Jax Radio: Melissa Ross Gets Call to Go Nationwide

Melissa Ross

Melissa Ross, a Jacksonville radio talk show host, will soon be a guest host for National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated “The Diane Rehm Show.”

Ross, host and producer of public radio "First Coast Connect" WJCT 89.9. FM will helm the program on Dec. 9, 10, and 11.

Rehm’s show is produced out of WAMU 88.5 FM, Washington, D.C., area.

“A contact of mine at NPR forwarded my name to WAMU early in 2015 to be potentially added to the list of fill-ins for her,” Ross told Floridapolitics.com. “They listened to some (recordings) of my local shows, and then one day out of the blue in September, I got an email from WAMU’s general manager asking me to fill in.”

Rehm, a broadcasting legend, attracts more than 2.2 million listeners to her program, “which has grown from a local morning call-in show to one of public broadcasting’s most popular programs,” the NPR website says.

Ross’ show has won four national awards from the Public Radio News Directors association, and was honored five out of six years beginning in 2010 as “Best Local Radio Show” by Folio Weekly’s Best Of Jax Readers Poll.

She also has won several awards from Folio Weekly as “Best Local Radio Personality.”