This is a 12 minute .wav file of NYPD police radio, around the time that the second tower came down. It’s quite compelling to listen to. 
[link removed by TubaDiva]
[Edited by TubaDiva on 11-04-2001 at 08:11 PM]
Thank you.
No prob. I only posted the one file, because I worried that my web server might be inundated with requests. As it turns out, the traffic hasn’t been too bad. If anyone is interested, I also have a (quite long) recording of the fire dept. radio chatter. It’s a bit cheerier, because you can hear people being helped. (I can hardly listen to the female cop trapped in the second tower. Terrifying.) If anyone would like, I can convert it to a smaller file and post it the next time I’m at home. (Monday.)
It would be grand if you could convert it to .MP3
That is my plan. The NYPD one is pretty small already. (I think it has a pretty low bitrate. Didn’t check.) The Fire Dept. one is much longer, and it’s about 12MB as a .wav file. That sucker’s gonna be an .mp3 (I’ll convert the NYPD one at the same time, for bandwidth-challenged dopers.)
I had to stop it after halfway. It was too terrible.
I have high speed cable access and get the message that it will take over an hour to download. I’d hat to see how long it takes on dial-up.
There’s a line, and I personally feel like it really got crossed here. We all get our point of view; that’s mine. You want to go through the effort of downloading the sounds of adults barely controlling chaos while their co-workers are dying on the job, so be it.
It’s insulting, it’s degrading to the people who died on the radio and off during those moments, it’s an invasion of privacy, and last but so surely not least, the Moderators better make really fucking sure that this is not Police Department property, and Fire Department property. The fact that a civillian had an illegal scanner and was making audiotapes of official transmissions, and now has disseminated it onto the Internet does ** NOT** make it legal.
So, go ahead and link it but as far as I’m concerned, you’re linking SDMB members to an audio snuff film. I’m sending this link to TubaDiva, and will request that she find out of it’d legal to have this material posted on this Web Site.
Personally, I hope like hell that it’s not.
Cartooniverse
Lighten up, C’verse. No one’s forcing you to listen to it.
Did you turn off the TV when the original event was taking place? Sure, you did.
Do you close your ears when black box transcripts are played on the news, too?
Musicat,
CV was down a few blocks from the WTC at the time and went there (he has first aid training, not sure of level - EMT?)
I don’t know it is illegal, most scanners are not, but I heard it on a news program, and am not going to listen again.
Just curious, Larry, and this could help Tuba make a decision: what is your source for these sound files? Did you record them yourself from a live scanner?
I show it as a 3.8MB file, which should be only seconds on a cable or DSL hookup. Unless Larry changed the file size since the original post.
It seems to play OK in Winamp (but I haven’t listened to it all the way thru), but loading it in Goldwave gets a “Wave file RIFF chunk size incorrect…” error.
Cartooniverse, I understand your reaction completely. I was hesitant to post it… I had my doubts. In the end, I decided that it was an important historical document, and worth listening to, if you can bear to. I don’t think it’s insulting or degrading to the people involved… Although I choked up several times listening to it, listening to people deal with such an atrocity in such a professional manner is truly awe-inspiring. (The fire dept. recording, which I will convert to .mp3 and link to tomorrow, if TubaDiva has no objections, is even more amazing.) These people are heroes.
I don’t think that the comparison to a “snuff” film is fair. No-one is going to be titillated by listening. It’s sobering and educating. Yes, it’s horrible. It’s what happened. Look at it, or don’t.
As far as legality is concerned, it’s quite legal. Yahoo hasn’t had any hassles for hosting PoliceScanner.com. It is not illegal to have scanner recordings. It isn’t even necessarily illegal to have a scanner. Illegal uses are: To intercept communications for criminal purposes, to illegal decode scrambled transmissions, to use a scanner to go to the location of a current emergency, to have a scanner in your car. (Laws vary from state to state, but posting the recordings breaks no laws in the USA or Canada.)
Mermaid: It took about 15 minutes to download with my girlfriend’s 56k connection. (I wonder if I’m suddenly getting crazy traffic?) My web server is at home, with my cable connection. The upload speeds are not great, but it shouldn’t take an hour. Try again, it might have been a temporary problem.
Anthracite: I hear that. I cried like a little girl listening to folks try to get to the trapped female officer.
Musicat: I originally downloaded the recordings off alt.binaries.radio.misc, FWIW.
