Pat Kiernan, Welcome to So Money. How Are You, Friend?
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Farnoosh Torabi: Pat Kiernan, welcome to So Money. How are you, friend? Pat Kiernan: I am well. Welcome, it’s been a long time since we’ve talked. I’m glad to do this. FT: Thank you. I’m honored to have you on the show and for listeners, you know, Pat and I go back long time ago. I started at New York 1 News (NY1) where he is currently and has been there for many years, the morning news anchor at NY1. Probably the most beloved anchor in all of New York, I could easily say. Anyway, Pat and I met, oh I want to say early2000s, maybe like 2003. I started at NY1 as a junior producer and Pat was always a great mentor to me, great role model and so this is a really great sort of turn of events here now on my podcast, as I’m trying to take on this new project. And so, welcome Pat. PK: You know what, Farnoosh, we have proud moments around the newsroom when you’ve done your morning TV appearances and we see you up on one of the national shows and you know everyone would gather around the TV, “Hey, Farnoosh is on.” FT: Oh, that’s so cool. PK: I mean there’s some new people that don’t really remember you but for those of us who’ve been there for a while it’s a big moment for. FT: Well, thank you. Even before I took the job at NY1, I had this feeling that, you know, you take on these jobs in your life where you just know you have to take the job because it’s inevitable you’re going to be at that job where you look back and you go, “That’s where it all happened.” And, for me that’s really where it all happened, it was NY1. It was I’ve just come out of graduate school and it was like another level of learning, fast learning, fast-paced. You learned how to produce… PK: To do everything and… FT: Write, shoot… PK: Non-union shop. FT: Non-union shop. PK: So, whatever they ask you to do, you’re allowed to do. FT: Exactly and you’ve been there for how many years now? PK: Do we have to talk about that? FT: Well, I just… PK: Not because I’m dismayed that I’ve been there for the long because it’s been a great gig but it just makes me seem old. I’ve been the morning anchor for 17 years. FT: Wow. You are one of the most popular, one of the most beloved anchors in New York. New York MagaZine, Gotham is always writing about you. I think there’s like a whole vertical called Pat Kiernan on these websites. And so, first, it’s just a silly question, I mean how does it feel to be so popular? © 2015 Farnoosh, Inc. 1 And, you’re Canadian by the way, so it’s kind of, you know, funny that the most beloved New York anchor is from Canada. PK: Well, you don’t have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker, you know. FT: That’s true. That’s true. PK: I mean I’m not sure when you cross over but there’s a point of which… FT: I think it’s 10 years. PK: Really it’s just automatically 10 years? FT: I think so. I mean that’s my rule of thumb. PK: You know, it’s great, I mean if you are to look at it from an employment perspective, it’s great to have a job where people expect you to be there. They don’t want to see a substitute. They don’t want you to take time off. They expect you to be there and, you know, hopefully your employer will value that when it comes time to set your working arrangement for the next year. FT: Sure, there’s definitely some brand equity in Pat Kiernan, but your work spans many, many platforms: radio host, game show host. You are actually co-host with Kelly Ripa on her show when Regis was retiring and they were looking for a replacement. How was that? PK: It was fun. She’s great and I went to through an exercise in this past year looking for a co-host and it’s really hard work to bring somebody new in everyday and get their rhythm and bring them up to speed on what’s going to happen on the program and Kelly Ripa did that for a year and a half I think when they were trying to decide who would replace Regis. I was fortunate enough to be invited to do it 3 times and was one of the people in contention for it but, you know, I give her credit. She brings 100% every day and when they got through that process in a way that everybody felt like she gave them 100% of their attention along the way. So, it was great to be involved, I mean I met people who will get in touch from West and in Canada who hadn’t seen me in years, you know. FT: Oh, yeah. PK: I woke up this morning and saw you on with Kelly. FT: Yeah, your first grade buddies and your great aunt Judy, you know, everybody calls in and Kelly is phenomenal. She’s a really hard worker. She’s so genuinely nice. I’ve been grateful to be on the show a couple of times myself and it’s unlike any other program because… PK: You know that there are people in radio and television who are not necessarily what you see on TV, it’s not the same when you get behind the scenes but you know she’s the same person backstage or… FT: She’s the real deal. Yeah. PK: Or, on cam or. © 2015 Farnoosh, Inc. 2 FT: And, I would say the same about Michael Strahan. I think they’re a good pair and the show is wonderful. Well, let’s get back to you, Pat. You’re the star of our time together here and, you know, I wanted to have you on the show because for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been a straight shooter. You’re very practical and addition to that, this show is about money and you yourself have a work history in financial news. You were one of the anchors at the now defunct CNN FN where I was, by the way, an intern. I don’t think our paths crossed there but I do remember my time there fondly. And, you also have worked and sometimes still do work for a business news network in Canada. FT: What is maybe your financial philosophy, if I may ask? Maybe a money mantra that you adhere to that helps keep your money in check. PK: You know, one financial philosophy is if you can grow top line, you don’t have to trim expenses much. FT: So, make more, don’t save. Make more maybe is the… PK: Well, it’s good to save too but if, you know, you mentioned that I worked at CNN FN, I didn’t do that, I didn’t leave NY1. I figured a way to layer that on top of what I was doing in NY1. Same thing with the stuff I’ve done for Canada for a business news network when I did a show last year for CNbC called Crowd Rules that they cancelled after 2 episodes. but, you know, again that was an extra job that I managed to work in to the schedule. So, it’s great if you can add that on because that’s either money that can go straight into investments, straight into something you’ve been saving for and it doesn’t have to affect your daily lifestyle. FT: Yeah, I do that too. I compartmentaliZe my earnings sometimes because I also freelance and I have various revenue streams and it’s kind of helpful to think of like ‘this is my job that’s going to help pay for my mortgage’ or ‘this is the job that’s going to help us have a summer home if really want’, you know just only for that. PK: Right, it keeps you motivated on that, that you know, this is why I’m doing that. Here’s the tangible goal. Yes, this extra job is keeping me up at night but I’m going to do it for money, I’m going to power through it and that money has a very specific purpose. FT: And, you’re fortunate in that, you know, while you do have to get up a lot earlier than most of us, you’re on live at around 5am, you’re done by, what, 10, 11, most days. PK: Yeah. And then, I do have some flexibility and I realize that not everybody has that flexibility if you’ve got a job where your boss expects you to be in the office or out making calls 12 hours a day. You might not have the ability to add something on but it is a strategy when you ask about my financial philosophy that I have employed successfully. FT: And, it’s important in our field. I think in media it’s important to be able to do as many different projects and experiment with different types of work as possible because, you know, media while it’s an ever expanding world is also a shrinking world in terms of the kinds of jobs that you might be accustomed to.