‘People wanted a catfight.’ The friendly rivalry and unlikely friendship of 2 TV anchors
WCCB news anchor Morgan Fogarty is asked to pick a single word to describe WBTV news anchor Molly Grantham, and she offers up one word almost reflexively, barely giving the question a moment to sink in.
“Intense,” Fogarty says, firmly.
“Oh,” Grantham says with an air of disappointment, scrunching her face into a frown. “Well, that sounds really negative.”
“No, it’s positive!” Fogarty says, sounding surprised by the reaction. Grantham lets out a laugh that’s half-teasing, half-yeah-right-sure-it-is, as Fogarty tries to reset: “You’re full-throttle. Alright, should I say full-throttle?”
The two women are sitting on a sofa in the sun room of Grantham’s house on the edge of Wesley Heights outside of uptown Charlotte. And while on paper it might appear as though they’re not on the same wavelength at this particular moment, in person — as they engage in a Tuesday morning conversation that sprawls into the afternoon — it’s plain to see that they are incredibly and amusingly in sync with each other.
That they’re taking great pleasure in this bit of back and forth, and that they take great pleasure in each other’s company just generally speaking.
They know it’s unusual, but it’s true: Despite having the same job at different Charlotte TV news stations, despite technically being rivals, Fogarty and Grantham each consider the other to be one of their very best friends.
In fact, the two women have so many things in common that it’s no surprise they get along so well.
Some of those things are superficial: They’re both women in their early 40s (Grantham turned 44 on May 11, Fogarty turned 40 on May 22) who have blonde hair and first names beginning with the letters Mo.
Some have to do with geography: They both grew up in the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as children of the ’80s and ’90s, having attended high schools only 5 miles apart, then both ended up settling 500-plus miles from their hometown in the same North Carolina metropolis as adults.
Still others are related to their home lives: They both are married and have multiple young children. Fogarty has son Sawyer, 9, and daughter Sadie, 6. Grantham has daughter Parker, 10, and sons Hutch, 6, and Hobie, 1 next week. And they both work 2 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday.
But while there are those who would expect the pair to ignore their many commonalities and focus on being rivals, Fogarty and Grantham have laughed off the assumptions.
“It’s an unlikely friendship, but it’s a sincere friendship,” Grantham says. “And, I mean, it’s a great friendship. But I do think sometimes people would be like, ‘Huh. Really? That’s interesting.’ We’ve gone out to places and people have said that.”
“Yeah,” Fogarty adds, “or even in the newsroom if we have a new employee, or a newer employee, and I say, ‘Oh, yeah, Molly...’ and they’re like, ‘Oh! Are you and Molly friends?’ ‘Yeah, we’re friends.’ ‘Like in real life?’ ‘Yeah, in real life!’”
Last month, they both gave a peek into what that real-life friendship looks like, by posting photos on Instagram of a short vacation they spent together in Kure Beach. Just the two of them and their kids, sans husbands, for three days and two nights.
Though it was hardly the first time photos of the two anchors have been shared publicly, it seemed like an opportunity to get them to talk publicly — for the first time — about how they’ve become such close friends.
This is an oral history of Molly Grantham and Morgan Fogarty’s rather unlikely relationship, in their own words.
(The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
‘People wanted a catfight’
Grantham: When we first were both here reporting (Grantham arrived in Charlotte in 2003, Fogarty in 2005), pounding the pavement, working all these stories — similar crime scenes, similar sources, similar things — people would say, “Oh, do you know Morgan?” And (she turns to Fogarty) you always had people who’d say, “Oh, do you know Molly?” We’re like, “Yeah. Yes. We know each other. I don’t really know her know her. But I know of her, yeah.”
Fogarty: “I know she works here.” (Laughs.)
Grantham: That was it.
Fogarty: I think we were both more aware of and interested in maintaining some sort of professional boundary. Why, I don’t necessarily know. We were just laser-focused on work at that point. There wasn’t really room, I don’t think, in our orbits to navigate that sort of a relationship. I mean, I was 23 years old. We both got here, we established ourselves independently, we did our thing. When you first start out in your career, you’re like a dog with a bone.
Grantham: Yeah, and if there’s only one story, and we’re both covering cops, and it’s down there at the police station, it was like, Are the people gonna tell Morgan the story or tell Molly the story?
