Lin Brehmer, a Chicago radio host with more than three decades on the air at Audacy’s WXRT (93.1 FM), died on Sunday after a battle with cancer.
Brehmer was 68, WXRT said in a statement.
“Lin Brehmer fought cancer as long as he could,” Terri Hemmert, Brehmer’s colleague at WXRT, wrote in a post on the station’s Facebook page. “He passed early this morning, peacefully, with his wife and son by his side. … We’ll hold each other up through this heart-breaking time. Lin would want that. Take nothing for granted.”
WXRT said an on-air tribute would take place Monday at 10 a.m. local time. At Wrigley Field, the outside signs were changed to paid tribute to Brehmer, who was a long-time Chicago Cubs fan, ABC station WLS-TV (Channel 7) reported.
The Cubs mourn the passing of legendary Chicago radio personality and lifelong Cubs fan Lin Brehmer.
We send our condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/2SiHRmacxY
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 22, 2023
Last July, Brehmer told listeners he would step away from the microphone while he underwent chemotherapy for prostate cancer, the Chicago Sun-Times said. He momentarily returned to the airwaves in November, CBS station WBBM-TV (Channel 2) reported.
“Radio has been my life, music has been my life, and whenever I’ve had a rough time or a joyous time, it’s the music I turn to,” Brehmer said. “So getting back on the air and sharing music with XRT listeners is something that I was hoping that I’d be able to do again.”
Brehmer worked as a morning DJ for WXRT for more than three decades; he typically worked the morning drive slot at the adult album alternative station until 2020 when he moved to the midday slot.
He began his radio career in Albany, New York, where he earned the nickname “The Reverend” because of his knack for reciting poetry over whatever song was playing on-air, the Sun-Times reported.
He became the music director at WXRT in 1984, and worked mostly behind the scenes until getting an on-air job in Minneapolis. He moved back to Chicago one year later when the station in Minneapolis went under.
