Website Offers to Record Audio of Your 9/11 Memories

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Tony Winders has devised an innovative method for people to share their thoughts, memories and reflections of that infamous day with the rest of the world. Winders’ consulting client, Canary Voice, is providing a call-in number to which people can leave a message, conveying the emotion that only they could by using their own voices.

“It’s our contribution to the national conversation around remembering 9/11 and the lives that were lost,” said Winders, an Agoura Hills, CA, resident. “[We’re] creating an audio retrospective that we think can be an archive of the national consciousness around this topic that will survive for generations to come.”

“There is a real beauty that comes when we start sharing, and we all start to hear the emotions that each other has experienced,” said Frank Catalano, founder and principal of Canary Voice, based in Camarillo, CA.

The result, Catalano hopes, will be a collection of hundreds—or even thousands—of diverse voices that create an emotional mosaic of what the world felt on that day 10 years ago.

The idea is a unique application of Canary Voice, a new kind of social media platform that turns ordinary voice messages into digital greetings that can be shared online to celebrate special occasions, express passionate opinions and preserve treasured memories. Typically, users set up an account to collect audio greetings for a birthday or a retirement party. Winders said this will be the first time Canary Voice has launched anything on a national scale.

The service will be collecting these messages up until September 18. At that point, all of the messages will be archived.

“My intention is to take this collection of voice messages and provide them to the 9/11 museum and other 9/11 organizations, so they can preserve it as part of their remembrance and observation of the 9/11 tragedy,” Winders said, adding that the entire collection will be available on canaryvoice.com indefinitely.

Catalano hopes this will be a positive contribution to the national conversation around 9/11.

“I want to give as many people as possible a chance to share their voice about a subject that is wrought with intense emotion,” Catalano said. “Amid tragedy, to the extent that people can engage in discussion, that there can be growth from that.”

Interested participants can go to the web site or call 212-457-1935, and, when prompted, enter mailbox No. 8733 and pin No. 2689.