Fox’s Anna Kooiman says she learned lessons at Charlotte station
Some of her success at the Fox News Channel, says Charlotte native Anna Kooiman, probably comes from the experience she got hosting the morning “News Rising” show at hometown WCCB (Channel 18).
Kooiman joined the morning show in 2008 after a job in Toledo, Ohio, and stayed for three years until getting the network job in New York at the end of 2011.
“News Rising,” which airs for four hours each morning without much scripting, gave her a chance to learn how to comfortably ad-lib.
“That was a unique experience I got on ‘Rising’ that is missing in a lot of these chat shows,” says Kooiman. “You’re not reading a teleprompter. You have to be comfortable in your own skin. Ad-libbing is something many anchors would struggle with.”
Plus, she was co-hosting with the colorful Mark Mathis, one of the most unpredictable stars in the history of Charlotte television.
“Mathis was such a loose cannon,” says Kooiman. “He’d say something inappropriate or hilarious or the facts would be wrong.”
She still keeps in touch with her former co-anchor, now working as a TV meteorologist in San Diego, and hopes to see him soon when he visits New York.
Kooiman will be one of the hosts this year of the Fox News Channel’s “All-American New Year” at 9 p.m. Wednesday. She will be outside the Knickerbocker Hotel in Times Square with other Fox notables Jesse Watters, Bob Beckel, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Lisa Kennedy. Kooiman, a former fitness instructor, has a few segments on getting in shape for the new year.
She has brought her exercise regimen with her to Fox. She ran and reported at the Boston Marathon this year, on the first anniversary of the bombing, and also the New York Marathon, where she raised more than $50,000 in pledges for a military charity.
Kooiman, 30, who graduated from Myers Park High School and UNC Wilmington, started her career at Wilmington’s ABC affiliate before she went to Toledo. Her family still lives in Charlotte and runs the Peppermint Forest Christmas Shop in Pineville, where she had her first job at 14, pricing ornaments in the warehouse.
While on WCCB’s morning show, she’d mention the shop to help promote it, something she recently managed to continue at Fox. A few weeks ago, when the network sent some anchors back to their hometowns for Christmas features, she took her crew for a tour of the shop.
Kooiman’s main job is hosting the weekend morning “Fox & Friends Weekend” show. She gained temporary notoriety there in 2013 when she mentioned that President Obama offered to pay personally to reopen a museum of Muslim culture during the government shutdown. It turned out that the source of that information was a satiric article on the parody website “National Report.” Kooiman apologized the following day, saying it wouldn’t happen again.
It hasn’t and Kooiman’s latest contract, signed earlier this year, contained a promotion from correspondent to anchor.
Her other media attention outside the Fox focus came this month on Howard Stern’s Sirius/XM satellite radio show when producer J.D. Harmeyer named her No. 1 on his list of Fox News Channel hotties.
She doesn’t listen to Stern, but quickly heard about the compliment from acquaintances who don’t necessarily follow the news but listen to Stern.
Kooiman says she enjoys living in her small apartment with her 100-pound Labrador retriever, Baxter.
“I’m loving it. I miss home and Southern food and my mom’s carrot cake, but I love it here. It’s the best place I’ve worked,” she says. “I see myself sticking at Fox. I plan to stay for a long time.”
Media Movers
WSOC (Channel 9) chief meteorologist Steve Udelson will hold the 11th year of his “Steve’s Coats for Kids” campaign next month. Viewers can drop off gently used coats Jan. 14 at the station’s studios at 1901 North Tryon Street. Coats collected during the annual drive are distributed by the Crisis Assistance Ministry. …
Molly Grantham returns to the Channel 3 anchor desk on Jan. 5 after maternity leave. … Candice Boling, a graduate of East Lincoln High School and UNC Asheville who interned at WBTV (Channel 3), joins the CBS affiliate in Greenville, N.C., as weekend meteorologist from a Bowling Green, Ky., station. …
Doug Mayes, who became WBTV’s news anchorman in 1952 and later worked for WSOC (Channel 9), celebrated his 93rd birthday this month. … Former WCNC (Channel 36) general manager Tim Morrissey takes over as general manager of the ABC affiliate in Savannah, Ga. …
Central Piedmont Community College has named Anasa Sinegal as director for its new Digital Media, Journalism & Communication Division which uses the college’s WTVI (Channel 42) studios as a laboratory. Set to launch in August 2015, the program will unify teaching in digital applications, social media marketing, gaming development, digital film, journalism and other communication disciplines.
This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Fox’s Anna Kooiman says she learned lessons at Charlotte station."