tower of the World Trade Center---tearing a gaping hole into the side of the building.
08:50	George Weber interrupts WABC programming with a special bulletin on the fire.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:00	The ABC radio network breaks into its national programming with a bulletin from correspondent Jim Hickey.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:03	A second airliner, United Flight 175, also from Boston crashes into the South tower of the World Trade Center…setting off a ferocious explosion.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:10	WABC talk show host Richard Bey calls into the radio station to describe on the air what he saw from his high-rise apartment building in midtown.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:17	The F.A.A. orders all New York City area airports shutdown.
09:20	George Weber arrives at the scene, three blocks from the twin towers and files his first live report from the scene.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:21	The Port Authority orders all bridges and tunnels in New York shutdown, leaving thousands of people stranded in New Jersey and the outer boroughs.
09:30	President Bush declares that America has come under "an apparent terrorist attack."	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
09:40	For the first time in American aviation history, every American airport is ordered shutdown and every plane is grounded.
09:43	American Airlines flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
10:05	The South tower of the World Trade Center collapses sending a massive cloud of smoke and debris cascading up the Avenues and over downtown Manhattan. As that was happening, WABC radio was carrying the commentary of Peter Jennings who was talking with an eyewitness.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
10:10	United flight 93, which was also hijacked, crashes into a wooded area Southeast of Pittsburgh. Its target was believed to be Washington, D.C, but we find out later that heroic passengers managed to overpower the hijackers and keep the jet away from populated areas.
10:28	The North tower of the World Trade Center collapses sending thousands of New Yorkers into a state of panic.
10:45	With much of the cellular phone service dead, George Weber waits patiently for payphone to file his second report describing what he saw when the two towers crumbled in front of him.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
11:02	Mayor Giuliani orders the evacuation of downtown Manhattan.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.
1:45	The Pentagon announces two aircraft carriers and five warships are heading to New York harbor and the coast off of Long Island.
3:55	The city of New York reports the first casualties----- 2100 people injured, 200 of them critically.
5:20	Building #7 of the World Trade Center, a 47-story structure, collapses.
7:45	The NYPD reports the first deaths----as many as 200 firefighters. 78 police officers are missing…. and so are thousands of Trade Centerworkers.
8:30	America gets it's first sense of the magnitude of the tragedy when President Bush announces in a nationwide address, "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil."
07:00	The sun rises over a shattered New York City…. and it is the first opportunity for reporters and the world to see the aftermath, what has become known as "Ground Zero." George Weber goes on the air with one of the first newscasts of the day after.	Click the speaker to hear the sound clip.