Chicago Radio: WTMX's Eric Ferguson Off-Air Amid Third Allegation

WTMX Morning Personality Eric Ferguson

In complaints made public Tuesday in court filings, Former co-host Melissa McGurren alleged Morning Host Eric Ferguson subjected her to an “unbearable hostile work environment” and that the Hubbard management of WTMX 101.9 FM did nothing about it for years, reports The Chicago Tribune.

“I contend that Eric Ferguson is a serial abuser of women and that for many years, the management of The Mix has protected Ferguson in allowing him to continue in perpetrating his misconduct that goes far beyond the limits of decency despite ample notice from me and many of my co-workers that Ferguson’s behavior is unlawful,” McGurren wrote in a December complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Melissa McGurren

Details of McGurren’s allegations emerged in an amended defamation lawsuit that another former WTMX employee, Cynthia DeNicolo, filed last week against the owner of the station, Hubbard Radio Chicago. DeNicolo has also separately sued Ferguson, alleging he coerced DeNicolo into sexual acts.

The amended defamation suit against Hubbard includes details of McGurren’s ongoing efforts to seek compensation through the EEOC complaint and an arbitration process. McGurren’s complaints were added to the suit as evidence that station management ignored Ferguson’s alleged behavior.

Besides allegations of a hostile work environment, defamation and infliction of emotional distress, McGurren contended she was “intentionally paid less than men in similar or comparable positions.”

Attorneys for Ferguson did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Jeff England, vice president and market manager for Hubbard Chicago, said in an emailed statement: “We swiftly investigated these claims when they first came to our attention, and we are continuing to evaluate the situation and new information as it develops.”

Ferguson will be off the air through October, according to an email England sent Tuesday to employees that was obtained by the Tribune.

In her EEOC complaint, McGurren said Ferguson for years made insulting comments about her appearance, on air and in front of co-workers, including telling her what to wear. McGurren alleged Ferguson’s comments often were gender based, such as harassing her when she used the bathroom at work or accusing her of having hot flashes “in a demeaning and condescending tone.”

The EEOC complaint states Ferguson coerced McGurren in April 2011 into wearing a bikini and getting a spray tan at work — a video of which was posted on social media. “The coercion was that if I did not do what Ferguson was commanding, I risked losing my job,” McGurren wrote. “I succumbed to his pressure, and because of the social media post, I received many unwanted sexual comments from men on social media.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she wrote, she worked in a space with a window separating her from Ferguson, because of her asthma and other medical issues. He so harassed her about the setup that in June 2020 she went back into the studio with him, “even though I felt very unsafe doing so,” her complaint alleges.

Her EEOC complaint also said Ferguson would “frequently and inappropriately touch many younger female employees, or sometimes younger female listeners, at company events in Chicago or abroad in Mexico during company retreats.”

McGurren said she frequently complained to management about Ferguson’s “terrible behavior.” According to a Nov. 24, 2020, email included as part of an exhibit in the amended lawsuit, she wrote to human resources: “I’ve been mentally and verbally abused, harassed, put into tears, yelled at, belittled, ignored, mocked and my job has been threatened multiple times.”

DeNicolo w/Ferefuson

McGurren’s EEOC complaint alleges the station placed her on a short leave around Thanksgiving 2020, claiming it would investigate her complaints about Ferguson, but instead used the time to begin “the process of ‘rebranding’ to remove my name from the show.”

On Dec. 3, according to McGurren’s complaint, her attorney told the station she would not return to the show without assurances the alleged harassment would stop. “I did not receive this assurance and was not invited back on the air,” the document said.

The station publicly announced Dec. 16 that she did not renew her contract and would be leaving The Mix — statements McGurren said in her complaint were false and defamatory.

She recently landed a job as a morning show co-host at the Audacy Country station WUSN-FM 99.5.

McGurren is the third female former employee of The Mix to come forward to say Ferguson engaged in inappropriate conduct.

DeNicolo, a former assistant producer of “Eric in the Morning,” alleged Ferguson coerced sexual favors from her in 2004, then retaliated against her for years after she put a stop to it, according to her lawsuit, filed by attorney Carmen Caruso. DeNicolo was laid off in May 2020.

In a court filing included with that defamation suit, a former WTMX sales employee alleged Ferguson groped her at a station Christmas party in full view of her husband and co-workers in 2003. The woman, Kristen Mori of Ohio, wrote that management “turned a blind eye towards (his) inappropriate and offensive conduct” because of the revenue generated by his show.

Ferguson was inducted in the NAB’s Radio Hall of Fame with former co-host Kathy Hart in 2016. Hart left the show with no clear explanation in 2017.