23 years later, America continues to keep their promise and ‘Never Forget.’ This includes 1010 WINS reporter Glenn Schuck who witnessed the second plane hit one of the twin towers and later watched them fall. The radio veteran was set to cover the mayoral primary on the evening of September 11, 2001, but everything quickly changed.
“I was sitting [in Edgewater, New Jersey] just having a cup of coffee and saw something happen at the World Trade Center. Literally could see it right across the Hudson River. Then I saw the second plane hit and I knew obviously at that point, I need to get to work.”
Schuck was able to drive about two miles before he was unable to get through traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel. “They’d already shut down everything.” He along with several other colleagues stuck in the Garden State hired a boat to get to the other side of the river and into Manhattan Harbor.
“At this point, both of the towers are smoking terribly, all the media were walking south down the West Side Highway and as I’m walking down you can already smell the broken gas lines. When I finally walked those 30 blocks down there, the first tower came down and fortunately I was far enough away. I wasn’t in any immediate danger, but obviously, at that point we knew this is something we had never experienced before.”
By chance, Schuck saw then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and then-Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik outside of a fire house. “I never left his side for about 70 hours. If he went to ground zero, I followed. He went to talk to first responders, I followed.” Never leaving the mayor’s side, Schuck stayed overnight at the police academy in the days after 9/11.
On Wednesday, September 12, Schuck became a part of a reporter pool and toured Ground Zero with ‘Americas Mayor.’ “I was basically the first radio reporter there to get a tour of it,” he said. He expected to see bodies in the debris, instead he saw something much more frighting, “Going that first time, I was afraid I was going to see people dead or see bodies on the ground and I saw nothing. There was nothing left of anything. You could hear the scratching of the first responders going through the debris. It was actually very frightening.”
Unbeknownst to many, there was an unknown fright lingering in the air. “I have a picture of me standing there with the mayor. I’m not wearing a mask, and the mayor is telling me to put a mask on, and people are walking up to us at Ground Zero saying, we need masks, we need masks.”
Years later, many first responders and reporters are now affected by 9/11 related illnesses, including Schuck. “I had some minor illness,” he said. “I have a skin pigmentation that has started on me. I have a little spot on my lung. I’m in the 9/11 health registry because I’m concerned about my health going forward. I highly encourage anybody who was down there in that time, reporters or those who lived there to get registered, because it’s an amazing program.”
The New Jersey native later wrote two books, including a part in the book Covering Catastrophe, about the attack, and he was involved with the HBO documentary, In Memoriam. “HBO did an amazing job on it,” Schuck said. “Very, very difficult to watch, but I thought it was a really good job they did in making sure that they showed what actually happened that day.”
Schuck’s involvement in the HBO documentary got him involved with the New Jersey Hall of Fame. While he has not been inducted (yet) he is the host of their annual induction ceremony.
Schuck always knew he wanted to do radio and used to tell his school guidance counselor of his dream whenever asked about his future. His passion for news and current events has only grown with his time in the industry. “I love my job, and I’ve always considered that it’s not really even a job,” he said. “I mean, some days are more stressful than others but there’s very, very few days that I feel like, oh, I don’t want to do this anymore. I love it.”
Named after astronaut John Glenn, Schuck was always told to reach for the stars. Little did his parents know he would one day become one of New York radio’s biggest stars (a title which the humble Schuck will likely say is over blown… but it’s true!). He was inducted into the Seton Hall WSOU Hall of Fame in 2013.
Today, the reporter and fill-in anchor is heavily involved with mentoring today’s up-and-coming journalists. Not just at his alma-mater, Seton Hall, where he is a professional in residence, but other journalism focused schools including Muskingum University in Ohio.
“I always tell those journalists you can make three or four connections in your career, and it’ll change your life. I can name those three people probably in my life that if they didn’t help me in some way, my career would have taken a different turn or maybe even ended. Starting with [my high school] guidance counselor.”
The biggest advice the 40+ year veteran of the industry gives to those he mentors is to focus on your writing. “At 1010 WINS we’ve had people who come in who are very good writers in many ways but when it comes to writing conversationally or writing for radio or TV, they’re not really up for it,” he said. “Even the college students that I mentor, I say, ‘Listen, if you don’t get into radio or TV, if you can write and write really well, you’re going to have a step ahead of everybody else.”
Lastly, he noted, “If there’s something that you really want to do, don’t let anybody talk you out of it, because it’s easy to kind of pack it in and go do something else. But I would never have been as happy doing a job than I am doing this.”
On a personal note, Glenn and I met working in the field nearly 10 years ago when I was an intern at a local TV station. His kindness and wisdom have no limits. He is vivacious with a contagious laugh and very thoughtful.
As a child living in suburban New York on 9/11, I distinctly remember his voice and that of his anchor, Lee Harris, being the calm in the middle of chaos. It’s an honor to call him a colleague, even more so to now call him a friend.
One lesson Schuck taught me early in my news career was reiterated in our conversation earlier this week. “We have a job to do and a responsibility [to cover tragic and/or historical events] like these. The people really need us.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
