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WXRT host Lin Brehmer dies at 68
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WXRT host Lin Brehmer dies at 68

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Lin Brehmer often ended his radio test segment “Lin’s Bin” by saying, “Don’t take anything for granted. It’s great to be alive.

That was the mantra for years for the longtime WXRT (93.1) host — who has become a household name in Chicago, known for his wit and sense of humor.

Brehmer died Sunday at the age of 68.

“It is with heavy hearts that we must inform you that we have all lost our best friend. Lin Brehmer fought cancer for as long as he could,” fellow host Terri Hemmert wrote in a post Sunday morning. “He passed away early this morning, peacefully, with his wife and son by his side.”

Brehmer announced last July that he was taking a break from the resort to undergo chemotherapy for prostate cancer. He said he had been undergoing various treatments, including radiotherapy and drug therapy, for “several years”. He briefly returned to the air in November, telling CBS2-Chicago “radio has been my life.”

Brehmer was with WXRT for over three decades, most of it as a morning DJ until he moved to noon in 2020. He is perhaps best known for his radio essays titled “Lin’s Bin.”

The segment consisted of his response to a listener’s question, interweaving prose with his encyclopedic knowledge of music and popular culture. “Lin’s Bin” was often funny and sometimes serious.

These essays satisfied a creative desire of Brehmer, who developed a love for literature in high school. “It’s a creative outlet. There’s no one looking over my shoulder,” Brehmer told the Sun-Times in 2018.

Posts honoring Brehmer flooded social media within hours of his death.

“Chicago has lost its best friend,” U.S. Representative Mike Quigley said. said on Twitter.

Brehmer, a die-hard Cubs fan, has his name displayed on the marquee at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon.

Born in Queens, New York, Brehmer began his radio career as a Sunday morning DJ in Albany. The first song he ever played as a professional DJ was The Beatles’ “Within You Without You” because “I’ve always felt that life is flowing through you, but especially without you,” Brehmer said in 2017.

At this concert, he was nicknamed “The Reverend” because he recited poetry during song introductions. “I would slip into Dylan Thomas or William Wordsworth,” he once told the Sun-Times.

Brehmer moved to Chicago in 1984 to be musical director of ‘XRT. He worked behind the scenes until 1990, then took a short-lived radio job in Minneapolis. “I was there for 12 months, had a great time…then I found out that my radio station owner was bankrupt, so that made it very risky,” Brehmer said.

He returned to ‘XRT the following year and took Hemmert’s place as morning DJ.

Brehmer once described himself as an “anti-shock athlete”.

“It’s just not who I am,” he told the Sun-Times. “The closest I’ve come to shocking jock is defending civil rights or religious liberty. It’s very shocking these days.

Brehmer was a serious Cubs fan and enjoyed playing catch with his son in his front yard, he said in a 2017 interview on ‘XRT.

He also had a lifelong affinity for sailing on Lake Michigan. “There’s something about that moment when you hoist the sails and turn off the engine and it’s nothing but the sound of the wind. It’s one of the greatest moments you can have,” he said in the interview.

He also enjoyed Chicago’s theater, music and food scene. “I love dining in Chicago,” Brehmer said. “Whether it’s an Italian beef with hot peppers or a 12-course menu at Acadia, I love the culinary scene here.

“And of course, the most important thing is the music: from the Chicago Blues, to Buddy Guy’s Legends, to all the artists who choose Chicago as one of their main stops on their tours”, a- he declared.

WXRT will celebrate Brehmer’s life on Monday at 10 a.m., Hemmert wrote.

“We will support each other during this heartbreaking time. Lin would like it. Take nothing for granted,” Hemmert wrote.

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