Houston Trades Boston For Chicago
• UPDATE — iHeartMedia Country WEBG (Big 95.5)/Chicago has named Lance Houston as PD and midday personality. Houston will report to Tommy Austin, SVP of Programming for iHeartMedia’s Chicago Region.
Houston earns the transfer from New England, where he programs WBWL (101.7 The Bull)/Boston and WTBU (95.3 The Bull)/Portsmouth, NH. As Country Format Captain for the Boston Region, Houston also worked closely with the programming team at WRNX/Springfield, MA. Earlier in his career Houston programmed iHeartMedia Country WPOC/Baltimore and was APD/MD of WUBL (94.9 The Bull)/Atlanta.
“Lance is one of the most talented country programmers in our industry,” said Matt Scarano, President of iHeartMedia Markets Group’s Chicago Region. “His passion for the product, his creative thought process and his ability to execute his vision flawlessly set him apart from the competition. I look forward to working with him again to win the Country battle in Chicago.”
Houston said, “I’m thrilled to be joining the iHeartMedia Chicago team and continue to build on the great foundation already in place at Big 95.5. I’m also really excited to be reunited with Region President Matt Scarano from our days in Atlanta, and working with EVPP Gene Romano and SVPP Tommy Austin to build a ‘BIG,’ successful brand that can win the Chicago Country battle!”
• Concurrent with this major change in the Big 95.5 programming department comes other major departures — PD Steve “Scrubs” Stewart exits, along with morning hosts Mason & Remy and APD/midday talent Emily Bermann. We understand that Mason & Remy’s co-host Alabama will roll solo in mornings for now. Brooke Taylor remains in afternoons.
Stewart had been in place since January 2015, transferring from iHeartMedia St. Louis, where he was Regional Programming Manager and PD of Country KSD (93.7 The Bull). Mason & Remy were doing afternoons on KSD and also joined Big 95.5 around that same time. They juggled mornings on Big 95.5 and afternoons on KSD until January 2017, when they relinquished the St. Louis show to focus on Chicago. Going forward, Stewart can be reached at stevemstewart72@gmail.com; reach Mason Schreader at mason.schreader@gmail.com; locate Remy at RemyRadio@gmail.com and contact Emily Bermann at EmilyBermann@gmail.com.
