Melanie Lofton

Melanie Lofton (c. 1980) is an American television reporter and news anchor. She joined KEYE-TV, CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas, in April 2013.

Lofton began her career as a reporter for WOAY-TV in Oak Hill, West Virginia. She also worked as news director and reporter and anchor for WDNN Television, a small independent station in Dalton, Georgia. At WHSV in Harrisonburg, Virginia she began as the weekend anchor in July 2006. She eventually was promoted to main anchor, becoming the first African-American woman in that position. She was honored by the Virginia Association of Broadcasters in April 2013, when she received the Associated Press Best Anchor of the Year Award.

Before her professional career began, Lofton won the award for Best Hard News Reporting her senior year at West Virginia University for their broadcast program. She was named a Young American Broadcaster by the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts and featured on a Radio America program. She was chosen among several rising journalists in 2002 by the American Jewish Committee to participate in Project Interchange, an expenses-paid trip to Israel to learn firsthand about the ongoing conflict. She also interned at WBFF/WNUV in Baltimore, Maryland.

Lofton is an active participant in the community volunteering as a "big" with Big Brothers, Big Sisters Of Rockingham County. Lofton also helps local charities like the March Of Dimes and Alzheimer's Association.

She earned her B.S. degree in Journalism from West Virginia University in 2003. She also attended Long Beach City College for one year.^[1]

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