As Diane Sawyer walks away, David Muir is next in the batting order.

He said that it was a moment that he dreamed would come:

“Diane, George [Stephanopoulos] and I knew weeks before the announcement. Three reporters kept this news quiet. Trembling inside, I silently carried that within me. There were predictions. It was a guessing game. I’ve dreamt of this moment but never pushed for it. There was no guarantee, no contract promises, nothing written that I’d get it.”

Any fears?

“My stomach has butterflies. I’ve anchored with no prompter, been in a terror attack, reported from Gaza, Ukraine, covered famine as the first journalist in Mogadishu, lived under al Qaeda fire thinking it’s an invasion, slept with garbage bags on the floor in a hurricane without food, electricity, everyone screaming and me reporting out a window.”

Any relaxation?

“I eat nothing all day then, after saying good night, mac ’n’ cheese — everything. To sounds of music I try 25 minutes a day at the gym, treadmill, stairs. I work writing and rewriting right up to airtime.

“There’s the moment you have to do it. And it’s always fear at the end of a show. I hate anybody thinking I think I’m special. Nothing great about me. I’m just a normal upstate guy with parents to thank and I drive myself crazy to be better.”

H/T Page Six