Chicago Radio: WTMX's Eric Ferguson Sued Over Alleged Sexual Favors

WTMX Morning Host Eric Ferguson

A former assistant producer for WTMX 101.9 FM’s popular “Eric in the Morning” show has sued host Eric Ferguson, alleging he abused his power as the radio station’s “anointed sacred cow” to coerce sexual favors early in her career, then blocked promotions as punishment after she refused to resume an “unwelcome sexual relationship,” reports The Chicago Tribune.

In a Cook County lawsuit filed in May, Cynthia DeNicolo contends the Radio Hall of Famer orchestrated her dismissal nearly 16 years after she stopped providing oral sex about twice a month in response to Ferguson’s demands, for which he allegedly used the code words “I need a backrub.”

DeNicolo alleged in the lawsuit that Ferguson taunted her with the phrase throughout her tenure at the station, which ended in May 2020. He also berated her in front of other workers and demanded personal favors, such as pressuring her to babysit his children for a decade beginning in 2003, leading her to be known around The Mix as “Eric’s babysitter,” the suit said.

The complaint accuses Ferguson of intentional infliction of emotional distress and alleges he “intended that DeNicolo suffer low wages and stalled career advancement as her punishment for refusing to succumb to his demands to resume the unwelcome sexual relationship she terminated in 2004.”

DeNicolo, 43, did not report him to the station for fear she would “lose her job, be publicly shamed, and humiliated out of the radio industry or otherwise driven out of radio by a vindictive Eric Ferguson,” according to her lawsuit.

Efforts to reach Ferguson, who is named as David Eric Ferguson in the suit, were unsuccessful Monday morning. Ferguson’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month, alleging it “appears to be intended to smear defendant’s reputation.”

The filing called DeNicolo’s suit “completely devoid of factual allegations” and said Ferguson “emphatically denies the existence of a sexual relationship with plaintiff as well as engaging in the other conduct alleged in the complaint.”

Ferguson and DeNicolo

The motion to dismiss is pending. A status date is set for Oct. 5.

Ferguson, 54, was on the air Monday and has continued to host his morning show throughout the litigation. DeNicolo’s attorney, Carmen Caruso, declined to comment on the complaint or make DeNicolo available for an interview.

The company that has owned the adult contemporary station at 101.9-FM since 2011, Hubbard Radio Chicago, is not a defendant in the lawsuit. In a statement Monday, Hubbard said it “took steps immediately” to investigate after learning of DeNicolo’s allegations about Ferguson.

 “An internal investigation and an independent external investigation found no evidence to corroborate allegations of illegal workplace conduct.”

The suit comes after years of shake-ups at Ferguson’s morning show. Kathy Hart, the longtime co-host of the “Eric & Kathy” morning show on The Mix, departed in 2017 without explanation. Another co-host, Melissa McGurren, left in December 2020 without disclosing a reason.

According to DeNicolo’s lawsuit, Hubbard knew by 2019 that Ferguson was a “serial sexual predator” but decided to protect him because of his show’s popularity.

DeNicolo was laid off as part of companywide cuts described as a “response to the challenges presented by COVID-19.” Hubbard said it dismissed a dozen employees across its stations, which also include WDRV-FM 97.1 and adult contemporary WSHE-FM 100.3.

DeNicolo said the station hired her and assigned her to the morning show in 2000, after she had interned there in college. According to the lawsuit, DeNicolo said her job as assistant producer involved screening listener calls, booking interviews and occasionally joining the show on air. She maintained the same position throughout her 20-year career at The Mix.

The suit alleges Ferguson flirted with DeNicolo “almost immediately” after she joined the station. She said in the suit that he attempted to kiss her, and she brushed him off, after a company event around December 2003 when he insisted on driving her home.

“Following this ‘attempted kiss’ Ferguson made it clear he would not take ‘no’ for an answer. He began telling DeNicolo she was replaceable and had to ‘pay her dues,’” according to the lawsuit.

Ferguson “coerced” her into performing oral sex about twice a month from January until August 2004, typically after a company event or after work in her apartment, DeNicolo said in her lawsuit. Ferguson “used code words to communicate his unwelcome demands for oral sex,” telling DeNicolo he “needed a backrub,” the suit alleged.

“There was no romance, affection, or dignity associated with Ferguson’s demands for oral sex,” the lawsuit said. “Ferguson’s demands for oral sex were abusive power plays by the man that had all the power over DeNicolo’s career.”