Oh, Brotha! Fred is back in Charlotte (sort of). Will this WCCB-TV reunion work?
When the broadcaster formerly known as Brotha’ Fred tries to explain the distinctions between the WCCB-TV evening-magazine show he left 15 years ago and the revived incarnation he’s returning to for the Charlotte station starting Tuesday, it takes a minute for him to think of how best to stir the pot.
After all, much of the show known then and now as “The Edge” is designed to stay the same.
Launched in 2002 with co-hosts Ashley Anderson and Mark Mathis and helmed for many years by WCCB star Morgan Fogarty (including from 2007-2010, with Fred), the half-hour-long “Edge” will again be a loosely scripted affair that focuses on provocative opinions, spirited debates and plenty of snark pertaining to the news and pop-culture topics of the day. It will again be in the 10:30 p.m. slot every weeknight, following the late-evening newscast, which Fogarty anchors.
It also will, once again, pair Fred with Fogarty, while heightening the throwback feel by reinserting longtime on-again/off-again WCCB personality Anderson into the mix.
But the show — popular with younger adults back when Fred, Fogarty and Anderson belonged to that demographic themselves — returns from the shelf it’s been on since 2023 with fresh challen — oh, wait. Fred’s ready to deliver his hot take:
“I think we’ve all hopefully improved our games over the years,” says Fred (née Christopher Frederick), who at 44 is the same age as Fogarty; Anderson is 52. “We’ve built brands, and we want this to be good, because we certainly care about the product that we put out. At the same time, we’re not trying to build careers anymore.
“So I think it’ll be an evolved product, but there’ll also be a nothing-to-lose mentality. If they — well, I’ll speak for myself; if they fire me because I say something stupid, I don’t really care.”
A silence hangs in the air of the conference room at WCCB’s offices for a few seconds.
“Mm-hmm,” Anderson says, nodding slowly. After another couple seconds, she deadpans, “Yeah, I don’t want to get fired.”
Fogarty leans in to contribute. “I don’t either. I would not like to get fired, Beverly —” she says, referring to Beverly Bahakel, president and CEO of the company that owns WCCB. “— if you’re listening.”
The new “Edge” trio then bursts into laughter, and once it dies down, Fred says, for the record: “Well, I don’t wanna get fired either.”
Also, for the record, Fred is joining this otherwise-in-person conversation by phone. That’s because he still is based in the Midwest — and he’ll continue to be, as host of “The Fred Show” for Chicago’s 103.5 KISS FM (and iHeart radio stations nationwide in syndication). Indeed, “The Edge” simply represents an additional job for Fred, not a wholesale job change.
So how exactly will this all work? He, Fogarty and Anderson are here to explain. While trying not to get each other fired.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. So whose idea was this?
Fogarty: I mean, I’ve been pushing for “The Edge” for years to come back. So we finally got to this point where they said, “OK, we’ll do ‘The Edge’ again. Who do you want to be your co-host?” I said, “Ashley.” They said, “Oh, great!” I had no idea that Fred was an option. They said, “What about also Fred?” I laughed, and was like, “Of course!”
Fred (sarcastically): “Yeah, I guess.”
Fogarty: We always said (anytime Fred would pop in to do a special-guest appearance when she was hosting the former “Edge”), “This is it. We are never doing this again together.” And we always do it again together.
Fred: They called me a few weeks ago and said, “Hey, we’re making some changes, and we’re going to relaunch this franchise, and, you know, is there any way you can do it?” I said, “I will only do it if Morgan is a hundred percent into the idea. If this isn’t something that she wholeheartedly thinks is an amazing idea, then we don’t need to resuscitate this — at least not with me. I need her total buy-in.” And I didn’t realize Ashley was even an option. So that was just sort of an amazing addition to this, with multiple generations of this show now back together to make it even better.
Q. “A few weeks ago”? How quickly did this come together?
Anderson: Two weeks.
Fogarty: It was fast, yeah. I was at the beach this summer, the last week of July, and that was when I started hearing rumblings of “Fred! Fred! Fred!,” and “The Edge! The Edge!” Then Beverly Bahakel sent me an email and said, “When you get back from vacation, let’s have a meeting, because I’ve got some exciting stuff I want to update you on.” And that week I got back, all of this was laid out and explained, and we jumped in. That was the first week of August, and we’re now in the last week of August. So it’s been very fast.
Fred (laughing): I have a feeling that on Tuesday night, you’ll recognize how fast it was.
Fogarty: We’re gonna be relying on muscle memory.
Anderson (laughing): Yeah, exactly. It was never a super —
Anderson and Fogarty (in unison): — polished.
Fogarty: That was the fun of “The Edge.” Like, if the prompter went crazy, or the clip didn’t roll, or the video was wrong —
Anderson: — or the cockroach runs across the floor in front of us.
Fogarty: Or, you know, if one of our worker guys accidentally bumps a camera or something, then we can break the fourth wall and have fun and not be like, “Ohhh gosh, OK, let’s go to the weather! Get us out of this!”
Anderson: Yeah, we can just acknowledge it.
Q. But just to confirm, Fred: You’re not moving back to Charlotte, right?
Fred: I’m not moving back to Charlotte. We’re working on how I will be remotely involved from my living room, or bedroom, or whatever. I hopefully would have some role each night, in some way. But I do plan to be there in Charlotte a lot more, because I’m able to do the radio show remotely from there. I have that luxury.
Fogarty: And he could get fired. I mean, you never know.
Anderson: Don’t jinx it!