Fogarty: I remember one court case in particular that the whole city was paying attention to, and Molly was in the courtroom and I was in the courtroom and she ended getting an exclusive afterward and I was like (she clenches both fists, tightens her mouth and grunts), MMMMMmm! (Sighs.) Good for her. (Both laugh.) But when you’re that young and your job is to best each other every day, of course we were aware of that competitiveness with each other.
Grantham: But other people wanted us to not like each other. We’re both blonde. We both have names that begin with M and they mix ’em up — Morgan and Molly. We both happen to be from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We both have the same job. We’re at competing stations. We have similar stories that we’re going after. People wanted a catfight.
‘It was a midnight call’
Fogarty: I made the first move. (Laughs.)
Grantham: You called me to congratulate me on Hutch (Grantham’s son, then a newborn). Out of the blue.
Fogarty: Yeah. So I come off the set right when Molly’s going on the set. And I think I looked up at our TV monitors on the wall in the newsroom, and saw you were back from maternity leave. I was like, I should reach out to her and just say congratulations on the baby and welcome back to work.
Grantham: Because you were a working mom working 2 to midnight. So you understood what I was just entering back into.
Fogarty: It was a midnight call, and I was like —
Grantham: “Hey, are you around?” (Both laughing.) “Do you happen to be awake right now? How are you doing?” Just to check in. I mean, it’s hard. In that beginning stage, when you work 2 to midnight, and they’re not sleeping through the night, and you’re up and you are working all morning at home with the baby, with diapers and bottles and all that crap that just makes you crazy, and then you go to work at 2 o’clock to start your day? Like, having someone who can understand that is valuable.
We just connected so quickly. We had just both matured and evolved into more than just good reporters. So when that happened and our conversation was so good, it was like, Huh. OK. “Well, I’ll call you again!” Then it just kept going.
Fogarty: You don’t have a lot of social life when you work Monday through Friday until midnight. So one of the things I think that quickly connected us was that we could talk at midnight on the phone. All of my other friends, they’re not gonna answer the phone if I call them at midnight. But Molly is, ’cause she’s just wrapping up work. And she is like the Energizer Bunny. She goes and goes and goes and goes and goes and — we would talk sometimes until 3 in the morning. I’d be like, (whispering) “I really have to go.” (Both laugh.)
‘What real friendship looks like’
Grantham: At my book launch (for “Small Victories: The Off-Camera Life of an On-Camera Mom,” published in 2017), Morgan came, first person there, helped me set up. And I remember our friend Sarah Blake Morgan (formerly a reporter at WBTV), she was there and she put a post out afterwards — and I don’t know why out of all the chaos of the book launch I remember the post so much.
But it was a picture of (she turns to Morgan) you and me. We were setting stuff up and we were happy and smiling, and Sarah Blake wrote a caption something to the effect of, “You’d think these women wouldn’t like each other. But this is what real friendship looks like and this is what support really is.” We weren’t thinking that in the moment, but someone else watching was. And that’s stuck with me. When people see us out in public together I think it actually helps all of women’s relationships.
Fogarty: Speaking of the book, I wanted to have her on “The Edge” (the half-hour talk show Fogarty hosts on WCCB after the 10 p.m. news) to promote the book and do a show with Molly. I just thought, “It would be so fun to do this together.”
Grantham: It was a fun discussion. She really wanted to support me and the book, and she wanted to support me in the way that she knows how to support people, which is through her show. The same way I support people through BTV things, and Facebook, and writing.
Fogarty: But obviously there’s a lot that would go into something like that because it’d be two stations on the same channel for whatever period of time. It would have been very hard to get all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
Grantham: That would have been hard for ‘BTV. Which I understand.
Fogarty: Still, I think it got our wheels spinning. I mean, we’re similar, but we also have different thoughts and ideas and personalities. We were like, “Gosh, it would be so fun to do our own show together.” And who knows? Like, pie-in-the-sky, maybe someday, in another galaxy, we would get to do that.
‘You made ME excited!’
Grantham: When I told her I was pregnant (with Hobie), that was a good one.
Fogarty: Oh my God. She called me and she sent me a picture of the pregnancy test, and she said, “What do you think this is?” And I was like, “YOU’RE PREGNANT.” You were like, “I mean, I guess it’s kind of faint.” And I said, “That means you’re pregnant!”
