I woke up early Christmas morning, and was flipping between CNN and MSNBC on TV, when it was reported that a bomb had gone off in downtown Nashville. I then thought about listening to a stream of a Nashville radio talk station, to hear their coverage. I clicked on the WWTN stream. Within moments, the hosts were interviewing Betsy Williams, the owner of Music City Suites. Her business was right across the street from where the RV was parked, and the bomb exploded. Before CNN or MSNBC was broadcasting details of what took place, Betsy Williams was putting forth her personal experience of what she saw, heard, and reported. It was riveting. WWTN also had and played a recording of the actual warning announcement that was eminating from the RV. Flipping between CNN and MSNBC, this was also material that they either didn't have, or were not airing. Simply amazing coverage from WWTN, and it was something you couldn't find on CNN or MSNBC.
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WWTN - Nashville bombing coverage
- Thread starter Brian Bowers
- Start date
I'm surprised, honestly, that there was anyone staffing a Cumulus talk station on Christmas morning. So good for them.
It sounded like a few of the hosts were broadcasting from their home studios. It's possible they were able to get on the air that quickly because of those setups. I believe they had a board op/engineer at the station, who was able to get phone calls on the air, and mix the various hosts. The news guy eventually made it into the station.
Getting back to the Betsy Williams (sp?) interview, she stated that her and her son were awoken around 4:30 AM, because they heard what sounded like a series of gun shots outside (keep in mind that the bomb went off at 6:30 AM). That also made them look out their window, and that is when they noticed the RV. Betsy said her son thought the RV looked extremely suspicious, so they called 911. At some point, the RV started broadcasting a statement (before the countdown had begun), and they called and alerted 911 again. After the countdown had begun, and it reached a warning of 11 minutes, they (her, her partner, and her son) evacuated their building. Judging from the interview, and watching a lot of the interviews and coverage on CNN and MSNBC, I truly believe that it was Betsy Williams who was one of the first, if not *the* first, to relay this important information to authorities, bringing the police to the site as quickly as possible.
Getting back to the Betsy Williams (sp?) interview, she stated that her and her son were awoken around 4:30 AM, because they heard what sounded like a series of gun shots outside (keep in mind that the bomb went off at 6:30 AM). That also made them look out their window, and that is when they noticed the RV. Betsy said her son thought the RV looked extremely suspicious, so they called 911. At some point, the RV started broadcasting a statement (before the countdown had begun), and they called and alerted 911 again. After the countdown had begun, and it reached a warning of 11 minutes, they (her, her partner, and her son) evacuated their building. Judging from the interview, and watching a lot of the interviews and coverage on CNN and MSNBC, I truly believe that it was Betsy Williams who was one of the first, if not *the* first, to relay this important information to authorities, bringing the police to the site as quickly as possible.
The earliest that I had heard of any "shots fired" reports was at about 5:30 a.m. They think that that RV had been there since 1:22 a.m.
Here's the CNN interview with the same witness. She says she first heard the shots between 4:30 and 5, but didn't call 911 immediately. Then she heard shots again and called 911:
Nashville witness describes countdown clock prior to explosion (cnn.com)
Nashville witness describes countdown clock prior to explosion (cnn.com)
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