Brian Kilmeade struck out a lot trying to make it as a news anchor before becoming one of the most beloved faces on Fox News.
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Kilmeade → strike → News
The veteran host is now celebrating an epic 30 years at the network.
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host → celebrate → network
“I got thousands of rejection letters…
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I → get → letters
I kept a lot of them,” Kilmeade, 62, told The Post, recalling his time as just another 30-something-year-old man trying to catch his break in the 1990s.
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Kilmeade → keep → 1990s
“Some people look at my tape and say, ‘One thing I know for sure is I’m never hiring that guy,'” the broadcaster, who is known for his self-deprecating humor on “Fox & Friends” each morning, quipped.
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who → look → Fox
But Long Islander never pouted.
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Islander → pout → ?
Instead, he used the rejections as emotional fuel.
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he → use → fuel
“I found it inspiring,” Kilmeade said, “‘I just said, ‘Okay, it’s not going to stop me.
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it → find → me
The more I get, the closer I’m going to get to a yes.”
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I → get → yes
After persistently bouncing around stations on the East and West coasts, his big break finally came 30 years ago on Oct. 7, 1996, when a startup called Fox News took a chance on him.
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startup → bounce → him
Kilmeade began on the network’s first-ever day with a ground-floor fill-in gig at Fox’s then-basement studio space and newsroom inside an old Sam Goody music store.
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Kilmeade → begin → store
“It was like what I imagine it felt like walking into the Yankee locker room when they were the Highlanders,” he said.
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he → imagine → room
“You could tell this place was built to win.”
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place → tell → ?
The new network took tons of flak after its launch over its news structure and headline formatting, Kilmeade said — but it didn’t deter the newfound staff, who were excited to be disruptors.
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who → take → staff
“It was like the Bill Parcells attitude: ‘show the experts why they’re wrong,” the host said.
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host → show → experts
“That whole attitude still exists today.”
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attitude → exist → ?
Kilmeade, a former soccer player at Long Island University, was eventually offered a full-time contract for a sports show in 1997, but he could read the writing on the wall.
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he → offer → wall
He saw the “world going turbo speed” between the death of Princess Diana, the Bosnian War, and the Bush vs. Gore election, and knew formatting changes were a guarantee.
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changes → see → Gore
“It became pretty clear that there was no room for a sports show,” Kilmeade said.
“But if I could do news, I could probably stick around.”
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I → become → news
Kilmeade cemented himself as a viewer favorite in the years that followed, covering iconic news cycles like Sept. 11, the War on Terror, and the historic election of President Barack Obama.
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that → cement → Obama
It wasn’t just his sharp interview skills — or willingness to get only four hours of sleep a night — that helped win over the national audience and celebrities alike.
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that → get → audience
The “Fox and Friends” host earned trust and admiration through relatability, still taking the Long Island Railroad home from work like anyone else.
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host → earn → anyone
“They treat me like I’m a neighbor,” he said, adding that fellow commuters ask about the state of the world on the ride home from Manhattan.
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commuters → treat → Manhattan
He also didn’t come from aristocracy or a broadcast legacy like others in the business – instead, an Irish-Italian, soccer-loving Massapequa family that inspired his unrivaled work ethic.
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that → come → ethic
“You can’t take a day for granted,” Kilmeade said.
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Kilmeade → take → day
“I never think to myself, ‘well, I’m set now.’”
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I → think → myself
Kilmeade’s upbringing also impressed upon him the importance of news, as he would always see his politics-loving dad, James, read Time Magazine.
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dad → impress → Magazine
They would watch debates, Vietnam protests, and speeches from Martin Luther King, Jr. before he tragically died in a car crash while Kilmeade and his brothers were teens.
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Kilmeade → watch → crash
“He would have probably just loved to have been a part of all this,” Kilmeade said, reflecting on three decades at Fox.
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Kilmeade → love → Fox
“Going to the White House – interviewing the president, going to Kuwait.”
Kilmeade is also celebrating his 30th year at the network with a nod to America’s 250th birthday.
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Kilmeade → go → birthday
The book was inspired by interviews he conducted with historians for Fox Nation’s “What Made America Great,” as well as his previous books on the origins of the USA.
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America → inspire → USA
“I was able to talk to them and get an idea of what I thought were the six moments that really made our country what it was today,” Kilmeade said.
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Kilmeade → talk → idea
The Aporia