Grantham: I did do that. It was faint.
Fogarty: It was super-faint, but it was there. And she goes, “Are you sure?” (Grantham laughs.) I was like, “I’m not a doctor, but yes!” (Both laugh.)
Grantham: “How did this happen?” (Both laugh.) Then you immediately were like, “This is so exciting! It’s so good!” And I was freaking out because I was 43, and I thought no more babies.
Fogarty: I was so excited.
Grantham: You were so excited. You made me excited. You really did.
Fogarty: It went by so fast.
Grantham: It did not go by so fast. (Laughs.) COVID happened. And I had to work from home in a home studio.
Fogarty: I know, but the baby was here before you knew it.
Grantham: Aw, well, (sarcastically) did it go by fast for you?
Fogarty: Yes! It was very stressful for me. (Both laugh.)
‘I don’t know if this is common’
Grantham: When we were at the beach a few weeks ago, we met a woman on the beach whose daughter is the same age as Sadie and Hutch. So we’re all talking, and she’s like, “So what do you do?” And when people ask me what I do, I say, “Oh, I’m in media.” I never say the exact job because sometimes it gives off an image that then they want to ask about hair and makeup, which I don’t want to talk about. So I just was like, “I’m in media.”
And (she turns to Fogarty) you’re like, “I’m in media.” And then Emily asks, “What do you in media?” “I’m at a TV station.” “Oh, I’m at a TV station.” It took her probing questions — and I respected her for continuing to ask — to get to the point that we have the exact same job at different stations and we’re here on vacation together, with our kids, as friends. She said, “What?? That’s crazy!” It was then that I was like, I guess it really is fascinating to people.
Fogarty: And then she went home that night, and the next day when we saw her on the beach again she was like, “So, I looked you both up on Instagram — and I have a lot more questions now.” (Laughs.)
Grantham: She did. It was really funny. ’Cause we’re all just hanging out on the beach with the kids and everything was just normal. Then all of a sudden she’s like, “Wait, I don’t know if this is common.” And, you know, I just thought of this. It kind of goes along with that Sarah Blake thing. Yes, for people, for viewers, I think that’s a fun thing to know that we’re friends.
But for a lot of the younger women in our industry in particular, I think it’s good for them to see that you can care about your story, and not give away your information, and you can be absolutely professional — but you can also like other women in the business. And I think and hope it trickles down to them as they meet other women in this city doing similar jobs as them, to support them rather than go after them.
Fogarty: Yeah, and for the guys in our newsrooms, too, who see that it’s a great relationship and there’s not a catfight happening. I actually think my newsroom now has a heightened level of familiarity and comfort with Molly when they see her on TV because they know that I’m connected to her. They’re like, “Oh, there’s Mol!” Or Molly will call sometimes when I’m wrapping up in the newsroom and I’ll have her on speakerphone, and my co-workers will be like, “Hey, Molly!”
‘We just are who we are’
Fogarty: Intense.
Grantham: Oh. Well, that sounds really negative.
Fogarty: No, it’s positive! You’re full-throttle. Alright, should I say full-throttle?
Grantham: Mm — no. That sounds something different.
Fogarty: You’re intense. In a good way. In a great way. It’s the deep end or nothing with you.
(Then, asked what one word she’d use for Fogarty)
Grantham: Loyal. Very loyal. I know that if I was in trouble, I wouldn’t even need to say the word.
Fogarty: If you were in trouble I’d probably be right there with you. (Both laugh.) We’d be calling other people, ’cause we’d both be in the same jail cell. (Laughs.)
Grantham: No, no, but you are loyal.
Fogarty: Well, that’s a much nicer word that she used, than intense. Maybe I should revisit my word. (Pauses.) Passionate. She’s passionate, too.
Grantham: Oooo, I could do that one.
Fogarty: (Laughs.) I think we’re very, very lucky that we have had the careers we’ve had in the town that we’ve gotten to have them, with the friendship that we have, understanding each other. As much as we are sounding boards for each other about an issue, or a concern, I think we also are good doses of reality for each other. We’ve got a pretty good thing.
Grantham: Totally.
Fogarty: Well, this was great. I feel like we went through therapy.
Grantham: Honestly, now that we’ve sat around talking about ourselves for an hour and a half, it does feel like our friendship is unique. It is really special.
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
