Al Roker Receives Key To The City For 70th Birthday

NEW YORK CITY — Longtime TODAY show weatherman Al Roker was presented with a key to New York City by Mayor Eric Adams Tuesday for his 70th birthday.

Roker was born and raised in Queens and has worked for NBC'S TODAY for nearly 30 years.

Roker said he never imagined a kid from Queens would be receiving such an honor.

“This is really special. I love this city and grew up here with my dad working as a New York City bus driver in Brooklyn. I’m so very blessed and lucky."

Mayor Adams called Roker 'a morning institution' in the households of New Yorkers and Americans across the nation.

" A child of Queens, Al worked his way up the ranks to become the defining weatherman of his generation, leaping from local broadcast news and into living rooms across the country. We have spent everything from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades to Olympics to generation defining breaking news together with Al. Today, we celebrate an iconic New Yorker who taught us ‘what’s happening in our neck of the woods,'" Adams said.

"I’m honored to deliver the Key to the City to ‘America’s weatherman.'"

The Key to the City of New York was first awarded in 1702 by New York City Mayor Phillip French, when he offered “Freedom of the City” to Viscount Edward Cornbury, governor of New York and New Jersey.

The Key to the City of New York is a beloved symbol of civic recognition and gratitude reserved for individuals whose service to the public and the common good rises to the highest level of achievement, officials said.