Prior to joining MSNBC, Fitzgerald served as weekend anchor and general assignment reporter for the NBC owned-and-operated station WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Alabama.
However, several NBC executives believed Tupelo was not a desirable place for a local station because of its rural location, even though most viewers in northern Mississippi could only get NBC via grade B coverage from WMC-TV in Memphis, Tennessee and WAPI-TV (now WVTM-TV) in Birmingham, Alabama).