Melony Roy named news/digital director at WHYY

WHYY announced Tuesday that Melony Roy has been promoted to news/digital director. In her combined role, Roy will direct WHYY’s news coverage across all platforms. As director of digital news, Roy also had been serving as interim news director.

“Melony’s tenure as interim news director has spanned an unprecedented election recount, an insurrection, a continuing pandemic that has impacted every aspect of our lives, protests across the region against police brutality, and much more,” said Sandra Clark, WHYY’s vice president for news. “She has led the newsroom through an incredible series of news events and demonstrated the highest standards to lead WHYY’s award-winning newsroom.”

Since joining WHYY in January 2020 as digital director, Roy has led record-breaking digital performance, expanding push strategies, revamping the daily newsletter, and doubling online audience growth. Under her leadership, the digital news team has worked with the newsroom to experiment with community outreach tools to embed engagement and expand the audience for audio and for engagement events. The work of the digital news team has been recognized with a Keystone and Murrow awards.

“I’m excited to take on the role of news director,” said Roy. “It is a privilege to be part of the extraordinary team at WHYY. This is a critical time for journalists to deliver relevant, in-depth, and culturally competent content on air and online. We are committed to reflecting the communities we serve and cultivating trust through community engagement.”

Roy is a native of Camden, New Jersey, and a graduate of Seton Hall University. She joined WHYY from KYW Newsradio, where she was a radio reporter before becoming social media manager and then digital news director, designing, implementing and managing the digital transformation of the 75-member newsroom. She led the station to No. 1 for web traffic among major-market all-news stations owned by CBS Radio and Entercom.

Roy is past president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and most recently served as a Lenfest Constellation Executive Coach. She was twice recognized by The Philadelphia Tribune as one of the city’s Most Influential African-Americans.