Charlotte Anchor Leaving

WCCB Anchor Morgan Fogarty is teasing viewers and her co-workers about her new job.  And it looks like she is getting out while the getting is still good. 

Fogarty said yesterday that she is leaving the station after eight years.

“I’m leaving WCCB at the end of July to pursue a national TV news opportunity (I can’t say where or what yet),” Fogarty announced on her Facebook page.

“Over the years, my managers and co-workers have given me incredible opportunities and an incredible foundation, both professionally and personally,” she said.

Fogarty is the latest high-profile departure at the soon-to-be CW network affiliate. Her co-anchor, Israel Balderas, was fired last month after he became involved in an office confrontation with a co-worker.

In January, sports director Bruce Snyder left the station after a decade, and Ken White, WCCB’s news director since 2000, was ousted in February.

Fogarty, who came to Charlotte from a small station in Hagerstown, Md., leaves with about six months left on her contract and at a critical time for the station. In January, Fox notified WCCB that it would be switching its programming to WJZY after purchasing the station from Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting.

On July 1, the Fox programming – including lucrative ratings magnets like “American Idol,” NASCAR and Panthers games – will move to Channel 46, and WCCB will begin carrying network shows from the CW network.

Fogarty joined WCCB in 2005 and briefly worked on the station’s morning show. In 2007, she moved up to co-host of “Fox News Edge” with Christopher Frederick, better known as radio’s Brotha Fred, who left at the end of 2010 for a radio job in Chicago. She moved up to the 10 p.m. anchor news desk with Balderas in January 2011.