Turning Back the Dial: Brittany Morgan
We sat down with Brittany Morgan as she remembers her time at WTAP.
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - “...A bunch of people coming together to take part in something that was really hard. It’s still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Getting to do those live football broadcasts, but I learned so much and it really developed a lot of the skills that I was really eager to get to develop.”
Brittany Morgan started working at WTAP in May of 2018 as a weekend reporter. She eventually became the Daybreak and Noon anchor for about two years until July of 2021. Originally from Springfield, VA, Morgan came to WTAP after graduating from college and leaving home for the first time.
“So as a broadcast journalism graduate, I started applying for jobs all over the country, I applied to WTAP and Phillip Hickman called me. I had a demo reel that I made myself after college, and for some reason he saw something he believed in. He really kind of saw something in me, believed in me, and hired me with when I really kind of had nothing much to bring to the table except for an eagerness to learn, and it means a lot to me that he was able to give me that chance and develop me sort of to where I am now.”
During her time at WTAP, Morgan said that one of her favorite parts was helping with sports.
“One of my favorite things that I did get to do at WTAP, when I was doing Daybreak, I also did sideline reporting for Football Frenzy Extra. Jim and Mike would be up in the booth, and I would get to sideline report, Thomas Battle, the morning meteorologist, would be in the truck doing instant replay stuff. A bunch of people [were] coming together to take part in something that was really hard. It’s still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done getting to do those live football broadcasts, but I learned so much and it really developed a lot of the skills that I was really eager to get to develop.”
Morgan eventually left WTAP for a position as a reporter in Roanoke, VA, which eventually led her back into sports.
“So, I left WTAP for an opportunity in Roanoke, VA, at WDBJ 7. It’s a Gray sister station with WTAP. I was a Monday through Friday reporter for them, MMJ, one-man-band type of reporter, and now I’m actually the Sports Director for WDBJ 7, so, I’m the Jim Wharton of the number one station in Roanoke. I’ve been doing a lot of work. It’s football season. Obviously, we have our own version of Football Frenzy. It’s called Friday Football Extra, so this past spring I’ve traveled to cover the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team to Seattle. On their run to the final four, we were in Dallas for that as well. So, this job’s taking me all over and that’s pretty much the priority right now. But I don’t think I’d have. It any other way I’m really enjoying it.”
Even though she isn’t originally from the Mid-Ohio Valley, Morgan says that the sense of support from the community meant a lot to her.
“Where I’m from, our high school football games aren’t covered on Friday nights. Our band rehearsals don’t get news coverage. Even if, you know, they win these big awards. One of the most special things about working in the Mid-Ohio Valley for me was the way the community truly valued the local journalism. The way that they supported us, the way that they encouraged us to be ourselves, and I don’t know if you’d get that in in anywhere else that not to the level that we did, these people, they still will message us, they still will reach out and say that we’re missed and that that means a lot as someone who came into the Mid-Ohio Valley not really knowing what to expect, and feeling kind of uncomfortable just with finding my sea legs when I was there. It’s a special place to be because of the people that make up that community.”
Before leaving, Morgan left off with one more sentiment about her time at WTAP.
“For me, WTAP was super special, particularly because of the people. It was a really unified front there and we took care of each other, and we were all in the same boat, we were all far from family, we were all spending Christmas alone and Thanksgiving alone. It’s a really hard business to be a part of, and it’s also really easy to be really competitive in a business like this, but I didn’t feel that when I was there, not with those people, they were truly some of the best friends I’ve ever made and being able to look back and see how blessed I was to experience my first taste of a very difficult business to be successful in with those people. I’m just very grateful and a lot of that is because of the kind of people that WTAP hires and because of the kind of people that are in the Mid-Ohio Valley community.”
L.V. Hissem for WTAP News. This Is Home.
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