Where were you on 9/11?

Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Sept 11, 2024 – Do you remember where you were when the towers fell? For many of us, that day will be forever burned into our minds.

This is especially true for author and former communications director Cathy Travis, who told JRN on Tuesday that she never knew that fear had a sound until that terrifying day.

Travis is a Jonesboro native and Arkansas State University graduate, who now lives in Washington, D.C., which is where she was on the day of the attack. In fact, she worked on Capitol Hill for 25 years as a communications director, senior advisor, and political consultant for various members of Congress.

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Travis shared her spine-tingling story as she recalled working for a Texas Congressman who was the top Democrat of the Armed Forces’ Readiness Subcommittee at that time.

“It was 8:45ish and we were heading to a 9:30 press conference, when we heard about New York,” she recalled. Ironically, the name of the press conference was “Is America prepared for future military challenges.”

“I think it was clear at that point that the answer was obviously no,” Travis said, noting how she called to ask if the press conference was still going to happen at that point, and it was.

“We didn’t want to walk over to the Capitol building,” Travis stated, noting that the congressman had even told her that she didn’t have to go. However, she said she wanted to go because it was her job, so she bravely marched along beside him as they made their way to the White House pressroom.

“When we got there, it was just a weird moment,” Travis still remembers all the uncomfortable chatter among the members of the staff and the press alike. “The Congressman didn’t know what he was going to say or do at that point. He was just planning to read his statement and get off the podium as quickly as possible. TV stations were feeding live out of New York when suddenly it switched to live in Washington. The Pentagon had been hit.”

“He [the congressman] said ‘let’s get out of here,’” she continued, noting the crowded hallways as everyone made their way to the exit. “We were telling everyone ‘We’re going to be okay. Don’t push.’ even though we were terrified, and really didn’t believe that ourselves.”

“I never realized that fear had a sound until that moment,” Travis stated. “It’s hard to explain but it was like a high pitch in your throat.”

As they stepped outside, Travis said that she could still vividly remember seeing the smoke from the Pentagon rising above the buildings and the congressman sending everyone home.

Travis then recalled calling her mother in Jonesboro, Lois Travis, who was in her office at A-State at the time.

I knew I was in trouble when she used my middle name,” she said, noting her mom’s first word’s… “Cathy Ann, what’s going on?” However, Travis couldn’t fully explain it to her mom at that moment and told her that she would call her when she got home.

On her way, she said that she called one of her friends and asked if he wanted to come over. They could work from their laptops at her house where it was safe.

“I still get dry mouth just thinking about it,” she stated as she cleared her throat.

Once home, Travis called her mother back as promised, who wanted her to talk to Trey Stafford on the radio. “Her and Trey were friends,” she recalled. “Almost as soon as I hung up the phone Trey called me”

“He asked if I was safe,” Travis remembered.

After explaining that she was safe for now and that she was with a friend, who was a lieutenant colonel in the military, Trey asked to speak with him as well, but the Lieut. Colonel declined.

She then noted that they had been talking on air for probably twenty minutes when her friend hollered ‘Oh God, the building just fell!’ and would have to explain to Stafford that she needed to call her boss. So, she said thanks everybody and quickly went back to work as she arranged for the congressman to talk to reporters from Texas and the Associated Press and sent out press releases as fast as she could.

“Not knowing was the part that was so frightening,” she added. “Three planes had already crashed, and one was still out flying.”

Travis also recalled the next day when her boss went to The Pentagon. “It was a mess, and I was already told that the smell was overwhelming. There were bodies buried in the rumble and they said you could smell the death.”

Although she tried to talk him out of going, she said the Congressman had been an officer and he told her it wouldn’t be the first time that he smelled death.

“It was uncomfortably weird over the next few days,” she stated.

In 2016, Travis, being a prolific writer, wrote and published a book about the events of 9-11 and the aftermath called “Target Sitting”, which is the heartbreakingly candid journal of a Capitol Hill staffer in the wake of September 11, 2001. Her book is still available on Amazon.

Trey Stafford, Jonesboro Radio Group and Jonesboro Right Now president, general manager and legendary radio talk-show host, also recalled that impactful and dramatic day.

“Jim Frigo and I were on the air on 104.9 The Fox,” he recalled. “We had just finished doing our “Almost Impossible Trivia Question.” A television in our control room was switched to Good Morning America. We looked up while we were on the air live and saw a video showing smoke coming from one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City. We were talking about what it looked like on the radio, and we even said that it looked like a small plane had hit the building. While we were live, we saw the second plane hit the other building. That’s when we knew something bad was happening.”

“That launched a full day of wall-to-wall coverage on our radio stations,” he continued. “A combination of local talk, local listener reaction, and network radio coverage of the day’s events.”

“We watched as gasoline prices locally skyrocketed,” Stafford said. “As the news began to leak of who the perpetrators were, we talked with a professor at Arkansas State University who tried to explain to us what a Muslim was, what they believed in, and why they would want to do something so awful.”

“Once 6:30 p.m. or so arrived, we yielded our radio coverage to the coverage provided by network television, and we left the radio station to go home to our families,” Stafford recalled. “My daughter, Ellie, was almost three years old. My triplet sons were only eight months old.”

He also noted how his wife, Jenna, still recalls lying in the floor of their living room all day trying to take care of their four children.

