| CHANNEL SURFING Scorned by WTXF, Noonan moves behind the camera Former news anchor Rich Noonan is his own boss at Rich Noonan Productions in Chester Springs, Pa. By LAURA NACHMAN After getting unceremoniously dumped by WTXF in February, news anchor Rich Noonan became his own boss and started Rich Noonan Productions in Chester Springs, Pa. Noonan, 40, co-anchor of "The Ten O'clock News" since 1994, was initially told by Fox management that he could continue on the air until his contract expired at the end of February, but ended up being pulled off the air mid-month after management deemed his presence a "distraction." "It was a shame I wasn't allowed on the air to say goodbye to the viewers I served for over a decade," said Noonan, who began at Fox as a reporter and weekend anchor in 1990. Noonan said he was told that Fox wanted a "new look" for its "Ten O'clock News," which parted ways with Jill Chernekoff in November. "After getting my career cut short for no good reason, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't want to uproot my family (wife, Jennifer, a former photographer at Fox, daughter Kylie, 3, and a second child due at the end of August). I'm not going to get fired again because somebody doesn't like the way I look." Noonan is focusing his energies on his business, which makes CD, DVD and VHS brochures for companies including the Lower Makefield police department. He'll be traveling to Milan in September to do work for a company in Italy. "What I'm doing now is basically the same as TV - telling stories on video." Noonan wouldn't be the first Philadelphia personality to move behind the camera, joining former KYW "Evening Magazine" hosts Ray Murray and Nancy Glass who run their own production companies. For more information, call 1-866-NOONAN-1. HURRICANE WATCH Weekday weather anchor Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz will be signing copies of his book "The Philadelphia Weather Book" at the Borders stores in Wynnewood on Aug. 8, King of Prussia, Aug. 22, and Springfield (Delaware County), Aug.29. LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCAL For Puerto Rico's 50th anniversary as a commonwealth of the United States this month, WPHL will air a three-part report Friday, Saturday and Sunday during its 10 p.m. news. Conservative commentator and author, Ann Coulter, who recently tangled with Katie Couric on "The Today Show," will mix it up with Lynn Doyle on "It's Your Call," Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CN8. Coulter's book "Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right," is currently No. 1 on the New York Times Best-Sellers List; Colette Kennedy, most recently of WMAR-TV in Baltimore, Md., will substitute for WCAU weekend weather anchor Kathy Orr while she is on maternity leave. Orr is expecting her first child July 30.
Leave a message for Laura Nachman at [email protected].
July 18, 2002
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