From the beginning of the program with Bruce Springsteen singing "My City in Ruins" to the closing moments with Willy Nelson leading a panoply of stars in singing "America, the Beautiful," America: A Tribute to Heroes is an exceptional salute to those lost in the events of September 11, 2001. Bare stages lit with hundreds of candles in New York, Los Angeles, and London provided the somber, unadorned setting for this unique program carried live, commercial free, by more than 30 radio, television and cable networks, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, UPN, the WB, BET, Comedy Central, Court TV, the Discovery Channel, E!, Fox Family, FX, HBO, HBO Latino, Lifetime, MTV, PAX, Showtime, Sundance Channel, Telemundo, TLC, TNN, TNT, Univision, and VH-1. A number of Westwood One and Clear Channel Communications radio affiliates also simulcast the special telethon, which raised more than $150 million for the victims of 9/11. Leading this unprecedented cross-network effort was Executive Producer and Director Joel Gallen, Coordinating Producers Michael Dempsey and Carol Donovan, Director Beth McCarthy, and Writers David Wild, Peggy Noonan, Phil Rosenthal, Bob Shrum, Anne Lewis, Eli Attie, Tom Fontana, Chris Connelly, Terry Edmonds, Marshall Herskovitz, Ed Zwick, David Leaf, Gene Pack and Bill Clark. Moving musical numbers alternated with equally moving tributes. Those performing included Springsteen, Tom Hanks, Stevie Wonder featuring Take 6, George Clooney, U2, Will Smith, Muhammad Ali, Faith Hill, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jim Carrey, Enrique Iglesias, Neil Young, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Keys, Robin Williams, Limp Bizkit with John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls, Dennis Franz, Jimmy Smits, Billy Joel, Calista Flockhart and Dixie Chicks. All involved donated their talent and time, while ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX underwrote costs surrounding the production of this outpouring of honor for those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
