Has it really been a year already?

  Has it been a year since I pushed a little yellow button on my audio control board that growled “THIS JUST IN TO THE WCBS NEWSROOM”…and then said those words?

“There is an aircraft down in the Hudson River.”

January 15, 2009. It was a pretty average winter day in New York City - sunshine, temps in the 20s - until around 3:30pm.

“There is an aircraft down in the Hudson River.”

So began our WCBS 880 coverage of one of the more remarkable stories I’ve been a part of in my 30 years in broadcasting.

Before I get too far into this, I’d like to invite you to go to our special WCBS 880 “Miracle on the Hudson” web page. It’s a good page…with audio from our coverage that day, video, photos and a whole lot more. Please check it out.

January 15, 2009. What a range of emotions! At first word, a report of an aircraft down in the river is ominous. There were many questions - What kind of plane, did it tumble from the sky or try to land, etc.

My first thought was…it didn’t matter. As a pilot and student of aviation, I knew there was no such thing as a successful water landing by a jetliner. Pilots had tried in the past…with mostly disastrous results. There had never been a water landing by a jetliner where every one emerged unscathed. It was impossible. 

Until January 15, 2009…the day the world met two fellows named Sully and Skiles.

I have two lasting memories of the blur that was our WCBS 880 coverage that day. One is hearing my colleague Peter Haskell apologizing for being out of breath in a live report - he had literally been running alongside the river, as the tide carried the plane downstream. The other is looking at my on-air partner Wayne Cabot when we got word that every one was okay…wanting to say something to the effect of “You have got to be sh*tting me!”…but settling, as I recall, for something like “Wow!” instead.

I was really proud to do what I do on January 15, 2009. I was proud of Wayne Cabot, who showed that day why he’s the best in the business. I was proud of our team of reporters, who fought cold and darkness to paint fabulous audio pictures for our listeners. I was proud of our producer, Jonathan Clark, who never got excited or raised his voice the whole day - just told us what we were doing next. I was proud of our boss, Tim Scheld, who provided guidance and resources…but, otherwise, let his team do their job. I was proud of our newsroom staff, our web staff and even non-newsroom employees who pitched in to help. Heck, I was even proud of myself that day. I thought we all had a pretty good day.

Almost as good as the 155 people onboard Flight 1549 (except our feet didn’t get wet!).

I’ve posted two photos that I took the day after the miracle landing. The plane was eventually corralled and tied up directly across the Hudson from where I live. I literally walked out our back door and took these pics. They’re not all that great…but, they’re my own little photographic evidence of that amazing event.

And, again…please check out our WCBS 880 “Miracle on the Hudson” page. It’s fun to look at and remember…especially knowing that everything turned out okay.

“There is an aircraft down in the Hudson River.”

I sure hope I never have to say those words again.

  When Game Six of the World Series reached the top of the 9th inning last night, I turned down the sound on the TV and turned up the radio. If the Yankees were going to win the World Series, I wanted to hear John Sterling make the call. John didn’t disappoint.

“Ballgame over! World Series over! Yankees win! THHHHEEEE YANKEES WIN!”

I know there are a lot of Yankee haters out there. That’s fine. Whatever.  I’m not one of them.

People here in New York who were born Yankee fans - or at least grew up with the team in the late 1990s - may think that winning the World Series is a birthright. It’s not (as witnessed by the last nine Series-less seasons).

I’m what you call an “acquired taste” Yankee fan. I’m a Yankee fan by choice, thank you…not birthright. I was born in California and then lived 20+ years in Chicago before moving here a few years ago. I don’t know when I started liking the Yankees a little. Maybe all the way back in the 1970s, watching the bickering between Billy Martin and Mr. Steinbrenner.  Maybe it was the late ’90s, with the emergence of Jeter, Pettitte,Posada and Rivera. It was certainly solidified when I joined WCBS 880, the radio flagship of the Yankees. I became a fan!

This is the first time that a team I really liked has won the World Series since the Oakland A’s of the early- to mid-1970s, when I was a kid growing up in California. Oh, I was in Chicago when the White Sox won in 2005. It was fun to watch their World Series run, but I was never a die-hard White Sox (or Cubs) fan.

