It’s been 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. NY1 is marking the anniversary in a variety of ways, including a special episode of “You Decide” in which Errol Louis was joined by two longtime NY1 journalists who covered the attacks that day: Pat Kiernan and Cheryl Wills.
Kiernan recalled learning that the first plane had struck the World Trade Center during his “In the Papers” segment and quickly switching to live pictures from Lower Manhattan. What followed was continuous, wall-to-wall coverage with no commercials for days. He described the initial confusion over what had happened, efforts to get NY1 crews downtown, and CNN carrying NY1’s feed, which included the first live interview with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Wills, then a health reporter, recalled seeing smoke from the World Trade Center while riding the LIRR, arriving at NY1, and racing downtown by motorcycle. She also discussed repeatedly working amid the smoke without a mask, later joining the World Trade Center Health Program, and reporting in the years that followed on the lasting health effects of 9/11 and the sensitive issues surrounding how the attacks are memorialized.
ABOUT THE SHOW
NY1’s Errol Louis has been interviewing powerful politicians and cultural icons for years, but it’s when the TV cameras are turned off that things really get interesting. From career highlights, to personal moments, to stories that have never been told, join Errol each week for intimate conversations with the people who are shaping the future of New York and beyond. Listen to “You Decide with Errol Louis” every Wednesday, wherever you listen to podcasts.
HOW TO LISTEN