{"id":427819,"date":"2025-12-06T02:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427819\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T02:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:34:17","slug":"drew-walker-rises-to-free-country-98-3-102-3-program-director-leah-anderson-joins-for-afternoons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427819\/","title":{"rendered":"Drew Walker Rises To Free Country 98.3\/102.3 Program Director &#038; Morning Host; Leah Anderson Joins For Afternoons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-od-removed-loading=\"lazy\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='jeg_viewport']\/*[5][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[5][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::P]\/*[1][self::IMG]\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/drewwalker.jpg\" alt=\"Drew Walker US99 WUSN Chicago\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-268244\"  \/>Connoisseur Media Country \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.freecountrychicago.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Free Country 98.3\/102.3<\/a>\u201d WCCQ Crest Hill\/WXLC Waukegan IL is revamping its lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Drew Walker has been promoted from APD\/afternoon host to Program Director and morning host. Walker joined the stations <a href=\"https:\/\/radioinsight.com\/headlines\/269757\/format-change-coming-to-wxlc-today\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">when it debuted<\/a> the \u201c<strong>Free Country<\/strong>\u201d brand in May 2024 following a 20 year run at Audacy Country \u201c<strong>US 99<\/strong>\u201d WUSN Chicago. Walker fills the programming role that had been held by consultant Tim Richards and replaces Premiere Networks\u2019 Bobby Bones Show in mornings.<\/p>\n<p>Walker commented, \u201cMoving into mornings and the Program Director seat feels a little surreal. This station has been my passion project from day one, and I\u2019m grateful for the chance to help lead its next chapter. We\u2019ve built something really special here, a team I love, communities I care about, fantastic partners, a creative environment that\u2019s actually fun, and a station that truly sounds and feels like home. Super thanks to Gordon Mays, Karl Wertzler, Brian Foster, Keith Dakin and Jeff Warshaw for this amazing opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-od-added-fetchpriority=\"\" data-od-removed-loading=\"lazy\" data-od-replaced- data-od-xpath=\"\/HTML\/BODY\/DIV[@class='jeg_viewport']\/*[5][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[5][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[1][self::DIV]\/*[2][self::DIV]\/*[4][self::P]\/*[1][self::IMG]\" fetchpriority=\"low\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/leahanderson.jpeg\" alt=\"Leah Anderson Free Country 98.3 102.3 95.1 WIIL\" width=\"159\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-324643\"  \/>Succeeding Walker in afternoons will be Leah Anderson. Anderson had been hosting weekends on the station in addition to co-hosting mornings on sister Rock <a href=\"https:\/\/www.95wiilrock.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">95.1 WIIL<\/a> Union Grove\/Kenosha WI. She has been with the cluster since 2012 first in sales and weekends on WIIL until 2019. After a four year run co-hosting mornings at then Hot AC WXLC, she moved back to WIIL <a href=\"https:\/\/radioinsight.com\/headlines\/250068\/leah-anderson-returns-to-wiil-as-morning-co-host\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in March 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cAs a lifelong country fan, a mom of three, and a wife juggling the same day-to-day as our listeners, I\u2019m thrilled for this new role. Connecting with this community is one of my favorite parts of the job, and I can\u2019t wait to bring that to afternoons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Operations Manager Gordon Mays added, \u201cDrew\u2019s experience and decades-long connection with the Chicagoland country music audience make this a very exciting time to be in FREE Country. We have a unique opportunity to continue evolving with authentic local voices, and that\u2019s a big win for our listeners and every community we\u2019re connected with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connoisseur Media Country \u201cFree Country 98.3\/102.3\u201d WCCQ Crest Hill\/WXLC Waukegan IL is revamping its lineup. Drew Walker has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":427820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-427819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115670291361549402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}