Ms. Melissa M. Ross

Melissa Ross is the Emmy award-winning host and producer of the statewide call-in program “The Florida Roundup,” heard on public radio stations across Florida. The show features newsmakers and journalists and focuses on issues of importance to listeners across the Sunshine State. In particular Melissa covers politics, the environment and climate change, and women's issues.

She also hosts WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program.

The show has won five national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI).

Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in television broadcasting, including stints as an anchor, reporter and host in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. During her years in broadcast television, she won four regional Emmys for news and feature reporting.

She also leads women's empowerment events through the global leadership organization She Is Fierce! Inc.

Prior to joining WJCT, Melissa spent three years in the corporate communications field at Jacksonville’s Dalton Agency. During her stint at Dalton, she was cast in the HBO film Recount, playing- what else- a reporter!

Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications.