Chicago Wakes Up With Melissa & Austin
• Audacy Country WUSN (US99)/Chicago just introduced its newly minted morning show team — market veteran Melissa McGurren and Austin Huff, a.k.a. Melissa and Austin, will debut Monday, May 10 and roll weekdays from 6-9am CT. McGurren is a known quantity in the market, having spent most of her career across the street on Hubbard Hot AC WTMX (101.9 The Mix) as morning traffic reporter/sidekick/co-host. She previously worked for NBC 5/Chicago as a weekend traffic news anchor and part-time helicopter reporter. Huff is a Nashville native and Country music fan with over 10 years of radio experience, both on air and in production.
Rachel Williamson, Regional President & Market Manager, Audacy Chicago, said, “We’re incredibly excited to be growing our US99 family and making mornings home for Melissa and Austin. This team will bring energy, positivity, chemistry, and a lot of fun to this fresh and dynamic local show to serve Chicago’s country listeners.Drew Walker returns to late mornings and middays and will continue to bring the energy and companionship country listeners have grown to love to get them through their day. Collectively, this roster will super-serve Chicago’s Country music audience as the standalone country station in the market.”
McGurren remarked, “I wish I could fully express my gratitude and happiness about joining the US99 team. I love Chicago and Country music and I’ve never been more confident in an opportunity or my team. I know this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, and I couldn’t be happier to make this new move in my career.” Huff commented, “I can’t believe Justin Fields and I are moving to Chicago at the same time, especially considering he throws a much tighter spiral than me. I’m honored to wake up with this city every morning, and I cannot wait to have a ton of fun in the process.”
WUSN has been without a permanent morning show since last June, when the team of Jason Pullman and Katie Bright disbanded. Since then, Drew Walker has been handling the marathon 7am-1pm shift. Starting Monday, the new US99 weekday schedule looks like this — 6-9am: Melissa and Austin; 9am-noon: Drew Walker; noon-3pm: Katie & Company; 3-7pm: Scotty Kay; 7-midnight: Rob & Holly.
