221: Brandon is a 911 dispatcher

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Documentary, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do heart attacks, car accidents, and murder usually have in common? Most of the time, when any of these things happen, someone calls 911. It’s one of the most reliable things we have – whenever there’s any kind of emergency, here in the US, we know we can just pick up any phone and dial 911 and get help. Even if it’s a phone that has no service. This is an episode where I talk with someone who has an unusual job. My guest today is Brandon, and he’s been a 911 dispatcher in Nashville, Tennessee for 25 years. After taking emergency calls for all that time, he’s heard just about everything. And today we’ll get the inside scoop on what this job is really like. Also, a content warning – one of the things discussed during our conversation is when calls come in from people who are suicidal. So please, enjoy my conversation with Brandon. If you’d like to contact Brandon or check out his podcast: https://musiccity911.com/ Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/221 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Head to http://Lumen.me/WWTL for 20% off your purchase. Sign up today at https://www.butcherbox.com/whatwas and use code whatwas to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year, plus $20 off your first order. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/WHAT Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What do heart attacks, car accidents, and murder usually have in common?
0:07.0	Most of the time when any of these things happen, someone calls 911.
0:14.0	It's one of the most reliable things we have.
0:19.0	Whenever there's any kind of emergency here in the U.S., we know we can
0:23.2	just pick up any phone and dial 911 and get help, even if it's a phone that has no service.
0:31.3	This is an episode where I talk with someone who has an unusual job. My guest today is
0:37.3	Brandon, and he's been a 911 dispatcher in
0:40.7	Nashville, Tennessee for 25 years. After taking emergency calls for all that time, he's heard
0:48.3	just about everything, and today we'll get the inside scoop on what this job is really like.
0:55.9	Also, a content warning.
0:58.0	One of the things discussed during our conversation is when calls come in from people who are suicidal.
1:05.9	So please enjoy my conversation with Brandon.
1:13.3	Real people in unreal situations.
1:18.2	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me.
1:23.6	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
1:26.1	And then I had to tell him, it was me.
1:29.9	There was just blood everywhere.
1:32.6	They're shouting, they're screaming, they're being hit by bullets, they're hitting the ground.
1:36.6	And in that moment, I literally thought, this is how I die.
1:39.9	Everything changed then.
1:42.8	And I just thought to myself, this isn't happening.
1:46.0	Every single story deserves to be heard.
	...

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