I’m not a jump-up-and-down kind of fan. But, as I listened to John Sterling call the final out last night, I found myself quietly doing a Derek Jeter-esque bent-arm clenched fist. The radio broadcast on WCBS was several seconds ahead of the TV broadcast…so I knew the outcome before my wife saw the final play on TV. I turned up the sound on the radio.

 Ballgame over! World Series over! Yankees win! THHHHEEEE YANKEES WIN!

Indeed!

So, excuse me, Yankee haters. Let me - and other Yankee fans - enjoy the Yankees’ 27th World Series title.

My WCBS 880 colleague, producer Lou Zambrana, put together this nice AudioFile that brings you the sounds of the Yankees’ Game Six win.

Now…bring on the parade in the Canyon of Heroes!

(Yankee celebration photo courtesy Getty Images)

Congratulations to my WCBS 880 colleague Irene Cornell, who was honored with the New York Press Club’s President’s Award over the weekend. 

No one can tell a radio news story like Irene Cornell. Next year, she will celebrate 40 years covering courts and cops for WCBS. It is a pleasure to know her and an honor to work with her.

Congrats Irene!

Something sad happened to me this past week. I found out that my first girlfriend died. More than 11 years ago.

I say “girlfriend.” I was in 8th grade. Carolyn was in 7th grade. I guess we were as much BF/GF as kids that age could be 35 years ago. We met in band class. We held hands when we walked to our lockers. We sat next to each other at the high school football games. My parents let me dial “long distance” to call her. It was love, right?

Facebook is a pretty amazing animal. You can reconnect with people who had long since disappeared from your life. That’s exactly what happened last week.

I was looking at the page of a FB Friend from high school. I looked at his friends…saw some one I recognized…then looked at her friends…and then saw a name. A name from long ago. Hey, isn’t that the little sister of my 8th grade girlfriend, Carolyn?

I was pretty sure it was…sure enough, that I wrote this lady a note. Something to the effect of, “Are you Carolyn’s little sister? I hope life has treated you guys well. Please give Carolyn my regards. Thanks, Steve.” (Okay, there was a little more meat to it than that, but you get the point.)

To my great pleasure, the lady wrote back…the very same day!

“Yes, I am one of Carolyn’s little sisters,” she wrote. “I remember you - the tall guy in band.”  She went on to tell me how Carolyn had gone off to school…met a great guy…got married…and had a couple of children. Fantastic!

Then, I got to the end of the third paragraph.

“We lost Carolyn on May 20, 1998…”

Oh, my God. Her sister - my first “girlfriend” - had died. More than 11 years ago. I swear, my eyes teared up as I read those words. How could Carolyn, the sweet girl with the cutest smile in the whole school, have died so young?

Then, I started thinking. May of 1998. How many things have happened since then that Carolyn never got to see? Y2K (remember that one?). 9-11. Wars. Presidents. And so much more. So many things that your brain clogs up trying to remember them all.

All since Carolyn died. And, I never even knew it.

I’m happily married. Have been since long before Carolyn died. My note to Carolyn’s little sister was just a typical Facebook re-connection thing. I certainly wasn’t looking to “hook up.” After all, I really hadn’t even thought about Carolyn much in 30 years.

And, yet…I’m deeply saddened by her death 11 years ago. Saddened by the loss of a lady who, by her sister’s account, was a loving wife and mother. Saddened by the loss of that girl I held hands with that the football games.

Saddened by a reminder of my own mortality.

God bless you, Carolyn. I don’t know if they had the internet in Heaven when you died…but, I’m pretty sure they do now.

I’m hoping you’ll see that you’re remembered fondly.

Thank you to WCBS News and Programming Director Tim Scheld for bringing what I thought were three long lost photos into my life.

In September of 2001, Tim and I both worked for ABC.  Tim was a correspondent for ABC News Radio…and, I was news director and morning anchor at WLS-AM in Chicago.  I also did some reporting for the network.  

When 9-11 happened, ABC brought me to New York to help with their coverage from Ground Zero.

I didn’t really take many photos while I was here for 9-11.  It just didn’t seem right to be snapping pictures.  

But, Tim did take these pics of me on top of a building just north of Ground Zero (you can see the pile still burning behind me).                                   

 Tim walked up to me out of the blue in the newsroom yesterday and asked if I had these photos.  I did not.  

While I have plenty of audio recordings from my time covering 9-11, I had no pictures.  

And, now I do.  So, thanks Tim!