It was just before 9 a.m. ET on September 11, 2001 when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and John Montone, the veteran reporter for New York’s all-news WINS-AM was covering that day’s Democratic primary for mayor—the story journalists had expected would be the day’s big story—until he got word from the newsroom to “drop everything you’re doing and get down to the Trade Center.”
In an interview for the new podcast We Interrupt This Broadcast, Montone recalls rushing down New York’s FDR Drive while listening to the live coverage on 1010 WINS. “I heard our anchor Lee Harris, he was talking to one of our sales reps, Joan Fleischer, who lived down there, and she screamed because another plane hit the South Tower…at that point, I pretty much knew we’re under attack and I’m going into a war zone,” Montone said in an interview for a new podcast, We Interrupt This Broadcast, which tells the stories of major news events through the broadcast journalists that covered the stories.