Former Eric Ferguson co-host Melissa McGurren breaks silence, alleges ‘unbearable’ work conditions at WTMX radio
When Melissa McGurren left her job co-hosting Eric Ferguson’s popular morning radio show in December, she said “the truth will come out” about her unexplained departure from the station known as The Mix. Nearly a year later, a newly amended lawsuit describes for the first time how Ferguson allegedly made McGurren’s work intolerable, causing her to leave a job she loved.
In complaints made public Tuesday in court filings, McGurren alleged Ferguson subjected her to an “unbearable hostile work environment” and the management of WTMX-FM 101.9 did nothing about it for years.
“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.
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.”
In her EEOC complaint, McGurren said she complained dozens of times to station program directors about Ferguson. For years, the complaint alleges, Ferguson 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 she sent to human resources included in the amended lawsuit, she wrote: “I’ve been mentally and verbally abused, harassed, put into tears, yelled at, belittled, ignored, mocked and my job has been threatened multiple times.”
The EEOC granted McGurren the right to sue, but as part of her employment agreement with Hubbard she had agreed to first try to settle disputes and claims through arbitration.
McGurren’s abrupt departure from the airwaves stunned her fans. In her only public comment at the time, McGurren said on social media “the truth will come out. I’ve always wanted to work at the Mix, and this is not how I saw things coming.” She recently landed a job as a morning show co-host at the Audacy station WUSN-FM 99.5.
When McGurren left, WTMX said in a public statement it was surprised and disappointed the former co-host of “Eric in the Morning with Melissa and Whip” declined a contract extension following more than two decades at The Mix.
In her arbitration complaint, McGurren alleged those comments were an attempt to paint her in a false light and were made “with the intent of continuing to cover-up Ferguson’s serial harassment and the station’s tacit approval” of the alleged conduct.
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 in her lawsuit against Ferguson that he coerced sexual favors from her in 2004, then retaliated against her for years after she put a stop to it. She was laid off in May 2020 after maintaining the same position as assistant producer throughout her 20-year career at The Mix.
DeNicolo later filed a separate suit against Hubbard, contending the company made defamatory statements to its employees and the media after the Tribune and other media reported last week that she had sued Ferguson in May.
In a court filing later added to the 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, said in a written declaration that she was “shocked and disturbed by Ferguson’s offensive touching” and alleged management “turned a blind eye towards (his) inappropriate and offensive conduct” because of the revenue generated by his popular morning show.
Like DeNicolo, Mori said in her declaration that she did not report the alleged behavior to management for fear of losing her job. Mori did not file a lawsuit.
Attorneys for Ferguson have denied DeNicolo’s allegations against him and filed a motion to dismiss her suit. Ferguson “emphatically denies the existence of a sexual relationship” with DeNicolo “as well as engaging in the other conduct alleged in the complaint,” his lawyers said in their motion.
Ferguson has not otherwise responded to requests for comment.
In the complaints made public Tuesday, McGurren stated that during her 22-year career at The Mix she rose from traffic reporter to show co-host with Ferguson and Brian “Whip” Paruch, who she said was paid about the same amount as her, even though Paruch had 10 years less experience.
McGurren provided several examples of Ferguson’s alleged harassment. On Dec. 9, 2019, Ferguson allegedly berated McGurren on the air “for showing up to work in a good mood while he was in a bad mood. Ferguson then forced McGurren to walk to her car, turn around, and walk back to the station so she could start her day over again.”
The complaint continued: “Ferguson ordered the Mix’s social media team to film McGurren while she was making this walk of shame, and to post the video to social media. Ferguson’s conduct this day humiliated McGurren, as Ferguson intended. The station eventually removed the video from social media after the post generated a negative reaction from the morning show’s fans.”
Ferguson also “admonished McGurren for socializing with (Paruch) outside of the studio. Ferguson went so far as calling McGurren and Paruch into his office to order McGurren and Paruch not to eat lunch together or talk to each other when leaving the station,” according to DeNicolo’s amended defamation suit, filed by attorney Carmen Caruso.
McGurren also alleged Ferguson harassed her about her clothes, often telling her what to wear. He repeatedly threatened she would lose her job, including once if she did not move from the suburbs into the city and another time when she did not attend a station Christmas party that conflicted with her son’s ninth birthday, the amended suit alleges.
Her arbitration complaint states Ferguson also called her “stupid” and “lazy.” When she would complain to Ferguson, the complaint alleges, he ignored McGurren and “would do this by raising his hand in front of her face — ‘to shush her’ as Ferguson described this gesture — or by yelling at McGurren that (in words or substance) she did not know what she was talking about.”
McGurren said Ferguson knew she complained to management and continued his harassment.
“His conduct rose to such a level to render her place of work unbearable, forcing her to leave a job she loved and excelled in,” the lawsuit filed by DeNicolo said. “McGurren also suffers severe emotional distress that has manifested in physical symptoms such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, bouts of crying, and panic attacks. McGurren has sought treatment through therapy as a result.”
Responding to questions from reporters last week about the suit against Ferguson, Hubbard Radio Chicago vice president and market manager Jeff England issued a statement saying the company acted quickly after learning of DeNicolo’s allegations. “An internal investigation and an independent external investigation found no evidence to corroborate allegations of illegal workplace conduct,” the statement said.
A similar message was shared with staff, according to the defamation suit against Hubbard. According to that suit, if Hubbard had conducted “an honest and competent investigation” it would “have learned (to the extent it did not already know) that DeNicolo’s complaints against Ferguson are true.”
In her EEOC complaint, McGurren said the discrimination against her dates to 2005 and she complained dozens of times from 2010 to 2018 to Mary Ellen Kachinske, the station’s program director at the time. Kachinske, who departed WTMX in 2018, allegedly “admitted she wanted Ferguson to behave appropriately and professionally but stated on numerous occasions that nothing could be done because of Ferguson’s importance to the station,” according to the complaint.
McGurren’s complaint also said she “spoke over 10 times” about Ferguson to Jimmy Steal, who replaced Kachinske in 2019, and that Steal told McGurren “that’s just the way (Ferguson) is and all radio geniuses act like that.”
McGurren spoke hundreds of times with a former radio host who worked alongside Ferguson at WTMX “about Ferguson’s inappropriate behavior and the hostile working environment Ferguson’s conduct created between 2006 and 2017,” according to the complaint, which does not identify the host.
The complaint says McGurren knew this host had complained on their behalf to Kachinske and Greg Solk, who served as Hubbard senior vice president of programming before leaving the company in 2016.
“Solk, like Kachinske, did nothing in response to the complaints,” McGurren wrote in her EEOC complaint. Solk did not respond to a Tribune request for comment through Audacy, where he is now vice president of programming and operations for its Chicago market. Kachinske, now with Cumulus Media in New England, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Kathy Hart, Ferguson’s longtime morning show co-host, departed WTMX in 2017 without explanation. She has not commented publicly about why she left.
