Melissa Magee’s Long Road From a Nebraska One-Man Band to NBC4

Melissa Magee’s meteorology career began about as far from a major market as it gets — working as a “one-man band” reporter in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, handling her own camera, writing, and editing. Nearly two decades later, she’s forecasting weather for NBC4 in the same Los Angeles market she grew up watching as a kid.

A Los Angeles Upbringing

Melissa Magee was born November 11, 1979, in Los Angeles, California. (It’s worth flagging that at least one lower-quality bio site claims a different birth date and birthplace — March 15, 1985, in Pittsburgh — but that account also gets other basic career facts wrong and conflicts with NBC4’s own bio confirming she grew up in Los Angeles, so the November 1979 Los Angeles birth is the more reliable detail.) She attended Beverly Hills High School, where she was a cheerleader, before enrolling at UCLA, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in French. While at UCLA, she studied abroad in Paris and became fluent in French — a language skill she’s continued to use professionally throughout her broadcasting career.

Magee later returned to school specifically to pursue meteorology, completing coursework in atmospheric sciences and geosciences at Mississippi State University and earning her Broadcast Meteorology Certificate in 2010 — notably, after she’d already begun her on-air career, reflecting a mid-career pivot from general reporting into specialized weather forecasting.

Starting as a One-Person Newsroom

Magee’s first job in television was at KDUH-TV in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where she worked as a “one-man band” — shooting, writing, and editing her own stories entirely on her own, the kind of trial-by-fire role that’s common in the smallest television markets. From there, she moved to KBAK-TV in Bakersfield, California, working as a weekend anchor and weather personality, before joining AccuWeather in State College, Pennsylvania, where she transitioned specifically from news anchor and general assignment reporter into meteorology as her primary focus. She then worked for WNYW in New York City before landing her longest-running role.

Eleven Years in Philadelphia

Magee joined WPVI-TV (6abc)’s Action News team in Philadelphia in 2009, serving as weekend evening meteorologist across the station’s 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m., and 11 p.m. broadcasts for roughly the next decade. Beyond forecasting, she became a recognizable local personality through hosting “FYI Philly,” a weekly entertainment and lifestyle program covering the Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware tri-state area, along with hosting specials including the Philadelphia Auto Show, the Philadelphia Flower Show, and the station’s Black History Month celebration.

During her Philadelphia years, she also gave back to the community, coaching for Girls on the Run — a nonprofit that builds confidence and self-esteem in young girls through running programs — and volunteering with Steppingstone Scholars, an organization supporting underserved students in the Philadelphia region toward academic success.

Returning Home to NBC4

Magee joined NBC4 Los Angeles in 2020, bringing her career back to the city she grew up in — a place she’s said she never imagined she’d one day be forecasting weather for, having grown up simply watching the station as a viewer herself. She currently appears on the station’s weekday newscasts at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 11 p.m., drawing on her firsthand knowledge of Southern California’s famously varied microclimates to sharpen her forecasts for viewers. Since joining the station, she’s also co-hosted “Celebrating Black Excellence,” NBC4’s 30-minute Black History Month special examining the civil rights movement’s history in Los Angeles, racial inequality in healthcare during COVID-19, and local athletes’ community advocacy work.

Age and Personal Life

Magee was born November 11, 1979, making her 46 years old as of 2026. Her personal life includes two previously reported relationships: she married Ronnie Schlemmer in a May 16, 2010, ceremony at Anthony’s Lake Club, a marriage that reportedly later ended in divorce, and she was later engaged, in July 2016, to Perry O’Hearn, owner of the Philadelphia fitness company Philly Phitness LLC, before that relationship also ended (O’Hearn has since married someone else). These specific relationship details come from a single bio source and haven’t been independently corroborated elsewhere, so they should be treated with some caution rather than as fully confirmed fact. Her current relationship status isn’t clearly documented publicly.

Quick Facts

FAQ

How old is Melissa Magee? She was born November 11, 1979, making her 46 years old as of 2026. Some sites list a different, incorrect birth date and birthplace that conflict with more reliable sourcing.

Where did Melissa Magee work before NBC4? She spent roughly 11 years as a weekend meteorologist at WPVI-TV (6abc) in Philadelphia, after earlier roles in Bakersfield, State College, New York, and her first job as a one-person news team in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

Where did Melissa Magee go to college? UCLA, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in French in 2001, and later Mississippi State University, where she earned her Broadcast Meteorology Certificate in 2010.

Is Melissa Magee married? Her current relationship status isn’t clearly documented. She’s previously been reported as married to Ronnie Schlemmer and later engaged to Perry O’Hearn, though those details come from limited sourcing.

What does Melissa Magee do at NBC4? She’s a meteorologist appearing on the station’s weekday newscasts at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 11 p.m., covering Southern California weather.

A Career Built Market by Market

Melissa Magee’s path to NBC4 reflects one of the more gradual, ground-up broadcasting careers in local television — a one-person newsroom in rural Nebraska, a mid-career pivot into formal meteorology training, and more than a decade in Philadelphia before ever returning to forecast weather in the city she grew up watching on television. That patient, market-by-market build has given her a breadth of on-the-ground reporting experience that a more direct path into weather broadcasting typically wouldn’t.