AS THE 15th anniversary of September 11 approaches, a Tweed radio DJ is taking the time to honour the colleagues he lost during the terror attacks in New York in 2001.

Radio 97 breakfast host Scott Mayman will make the trip back to New York this week to mark the 15th anniversary of the attack, which he remembers as if it was yesterday.

"For me I still remember waking up hearing a plane had gone into the building and I just thought it was a light plane, I thought a pilot had a heart attack,” Mr Mayman said.

"It didn't actually hit me we were under attack until the plane crash at the Pentagon.”

At the time, Mr Mayman was working for a radio station in Kansas City and said the staff had to deal with losing one of their own while still managing to report about the attack.

"Matty was someone who was just a casual at the station, he was just a kid, he needed a job and was just doing some work in one of the buildings across from the first building that got hit and was on the phone ready to talk when the plane hit the second building which he was in,” he said.

"It was difficult because whilst we all wanted to stop and cry and many people did, I know one person who hid under his desk for hours at the radio station. It was myself and others who still had duties to perform as difficult as it was but in the back of my mind I was still thinking about this kid.”

Also working for CBS at the time, Mr Mayman said two of the company's engineers lost their lives in one of the Twin Towers.

Mr Mayman said people were trying to comprehend what was going on as more information came out about what was happening in New York on the day of the attacks.

"It was surreal, but at the same time nobody had ever experienced anything like that,” he said.

"It was literally the day America and broadcasting stood still.”

Mr Mayman has returned to Ground Zero several times for the September 11 memorial services to report on those who lost their lives, including this year where he will be reporting from New York for Radio 97.

"I've always had that personal connection and I've always been able to relate stories about what happened on the day, ” he said.