WATCH: Late night newscast after the 9/11 attacks in New York City

NEW YORK -- "The unthinkable happened today. The World Trade Center, both towers, gone."

With those words, Bill Ritter, a news anchor at our New York City sister station WABC-TV, began the 11 p.m. newscast on the day that changed our city, America, and the world.

"Even now, so many years later, we will never forget. And we will never stop honoring those who died and the heroic first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice, both at the scene in Lower Manhattan and those who have suffered and died from a 9/11-related illness," WABC wrote on its website.

Watch Part 1 of WABC's newscast in the video player above.

Part 2:

Part 2 of Eyewitness News at 11 pm from the night of September 11, 2001.

Part 3:

Part 3 of Eyewitness News at 11 pm from the night of September 11, 2001.

Each year, New York City and millions around the country commemorate 9/11 with mournful ceremonies, volunteering and reading the names of those who perished.

RELATED | WABC's late night newscast hours before the 2001 attacks in New York City

Eyewitness News at 11 began after midnight 22 years ago, delayed by Monday Night Football. No one could have predicted what would happen the next day, a day Meteorologist Sam Champion forecasted as "sunny and pleasant."

Relatives of the victims descend on ground zero in Lower Manhattan, and the events of that terrible day and the weeks, months and years that followed are never forgotten, nor are the memories of those killed by terrorists in hijacked planes.

September 11 still shapes American policy, politics and everyday experiences in places from airports to office buildings, even if it's less of a constant presence in the public consciousness.

PHOTOS: 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City

The 9/11 commemorations are by now familiar rituals, but each year at ground zero, victims' relatives infuse the ceremony with personal messages of remembrance, inspiration and concern.