New York City’s much-hyped reputation for hostility can’t possibly be true—Pat Kiernan is living proof.
Kiernan, you see, is Canadian. In 1997, he opened his mouth for the first time on local news channel NY1 and what came out was so polite, so mild-mannered, so…Canadian that everyone knew he wasn’t from the Big Apple.
Yet Kiernan, 48, has been giving New Yorkers the news ever since, a surprisingly beloved figure in a city known for chewing up outsiders and spitting them out (usually under a “No spitting” sign).
“When Pat first came on the scene, I looked at him and heard his milquetoast accent and said, ‘This guy ain’t from here!'” radio show host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa told Newsweek as NY1 marked Kiernan’s 20th anniversary in the anchor chair on Friday. “As much as I didn’t want to like him, the guy, he just endears himself to you. Most New Yorkers want [high energy] and Pat is like Prozac to that. He calms you down. He is the perfect Ying to the Yang of New York City energy.”
We talked to Kiernan about how he tamed the beast known as New York, and it’s a good primer for anyone who wants to make it here:
For the past 20 years, people have woken up with you…
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