Blair County radio listeners woke up to special music tributes, mentions of September 11, 2001 during newscasts, promos honoring the victims and heroes of that day, and phone calls from listeners expressing how they have changed since that day two years ago.
Country radio station Froggy 98 was asking its listeners to call and tell them where they were and what they were doing and thinking when the attacks on America first broke out in New York City.
One caller to radio station Key 95, a postal office worker was spending her day in Shanksville, and said, “I’m a lot more cautious now, then I ever was before.”
Tyrone radio station 1340 WTRN’s morning man skipped his usual Thursday morning joke of the day segment to talk about the second anniversary of what is now known as Patriot Day in this country.
Radio station 100.1 WPRR read a long list of little known facts regarding the September 11 tragedy:
•September 11 is Patriot Day. The day was declared a national holiday by President Bush on December 18, 2001.
•Government officials have concluded it cost an estimated $500,000 to plan and execute the 9/11 attacks.
•After the attacks took place, 30,000 body bags were set aside in New York City for victims. The final count of the Twin Towers was 2,645.
•The victims ranged in age from one-year-old to 85.
•Four out of five victims were male.
•Around 100 September 11 widows have had babies since 9/11.
•Between 800 and 2,000 children lost a parent in the attacks.
•The estimated economic loss during the first 11 days after the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York City was $164 million.
•The estimated cost of the site damage at the World Trade Center was $60 billion.
•A $25 million reward is still being offered for Osama bin Laden’s capture.
•CNN went without commercials for six days. ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC went without commercials for 4 days; the longest stretch since John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
•Many radio stations that regularly have an all music format and switched to news coverage lost at least $100,000 in the week after the attacks.
•Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report all published special issues free of advertising.
•The total cost of the clean up was $750 million. It was estimated to cost $7 billion, but came in under budget and three months ahead of projected finish time.
•On September 11, 2001, only 32 air marshals were on duty. It would take about 50,000 air marshals to have a Marshals on each flight in the United States.
•Wal-Mart sold 116,000 American Flags on September 11, 2001.
And while scanning the dial this morning, radio station The Mountain 96.5 was airing one of many appropriate country songs remembering the day. The song was entitled “Have you Forgotten?”