Cartooniverse– Somehow I managed to overlook lurkernomore’s comment that you were actually on the scene September 11th.
Knowing that, naturally I sympathize with your reaction even more. Please let me amend my statement, “These people are heroes.” You people are heroes.
It may sound strange, given the media saturation, but I’m sure that most people (myself included) who weren’t actually there have very little idea what it must have been like for those who were. While I agree wholeheartedly with the networks’ decision to hold back the most horrible images, I think that people need to have the opportunity to get a clear picture of just how terrible it was.
Great stuff, Larry. Found myself spending the afternoon searching for other scanner recordings on the web!
wow, really moving.
I side with Cartooniverse on this one, not only on the grounds of basic human decency but also because of potential copyright problems.
Yes, these people, alive and dead, are heroes. Respect them and don’t disseminate this sort of thing, let them do their job. I know people listen to scanner transmissions all the time – it’s quite a popular little hobby for some – but that still don’t make it right. It’s not done for your voyeuristic enjoyment.
The Chicago Reader (our corporate parent) will always want us to err on the side of caution whenever copyright issues are in play.
I am removing this link.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
Fair enough, TubaDiva, as I noted in this thread, I wasn’t entirely unaware that it might be a source of controversy. (Might be just as well-- Checking my server-logs, the file has been downloaded almost 800 times-- More times than this thread has been viewed. I can’t spare the bandwidth.)
I defer to your judgement if you think that it’s too much for sensitive folks, but I would like to point out that there is no copyright or legal concern. I would also like to point out that the term “voyeuristic enjoyment” is personally offensive to me. I don’t think anybody could enjoy listening to that. Certainly none of the people who thanked me for posting suggested that it was pleasant to listen to. I don’t think anybody enjoys watching any documentary about the events of September 11[sup]th[/sup]. (At least nobody that I’d care to associate with.)
Cartooniverse, I’m very sorry to have upset you. I meant no harm, and my opinion of you has only gotten better.
Cheers.
Since this isn’t the Pit, I will have to use language inappropriate for the response this quote merits. Consider yourself lucky, Musicat.
Don’t tell me to lighten up. Supplying this hyperlink was morally and legally out of line, IMHO.
And, I’d like to thank you for letting every reader know that you know my morals, outlook and interest in media. For your information ( and I’d suggest you believe this whole cloth- every damned word), I was not watching the original event take place. I was busy RESPONDING TO THE ORIGINAL EVENT. <biting tongue fiercely here>. So, save the know-it-all sarcasting-“Isn’t he a dick” tone of voice, m’kay? Unless you have MORE first hand knowledge of the events of that attack than I do, perhaps you owe me an apology. Perhaps.
I did not chose to watch the t.v. every day. I had dear friends WORKING THE SITE AT GROUND ZERO. If I wished for an update, I’d talk to my friends. I did NOT listen to black box transcripts.
In fact, you’ve chosen to display just the kind of vaulting ignorance and disrespect that we do so try to fight here at the Straight Dope.
If you are’t dead sure of the person you are attacking, why presume to know their thoughts? It kinda makes you come off looking like a jerk. Rule # 1 of SDMB? Don’t be a jerk.
Larry Mudd, thank you for saying that, don’t sweat it at all. 
TubaDiva, I can’t thank you enough for taking the step you did. I’ve got the feeling that a Pit thread might brew up out of this, but vigorous discourse is the backbone of the SDMB.
Musicat? Have a nice day. Oh, abbreviating my Member Name doesn’t make you cool either. It’s spelled–
Cartooniverse
A Pit thread? Naah… I’m not about to complain about TubaDiva’s decision to remove the link, and I’m certainly not going to gripe about your feelings about it. That would be obscene.
The whole thing does leave me with conflicted feelings, though, and I when I have the time I’ll start a thread in Great Debates. The legality of it is clear enough, but you’ve got me thinking about whether or not it is “morally out of line” to make these recordings available. (The administration of the board, of course, is not a matter for debate.)
I’ve never been to New York. When I try to imagine what happened, I feel that I really come up short. I have a hard time even visualizing the World Trade Center buildings. To me, anything that fills in the blanks is helpful. I’m horrified that anyone might think that it was meant to be entertaining. If people had responded by saying “Dude, that was better than DieHard.” I would have removed the damned thing from my server myself.
Anyway, I’m babbling, and my girlfriend is getting annoyed with me for ignoring her. [sub]So… this is Dope addiction.[/sub]
Take care.