Melinda Murphy Hiemstra
For four years, Melinda Murphy was a correspondent for The Early Show on CBS. Her assignments took her everywhere from a showgirl stage in Vegas to a snake pit in Texas. Originally concentrating on the wackier side of life, Murphy developed one of the widest ranges of stories at the network. She also filed more serious stories such as a series about childhood anorexia and reports on the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Murphy has also appeared on The Travel Channel’s This Job’s a Trip where she mentored two, wanna-be reporters for an installment of the reality series.
Prior to joining The Early Show, Murphy was a feature and traffic reporter at WPIX, covering New York's morning news. She was affectionately known as “The Chopper Chick” and was an established personality in the New York market. Murphy is also a well-respected journalist. As the last airborne reporter on September 11th, she covered the collapse of both towers and was one of two NYC reporters nominated for an EMMY for 9/11 breaking news coverage. A year later, she won an EMMY for her 9/11 anniversary piece. Also while at WB11, Murphy won an EMMY for Outstanding On-Camera Achievement for Feature Reporting and a New York State Broadcaster's Award for Best Feature. She was also nominated for an EMMY her series of reports on a row house fire.
Murphy got her start in on-camera journalism as the morning live feature reporter at News 12 New Jersey. Her assignments had her doing everything from riding an ostrich to driving a race car - all before sunrise!
Murphy also worked at WCBS-TV as a news writer and field producer where she won her first EMMY. She has an extensive background in production and has worked in a variety of television genres, including nationally televised live events and syndicated talk shows such as Sally Jesse Raphael. Before she stepped in front of the camera, Murphy worked as a senior producer on many pilots with television greats such as Dick Clark and Charlie Parsons. She also executive produced and co-hosted a pilot she developed for USA Network.
In 2002, Murphy co-edited Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11, a collection of accounts from journalists who covered the events of that day. All royalties from the book are matched by the publisher and donated to September 11th related charities. She has also contributed to Broadcasting through Crisis and On-Camera: How to Report, Anchor and Interview and authored a well-received parenting travel blog for Westchester Magazine.
Murphy grew up in Midland, Texas and was graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in journalism. She spent a brief stint in LA, but has worked primarily in New York, where she now lives with her husband, daughter and son. Murphy has a passion for traveling, but when she’s home, she divides her time among a wide variety of interests including entertaining, renovating homes and various sports and charities. She is currently working on a book and speaking at various engagements.