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Bloomberg Radio Logs Relating to 9/11

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: Michele Combs
Date: 16 Feb 2026

Biographical History

The September 11 attacks, commonly referred to as 9/11, were a four-part coordinated action by Islamist terrorists against the United States. On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners. Two were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the third was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth aircraft was intended for Washington, DC, but went down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania field after passengers attempted to wrest control from the hijackers. The attacks. which were condemned worldwide, had a profound effect on American foreign policy, leading to a global "war on terror," and on American culture and attitudes. Almost 3000 people were killed in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, including more than 400 first responders (police and firefighters); adding to this the military actions and conflicts that followed over the next twenty years in the Middle East and elsewhere, the Costs of War Project has estimated total deaths to be over 4.5 million. The attacks also caused an estimated $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage, most of that in New York City where both towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed.

Bloomberg Radio is a global 24-hour business radio station. Its parent company, Bloomberg LP, is a privately-held financial, software, data, and media company founded in 1981 and headquartered in New York City. Don Mathisen worked at Bloomberg for 13 years, doing radio, TV and multi-media. At the time of the 9/11 attacks he was a radio reporter based at the New York Stock Exchange, and thus the closest Bloomberg reporter to the World Trade Center a few blocks away. Mathisen was sent to report on what was happening, and stayed with the story every day for the next week.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Bloomberg Radio Logs Relating to 9/11 consists of 20 radio logs spanning from midnight on September 11, nine hours before the attacks, through the end of the day on September 17. Each of the tapes covers a four- or eight-hour block of time, e.g. 8am to 4pm.

These tapes were created as part of Bloomberg’s regular policy of recording, or logging, everything that went out over the air. According to Mathisen, this was done in case there were questions about the accuracy of a particular story, or about a commercial had aired as scheduled. Although the tapes are VHS format there is no video; only the audio of Bloomberg Radio was fed to the recorder. VHS tapes were used because, due to their slow speed, they could hold up to 12 hours of audio. Bloomberg's usual procedure was to retain the tapes for a week and then re-use them, but at the end of the week in question Mathisen asked the head of Bloomberg radio if he could have these, and permission was given.

When the Twin Towers fell access to the lower Manhattan financial district became difficult. Subway stations were destroyed, the air was filled with toxic dust, water, electricity and telecommunication systems were damaged or destroyed. Here is an example of the kinds of stories I was reporting regarding access to the affected area:
7:10AM, Thursday, September 13, 2001 Fires continue to burn in the rubble of the World Trade Center complex. The plume of smoke blankets much of lower Manhattan below Canal Street. The New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso says the markets will open as early as tomorrow and no later than Monday. Well, let's consider for a minute the hurdles that need to be overcome before the markets can resume operations. First, how to get the 10s of 1,000s of workers to their offices and the trading floor. Much of the financial district remains coated in dust, dirt and debris. Some of this stuff is potentially hazardous. A very large percentage of the employees commute on the PATH train from New Jersey. The PATH train station, located in the bowels of the World Trade Center has been destroyed, and it's unlikely to reopen for years. Car access, forget about it. The Holland Tunnel from New Jersey and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, obviously from Brooklyn to lower Manhattan, both of them remain closed. Subway service does not exist below Eighth Street in Manhattan. Throughout the morning here on Bloomberg Radio I'll be discussing the issues that need to be overcome before the markets can reopen. (Don Mathisen, email, 17 Feb 2026)

Recordings include coverage of the actual events; political, business, and financial impacts of the terrorist attacks; information about conditions in and access to the area immediately surrounding the disaster; and what was happening to individuals and families. Mathisen was the reporter on the scene, but dozens of Bloomberg reporters from around the nation and world, company CEOs, government officials, residents and news makers of all kinds can be heard on the tapes.

Arrangement of the Collection

Tapes are in chronological order.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advance notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Access to audiovisual material requires advance notice to produce a use copy.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Subject Headings

Persons

Mathisen, Don.

Corporate Bodies

Bloomberg LP.
New York Stock Exchange.

Subjects

Radio journalism.
September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 -- Economic aspects.
September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 -- Press coverage.
Terrorism and mass media.

Places

New York (N.Y.)

Genres and Forms

Logs (records)
Sound recordings.
VHS.

Occupations

Radio journalists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Bloomberg Radio Logs Relating to 9/11,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Don Mathisen, 2026

Table of Contents

Radio logs

Inventory