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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – I learned a personal lesson from September 11th that I carry with me to this day.
I used to do the afternoon newscasts at WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut during the horrible terror attacks 23 years ago. On this particular day I was filling in for our News Director Tim Quinn, who was the emcee of a breakfast business roundtable with Governor John Rowland.
Our penthouse studios looked out over Long Island Sound. On a clear day you could see the New York City skyline in the distance. It was a perfectly clear and sunny morning.
One of the things that makes me a good news presenter on the radio is that I have the ability to separate my emotions from the stories that I’m telling you about. Certainly I was aware this this story was something unprecedented, and involved a tremendous loss of life. But when I’m in news mode, my goal, my only goal, is to present calmly and as accurately as possible what we know about what was happening.
I’m not sure I particularly like that about myself. Over the years, before and since, I’ve been behind the microphone for many horrible stories. Someone dies in a fire. A drunk driver takes a life. Someone is found guilty of a crime and will spend years in prison. An American soldier is killed. For some in my listening audience, I’m delivering the worst news of their life. To me, I’m reading the news – not fully processing the impact of what I’m saying.
Usually hours later, often before bed, I reflect on the news of the day. It’s then, during my nighttime prayers, that I spend some time thinking about what has happened.
I spent almost all of September 11th in the newsroom. When I finally went home that night, it was dark. While I was driving home, I noticed that the streets were empty. No one would be going into work the next morning. It was only then that I reflected on what had happened that day. I realized that everything would be different from that day forward. Even today, we are not back to normal. And I find that incredibly sad.
Chris Conley
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