Radio personalities are supposed to be abrasive and controversial. Not so Lin Brehmer of WXRT-FM, whose death at 68 years old this past weekend saddened his regular listeners, many of whom felt like they had lost the most simpatico of friends.
That sense of sudden loss, even though Brehmer had been public about his prostate cancer, was also true of many Chicagoans who did not regularly tune in. Brehmer’s intersecting spheres of interest and influence included the Cubs, City Hall and the Goodman Theatre, a combo that tells you a lot about his cultural centrality.
In Chicago, media personalities become our celebrities and this particular one, in this particular patch, was everyone’s pal. He was mourned at the Metro, by Wilco, at the Art Institute of Chicago and by the Candelite tavern on Western Avenue. He was at ease with all of them.
Brehmer had long established himself as a feeling and thinking Chicagoan, an anachronistic anomaly in this era of preprogrammed playlists targeted to a stultified digital demographic. Brehmer just played the music he wanted, that his listeners wanted and to heck with the bosses and their data.
He had the soundest of aesthetic judgments about his form. But the real secret to his success was an uncanny ability to match his favorite music to the events and feelings of a Chicago day.
He had a keen news sense combined with the kind of gentle, reasoned, moderate voice that made him indispensable in pretty much every corner of our otherwise fractured city. Most of our most loved writers and talkers (Roger Ebert, Mike Royko, Oprah Winfrey) have been emotional softies at their core. Brehmer sure fit that description. He could yak hard rock but he was as soft as an Italian beef bun, and as well-preserved to boot.
We are happy that Brehmer had a renaissance this past fall, getting out and about to see friends and fans, dancing, spinning records again, offering a few pithy bon mots on Twitter. And we’re sad it didn’t last for a much longer spin.
Fare forward, Mr. Brehmer.
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