It's Debra Morgan's last day on-air at WRAL. Here's when to tune in
Wednesday, May 21 is the last day on air for WRAL's longtime anchor Debra Morgan.
The station, owned by Capitol Broadcasting, announced in April that Morgan would be leaving the station after more than 32 years there.
Morgan joined WRAL as an anchor in 1993. Until two years ago, she was co-anchor with Gerald Owens at 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m., but starting in May 2023, Morgan scaled back her schedule to co-anchor at 5 and 6 p.m. only.
Morgan said at the time that the more flexible schedule allowed her better work-life balance: 'I'm looking forward to spending evenings with my husband for the first time in our marriage,' she said.
Ashley Rowe, who is currently on maternity leave, took over the 7 and 11 p.m. newscasts at the time.
In a recent video posted on Facebook by WRAL, Morgan and her co-anchor Owens reminisced about Morgan's first day at the station.
Morgan said on her first day, January 18, 1993, President Bill Clinton was about to be inaugurated, so she and Mark Roberts went down to Clinton, NC, in Sampson County, to talk to people there.
'People were sending their mail to Clinton to be able to get the postmark that said Clinton on it,' she said. She went on to say that back then, they had to drive back to Raleigh to turn in their footage, but Mark Roberts kept going up to people to say hello and shake their hands.
'It was the first time I really noticed that people care about WRAL,' she said.
In her time at WRAL, Morgan has reported from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and from Paris in the aftermath of deadly terrorist attacks in 2015. On her WRAL bio, she lists among her most memorable assignments 'doing live reports (soaked in beer!) from Franklin Street when UNC won it all in 1993' and being shot at by the father of one of the suspects in the killing of Michael Jordan's father while trying to get an interview.
Morgan is a 12-time Emmy Award winner and a multiple winner of the Anchor of the Year award by the NC Association of Broadcasters and RTDNAC. She is a Florida native and graduate of the University of Miami.
'Debra has been a trailblazer in our business and a newsroom leader — and she's a great human being,' WRAL news director Mike Friedrich told The News & Observer in April.
'She has wonderful sensibilities of what people in the Triangle and North Carolina need from a news organization — really having a special touch and caring about viewers, and putting viewers first…The ripple effect of how many journalists she's been able to touch and teach and mentor, you can't even calculate it.'
Morgan's broadcast will be May 21 at 6 p.m., when the station will air a special tribute.
Friedrich said WRAL will make an announcement about who will replace Morgan at a later date.
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