The time was 8:46am on Tuesday September 11 in New York. The city was waking up to what was meant to be a beautiful day with nothing but blue skies all the way to the horizon.
On air, America's big morning shows were well into their final hour on air. NBC's iconic Today show then hosted by Matt Lauer and Katie Couric was wrapping up an interview with author Richard Hack when Lauer alluded to an imminent story, but threw to commercial break as teams behind the scenes arranged helicopters and live shots.
Just up the road at ABC, Good Morning America was on air with Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer.
"We are going to tell you what we know," Sawyer said as the network cut out of commercials early to bring the breaking news to viewers. Her tone was concerned and calming. She knew what was about to be broadcast would shock millions of people, but also raise just as many questions.
CNN also pulled out of a commercial break cutting straight to a live shot of smoke billowing from the World Trade Centre.
Carol Lin was on air and described the pictures as a "very disturbing live shot". Lin's voice was across most of the beginning of the network's coverage of the event, although her face barely made it to air. Everyone just wanted to watch the towers.
In London, it was 1:43pm and news broke on BBC News and Sky News almost immediately. Sky's Kay Burley told viewers it was believed "a plane has crashed into the World Trade Centre".
In Auckland, it was 12:43am, not the best time for news to break.
Back in 2001, Sky had what was called a mosaic channel (does anyone else remember that?) On it were small boxes displaying what was on air across the different Sky channels. It was the bottom row that caught my attention.
Sky News, CNN and CNBC all had a live shot of the World Trade Centre on fire. Straight away I went to CNN and from that moment and for about 12 hours I barely moved.
I just kept watching.
9:02am in New York City.
By now, millions of people were watching what was happening in Manhattan. Around the world, coverage was now available across hundreds of different channels, but all would have shown the same thing.
And then, at 9:02am in New York, the second plane flew straight into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre, 1:03am in New Zealand.
It was as early as 5am when TV3 went live with John Campbell and a 3 News special. Throughout the programme he interviewed politicians, experts and eyewitnesses.
Later that night Campbell also hosted the 6pm programme with Carol Hirschfeld, and then 3 News reporter Wendy Petrie joined the coverage live from New York. It was Petrie who had called and woken her Kiwi colleagues up when the news first broke.
In the United States, the morning news shows stayed on air for so long that they weren't really morning shows anymore. And, as darkness fell over the city, America's big television networks went to their big names to take the coverage into the night.
Tom Brokaw at NBC News, the late Peter Jennings at ABC and Dan Rather at CBS.
Here in New Zealand it was Campbell and Hirschfeld and Judy Bailey and Richard Long at TVNZ.
Around the world, iconic broadcasters stayed on air for hours. There was no script and no knowing what was to come next.
We all have a "where were you" story about September 11, 2001. I was on the couch at home, watching CNN.
Twenty years on, I'm also at home on the couch writing this, as the world faces another historic crisis, COVID-19.
And, despite the presence of the internet and social media, news networks around the world are still covering every development live. Some of the faces may have changed, but the message is still the same.
Keep watching.
