David Muir has already had quite a big year, and we still have nearly three months left before it ends!
Between marking milestones on the air and his moderation of the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the 50-year-old TV anchor’s profile has grown quite a bit.
Back in September, David marked ten years to the day he started anchoring World News Tonight, the leading primetime news show on ABC News and one of the highest rated programs in its category nationwide.
When he sat down for a rare interview of his own with his friends Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on LIVE with Kelly and Mark, he spoke about reaching that milestone and the journey it took.
The journalist was born in Syracuse, and shared a childhood photo of himself and his dad Ronald Muir sitting behind a newsdesk, and he explained that he developed an unbridled fascination with the news at a young age.
“I was a total nerd,” he admitted to the hosts. “In the backyard, everyone was playing. And I’d be out there too, but then I’d be like, ‘I gotta go inside, it’s time for the news!’ So I’d go in and watch the news.”
He recalled then that his drive and ambition was strong even in his early teens, revealing that he’d started visiting a local TV station soon after and even began interning there, a really early start.
“I started visiting the station at 13 years old, I started interning at 14,” he shared. “Obviously, my dad and my mom would take me, so I’m grateful to them.”
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“And I’m grateful to everybody in that newsroom because, this is what we all have to remember, this was just a kid with a dream, and they let me show up. And there was a new news director, I got in when there was no boss. That was the only reason a kid at that age could get in.”
“They convinced the new boss to let me keep coming, so I’m grateful to them. And I always try to remember that, when people write to us or reach out to us,” he concluded.
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Alongside the photo on social media, David penned: “Ten years ago today I started anchoring World News Tonight. I’m so grateful to this team and to the viewers. I’ve been at this for a bit — my Dad and me, 1987 — our on-air chemistry was off the charts.”
David grew up interning and working with local news stations in his native Syracuse, anchoring the college news program at Ithaca College. He graduated with a journalism degree in 1995.
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He was a full-time reporter for WTVH-TV from 1994-2000, and worked for three years after with the ABC-owned WCVB before joining ABC News full-time in 2003.
After years serving as the lead anchor of the weekend editions of the primetime news show, he was made co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20 in 2013 alongside Elizabeth Vargas (who was succeeded by Amy Robach, and now Deborah Roberts). He officially was named lead anchor and Managing Editor of World News Tonight in 2014.