Fogarty (laughing): By Chicago, I mean!
Q. What kind of reaction have you gotten so far to the announcement?
Fred: I really couldn’t believe the response, honestly. I can’t believe, 15 years later, anybody here cares. But they seem to.
Fogarty: You’re memorable.
Fred: Well, there’s that.
Fogarty: And you have, you know, children here. Maybe.
Anderson: Still waiting on the 23andMe, right?
Fred (laughing): It’s possible.
Q. Well, on the way in I was surprised to run into (former WCCB sports anchor/reporter) Kelli Bartik, who said she was just re-hired by the station. And then there’s you three, who all have left WCCB and come back at some point or another. I mean, if this level of boomerang-ing has happened at other stations in town, I’m not aware of it.
Anderson: I think a lot of times, people are just waiting for the next step. And once you get to a certain point in your life, you realize the grass is not always greener. It’s just grass.
Fred: And if you go to Chicago for 15 years then you come back, the station somehow thinks that you’ve made it. So this time, I don’t have to work for Bojangles gift cards, which is exciting.
Anderson (laughing): But you won’t turn one down.
Fred: No, I would have taken one. But don’t tell them that now.
Anderson: One of the things that is unique about “The Edge” — and our station, by extension — is the personality factor. That’s what has always set us apart from other stations: We’re not pretending to be newspeople on the air. We’re not cookie-cutter news anchors or broadcasters or hosts. We’re allowed to have our own personality and own style. And I think that’s what makes “The Edge” really resonate with viewers.
Fred: Yeah, I give the station a lot of credit over the years, because this broke the rules. And, you know, other traditional TV news journalists, I think they hated this. They’re like, “We’re storytellers and journalists, and we’re technically sound, and we’re objective — and then they put this idiot on TV, and he does all this stupid stuff, and it sort of degrades the whole thing.” But I totally disagree. Because you look at someone like Morgan, who is all of those things — an amazing storyteller, technically sound anchor and reporter, all the accolades — but then on this show, she can do what most news anchors can’t do, and that’s be vulnerable and be expressive and have an opinion and show some personality. That’s why people still tune in for however long it’s been, because they can identify with her in ways that I don’t necessarily think they identify with other members of the news media — to their disadvantage.
Fogarty: I mean, other news anchors in town would sort of rib me, like, “Ohh, ‘The Edge,’ ooo-kay.” But then when you talked further with them, they all wanted to do it. They all thought it would be fun.
Q. But Morgan, didn’t you find yourself in tight spots because journalists are supposed to be objective?
Fogarty: Yes! Fred put me in tight spots all the time. I think that was part of the learning, though, and the stretching as a talent. He had none of those barriers and none of those filters, so there would be times where he would say things and he could see or feel me radiating nervousness, and then he would continue, because that was his job — and it would make me extremely uncomfortable. But you learn how to be a better on-air talent, by being able to handle that. And I think one of the most interesting parts of this new era of “The Edge” is that I am a — hopefully — better, more-experienced talent now, and I can react better to Fred and be a better partner to him on-air, and be a better partner to Ashley on-air, because I have lived more life. We were just all in very different seasons of life when we did “The Edge” in the past, and it’ll be exciting to see how we relate to each other on-air now, with this different life experience behind us.
Q. I do wonder, though: I know Fred did some appearances on “The Edge” over the years remotely, but as a regular thing, can the chemistry be as good if he’s not with you in-person, do you think?
Fogarty: It’ll be different. We wish that Fred was here with us every night, obviously. I think Fred understands that, too. When we started talking about what this would look like and feel like, having Fred be part of it in-person was and is the goal, the best thing that can happen. But having Fred with us in a box also can work.
Fred: Well, and I’ll say this: If I hadn’t worked with Morgan and Ashley before, I would never have signed on to do this, this way. And the point of reference I can make is that I do the radio show from our affiliates a lot — away from Chicago and the group — but I have at least 10 years of history with the folks in the room there. I know the chemistry and the mannerisms, I know what they’re gonna say, and the timing. It’s not ideal for me to be in Raleigh, or me to be in Salt Lake City, or whatever. But the radio show still works when I am, and I think this will work, too. It will be different. But I know that the chemistry is there. I know these people. We have a very long tenure together. Otherwise, I don’t think I’d do it.
Fogarty: And also, you know, I think about Travis (Kelce) and Taylor (Swift) doing the podcast with — the other one. Whatever his name is.
Anderson: Jason (Kelce)!
Fogarty: Jason. Sorry.
Anderson: He’s the funniest one!
Fogarty (laughing): I just don’t care.
Anderson (laughing): I care enough for both of us, it’s OK.
Fogarty: But yeah, with podcasting, that model still works. They’re not all in the same room, but it still works. We can bring ourselves together digitally.
Fred: I hope it works. I hope people like it. If it doesn’t, I’ll still be grateful we got to sort of revisit it. It’s very rare you get to revisit something from your past that was really special, and do it with the same people.
Fogarty: And if Fred gets fired by Chicago — well, then he’ll be able to be with us in-person every night.
Where to watch “WCCB News Edge”
The station will air a “Best of The Edge” at 10:30 p.m. Monday — Labor Day — then launches with its first new live show at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Fred will be in the studio in Charlotte for the premiere. Channel info: Over the air on Channel 18.1; Channel 11 or 1212 on Spectrum; Channel 18 on DirecTV and DISH TV; Channel 1018 on AT&T U-verse; and Channel 0111 on Comporium.
This story was originally published September 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM.
