My 9/11: In an international crisis, a local station is a trusted friend to its audience

It was 2.15pm in Leicester and 9.15am in New York as I came in for my late newsreading shift.

I'd heard the bulletin as I drove to BBC Radio Leicester. All that was known was that an aircraft had flown into a skyscraper in New York. A colleague who'd read the 2pm news handed over to me.

The wires copy gave no indication of the scale of what had happened - or what was unfolding. The TV pictures of the North Tower reminded me of a smouldering cigarette on the Manhattan skyline. At the back of my mind was an accident in 1945 when a bomber crashed into the Empire State Building. This could've been a light aircraft or 'some berk in a Cessna' I remember thinking.

Then the second plane hit.

At the time, Radio Leicester was in Epic House, an 11-storey tower block. Sitting on floor ten with a bad head for heights, the thought of being trapped in one of the burning towers and having the choice of jumping or dying in the flames was unimaginable.

Soon the newsroom was full of people clustered round the television, watching incredulously. It wasn't just journalists; the whole radio station was there.

Over the next few hours I was on and off air, breaking into output, until the drivetime programme started. My memories of the day are a series of snapshots:

- Giving Lucy Collins, the drivetime presenter, a stack of audio carts and having a hug before the 5pm news. She was fairly new to presenting and I'd been broadcasting for a dozen years. We were both trembling.

- Recording interviews with Leicestershire people who were in New York, or those who had friends and relatives there.

- The joint statement made by the leaders of Leicester's faith communities at St Martin's cathedral in the evening; then editing the tape with the setting sun blazing through the window. (It was a lovely early autumn evening.)

- Driving away past the breakfast presenter Ben Jackson arriving in the car park at 5am the next day. Despite being at work for 15 hours, I couldn't sleep when I got home. I was either listening to the radio, wandering round the house or watching the children while they slept. I felt blessed to be able to do something as simple as that.

Some people will always question the relevance of a local station at a time of international calamity. On 9/11, to our audience we were trusted friends. We were familiar voices rooted in the community. Listeners let us into their homes and lives. Whatever the news, good or bad, they rely on us to give it to them honestly and accurately. That is the unique bond between local radio journalists and their audience.

I don't often reflect on 9/11. It started like any other day. Then, over the course of those 24 hours, I relayed the news of the world changing irrevocably. My role was peripheral but I was a witness to history and I will never forget it.

Simon Ford was a journalist in BBC local radio from 1993 to 2007, and is now Senior Content Producer at the BBC Academy