Howard University grad filed 223 job applications before landing his news reporting job in Alabama
TheGrio...
Morgan’s road to his first on-air opportunity was filled with rejection emails, but persistence and connections helped him finally get his break.
For Brock Morgan, landing his first on-air reporting job wasn’t a matter of sending out a handful of applications and waiting for the phone to ring.
It took 223 applications.
The recent Howard University graduate spent two months applying for jobs before finally landing a position with Fox 54 (WZDX-TV) in Huntsville, Alabama, where he will work as an anchor and reporter covering sports and news, according to Axios Huntsville.
Morgan, who graduated magna cum laude from Howard in May 2025 and earned his master’s degree from Northwestern earlier this month, told Axios Huntsville that many of the responses he received during his search were variations of the same rejection email: “Thank you for applying, but unfortunately…”
For Morgan, the challenge was familiar to many recent graduates trying to break into competitive industries. Despite his academic credentials, he said a lack of professional experience became a sticking point with potential employers.
Rather than allowing the rejections to stop him, Morgan kept applying.
Huntsville eventually stood out as a place where he could begin building his career on camera. The city offered a smaller media market, diversity and opportunities to cover sports at Alabama A&M and other schools in the area.
But Morgan wasn’t simply clicking “submit” and hoping for the best.
“When I applied, I made sure to connect with people at the station I applied to,” he told Axios, explaining that he wanted decision-makers to know his name rather than see him as just another application.
That strategy, along with connections from his Howard and Northwestern networks, helped him get closer to the opportunity he had been pursuing.
Morgan also credited people he met through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Boeing Summer Immersion Scholars program and others who helped him get acquainted with Huntsville.
After 223 applications, Morgan finally got the yes he had been working toward.
He is scheduled to begin at Fox 54 at the end of September — proof that sometimes getting the opportunity means being willing to keep knocking on the door long after the first 222 attempts didn’t work.