In ways large and small, philanthropic and therapeutic, fans and friends of legendary WXRT radio host Lin Brehmer are mourning his passing at the age of 68 after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Brehmer passed away Sunday, leading his colleagues at WXRT to host a daylong tribute to him, starting at 10 a.m. when his show normally would hit the airwaves.
“We have come to pay tribute to our best friend in the whole world, Lin Brehmer,” host Terri Hemmert, who penned a statement following Brehmer’s death Sunday, said. “What we are going to do, is that we might lose it, and we might be laughing our you-know-whats off, cause Lin would kick our you know what’s off if we didn’t.”
Brehmer began his career at the station in 1984 as music director. After bouncing around the industry, he became the station’s morning host in 1991 and moved to middays in 2020.
During that tenure at the station, Brehmer made an indelible impact on those he worked with, and those he entertained over the airwaves, earning a large following that was as thrilled with his exploits as they were with the music that he would play.
“He didn’t suck the energy out of the room. He brought the energy to the room,” colleague Marty Lennartz said. “He made every person he met in that room feel special.”
That influence was profoundly felt at Wrigleyville’s Nisei Lounge, which has long been a spot for fans to gather prior to Chicago Cubs games.
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On Monday, the bar opened its doors at 10 a.m. so that fans of Brehmer’s could gather for the WXRT broadcast.
“He was the type of person I would turn to with something like this,” one fan said. “He taught us what to do.”
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“I only talked to him three-to-four times in my life, but I’ve known him all these years and he was exactly the same person I listened to every day,” another added.
In addition to music, Brehmer was known for his “Lin’s Bin” segments, as well as his love of the Cubs and of the city’s food scene.
“He was our biggest advocate,” Mary Kay Bonoma of the Illinois Restaurant Association said. “He was known and beloved by the entire culinary community here in Chicago. He had an infectious enthusiasm for music, food and life.”
Brehmer took a leave of absence from the station in July 2022 after doctors found that prostate cancer, which he had been battling for years, had spread. He returned to the airwaves in November, never losing his joy for the job and his ability to connect with listeners.
He was 68 years old. He is survived by his wife and his son.
