13 fascinating facts about Erin Kiernan:
• I am an only child.
• I could save your life – I know CPR.
• I have extraordinarily long toes. I can pick things up with them.
• My husband proposed to me on St. Patrick's Day. We got married in the Madison County Church visited by Pope John Paul in 1979. My husband grew up there and was blessed by John Paul during the visit.
• I was storm chasing more than a decade ago and an anchor sent me straight into a developing tornado.
• As a child I had a pet rabbit and a pet chicken. My Grandpa Gene once said, "It's a good thing Erin didn't ask for an elephant!"
• I played the piano and the clarinet as a kid and can't play either now.
• I have a Voodoo kit on my desk (a gift from Sonya Heitshusen).
• I have a tattoo and a piercing and wish I'd never gotten either. (Why is your mother always right about these things?)
• I had a retainer for a couple of weeks in grade school before "accidentally" throwing it away during hot lunch. Consequently, I still have an overbite.
• In the middle of an interview, Steve Miller serenaded me with "…... really like your peaches, wanna shake your treeeeeee...."
• My dad still sometimes calls me "The Dawes County Styler" because I won first place in a Dawes County, Nebraska 4-H modeling contest.
• My birth was delayed because my mother went into labor during a Nebraska football game.
Erin Kiernan was a Channel 13 intern and part-time reporter during college and rejoined the team in June 2005 to play a major role in the station's ongoing success. In June 2006, Erin started anchoring the 5, 6 and 10 o'clock newscasts.
In addition to anchoring, Erin has written and produced many of the station's investigative and "13 Cares" reports and plays an active role in the daily news process.
The recipient of several regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for her reporting work, Erin earned a National Edward R. Murrow Award in 2012 with photojournalists Brandon McCauley and Randy Schumacher for a story about Iowan Mark Block overcoming impossible odds to climb Sears Tower in Chicago. Erin has also received regional Emmy Awards in the feature, consumer and instructional categories. In 2008, the Iowa Commission of Persons with Disabilities chose Erin to receive its Media Award following special reports she produced on Iowans with disabilities.
Erin previously anchored the weekend news at KCCI, where she started in 1998. In addition to anchoring, she became known for her award-winning investigative work and special series pieces. In Spring 2004, she received a regional Edward R. Murrow award for her two-part series on date-rape drugs. In 2000, she also received a regional Murrow Award for her investigative series "True Colors," which focused on racism at bars in the Des Moines metro area. She has also done investigative series reports on identity theft, sex offenders, arson, ecstasy, meth and unlicensed drivers.
Erin graduated from Drake University with a degree in broadcast journalism. While attending school, she worked as a part-time reporter at Channel 13 News. Next, she worked for WOI-TV as a reporter and photographer.
Born and raised in Chadron, Nebraska, she says her career in broadcasting really started when she imitated television news reporters while dressing up in her mother's clothes as a child.
Erin is very involved in our community. She volunteers for various non-profits and teaches fitness classes at the YMCA. During the summer Erin can be found outside biking and as a Nebraska native, she gets "Big Red" fever during the football season. She is also a voracious reader and loves watching movies with her husband, Michael and crazy old cat, Marley.