“She, being a retired journalist, craved information and details about what was happening, so she kept the television on in the room with her and the kids while the networks played the video of the plane attacks over and over” he said. “At some point my daughter, Ellie, scribbled this photo on a piece of paper. My wife says that was when she knew, ‘I’ve got to turn the television off, it’s having a significant mental impact on my child’.”

And he wasn’t the only one around the office with such vivid memories of that day.

I [Nena Zimmer, Jonesboro Right Now Chief Reporter] still recall being in labor with my first child. Laying on the hospital bed and talking to my mother as the coverage came on the air. We watched as the second plane traveled past the tower and I will never forget my Mom saying “Well look at those idiots. They are going to hit something too at that rate.” Minutes later, the plane crash and the hospital buzz suddenly fell deafly quiet as the impact and confusion set in.

Eventually, I would have my mother turn off the TV in my hospital room. It was tragic and I wanted to keep watching myself, but I was starting to fear for my own life when a distracted nurse began putting medicine into my IV with their eyes solely fixed on the television across the room.

My son was born later that day.

Here are a few more stories from that day from around the Jonesboro Radio Group office…

• Skeeter Nash, 104.9 The Fox Program Director and On-Air Talent, recalled that he was 41 at the time and at his home in Nashville, Tenn. “I was getting ready for work (I worked at Advance Auto Parts at the time). My bonus son called me into the living room where he was watching the coverage. The first plane had hit, and shortly afterward, the second plane struck. I went to work at the store, where we were all pretty much in shock as we learned about the other planes at the Pentagon and Shanksville, VA. It was one of the darkest days I have ever known, realizing the tragic loss of our fellow Americans and not knowing if anyplace was safe anymore.”
• Brett Hall Barber, Mix 106.3 Morning Guy and Jonesboro Right Now Staff Reporter, said he was 37 when 9/11 happened. “I was in the kitchen of the Hollywood Grill, a restaurant that my family owned and operated. I distinctly remember the way I felt as my friend Tim and I learned of the first plane. We went from shock to horror as we heard about the second plane.”
• Mitch Mahan, Jonesboro Radio Group Operations Manager and On-Air Talent, was 39 and in West Palm Beach, Florida. “I was in my office working on music for my radio station when our news guy poked his head in my door and said that a plane had run into the World Trade Center. I wandered down the hall to a conference room where we had a TV screen set up. We couldn’t figure out how a pilot could make such a mistake and listened to the anchors trying to sort out all the information they were getting, possible hijacking, possible terrorist action, and then we knew as we watched the second plane hit the tower. I remember everyone in the room looking stunned.  My wife was pregnant with our first child and all I could think about was ‘what kind of world are we bringing her into?’ One of the things I remember the most was how quiet it was those first few days. Airplanes were grounded, people were off work, it was so quiet.”
• Rachel Anderson, Jonesboro Right Now Editor-in-Chief, said she was nine years old when it happened. “I was sitting in Mrs. Barnett’s 4th grade class at University Heights Elementary School on Aggie Road. I remember the exact desk I was sitting in. The office staff was calling every teacher separately and letting them know what happened. I remember thinking it was weird that they didn’t just say whatever they needed to say over the intercom. We turned on the news and watched silently for the next several hours. I don’t remember anyone leaving school early, but I remember all the high school students talking about what had happened while on the bus ride home.”
• Stephanie Benish, Jonesboro Radio Group Traffic Director, recalled that she had just turned 18 and was at home. “I was getting ready to go to Memphis for the day with my boyfriend. Everything was shut down for fear that there would be more attacks, and there were even rumors that they were going to shut down all the bridges.”
• Mike Dickerson, Jonesboro Radio Group Account Executive, who was 40 at the time, was also home and getting ready for work. “First report was a small plane had hit the tower. By the time I got to work 30 minutes later it was a different story.”
• Tim Smith, Jonesboro Radio Group Account Executive, who was 41 at the time, lived in Paragould and was working in sales. “I was on my way to see a client when I started hearing the news about the buildings and planes. I started checking on my wife and kids at school and checking on other family members.”
• Lynn Stillwell-Holland, Jonesboro Radio Group Director of First Impressions, said she was 43-years-old. “I remember sitting at my makeup table, putting on makeup for work while watching the news. I couldn’t believe what I just saw – live on tv. Then the second plane hit. I felt sick to my stomach, weak and scared… thinking it was a terrorist attack. I had to get in touch with my parents and siblings to make sure everyone knew and would be safe if the US was being invaded.”
• Anna Parker, Jonesboro Radio Group Account Executive, said she was only six years old. “I was in first grade. I was sitting in class when the classroom phone rang and then the teacher turned on the tv. The teacher started to cry as she watched what was happening on the tv. The classroom phone was ringing off the hook from parents coming to get their kids from school. I was so worried and scared because I could see everyone else’s worry. Although I did not understand what exactly what going on. I remember that day so vividly even though I was so young.”
• Josh Wilcoxson, Jonesboro Radio Group Account Executive, said he was 15 when it happened. “I was in High School Choir watching Channel 1 News, then ran to the Counselors office because my mom was the secretary, and we watched the second plane hit.”
• Liz Davis, Jonesboro Radio Group Account Executive, said she was 10 and was in the school library talking with friends between book aisles. “I remember a classmate running back to us and telling us what happened, they’d rolled the tv out and we all watched it. Another classmate and his dad painted a giant American flag on the side of their shop that faced the road.”