iHeartMedia Region President Paul Lambert also announced the personnel move in a LinkedIn post.
“It’s not every day that a personnel change is made on one of America’s largest radio stations, which makes it really exciting when one takes place,” Lambert wrote. “Tessa Barrera will be in the passenger seat as Houstonians head home each afternoon.”
A promotional graphic shared with the post reads, “Tessa Barrera is back on the radio!” and advertises the new lineup.
“Hey Sunny fam, I wanted to tell you all how appreciative I am for the warm welcome,” Barrera wrote. “My history with iHeart goes waaaaay back and I’m just glad they trust me enough to put me into the afternoon ears of Houstonians.”
It’s unclear when Barrera officially began the role, and iHeartMedia has not publicly announced her addition to the lineup. Chron has reached out to Barrera, iHeartMedia and SUNNY 99.1 for comment.
Barrera left Houston Life at the end of March after three years alongside Derrick Shore. At the time, she told Chron her departure came as her contract expired March 31. Negotiations with station leadership fell short of the raise she was seeking, leading her to move on.
“It sucks, but it was about money, and that’s okay,” she said.
The move would mark a return to the medium where Barrera first built a following in Houston. Before joining television, the Corpus Christi native was a longtime personality on The Rod Ryan Show on 94.5 The Buzz, an iHeartMedia station. She balanced both radio and Houston Life for more than a year before leaving the morning show in December 2024 to focus on television full-time.
Before moving to Houston television, Barrera worked as a news anchor and executive producer at KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles. Earlier in her career, she was a sports reporter and anchor at KRIS 6 and KZTV Action 10 News in Corpus Christi. She also competed on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge in 2014.