Nov 28, 2022 - News

WXRT host Lin Brehmer back on air

Photo of man on microphone on a stage.

Lin Brehmer speaks at Taste Of Chicago in 2012. Photo: Michael Roman/Getty Images

Radio fans are in for a holiday treat today as WXRT host Lin Brehmer returns to the airwaves after four months of medical sabbatical to treat prostate cancer.

Why it matters: The move suggests improving health for the beloved deejay whose mirth, commentary and music smarts filled our mornings for three decades.

Backstory: Brehmer launched his first radio show at Colgate University in 1974, started at XRT as music director in 1984 and took over mornings in 1991.

  • "Radio has been my life," he tells Axios.

Between the lines: Brehmer told CBS last week that he's getting a chemotherapy break for a month and a half, which will let him see "how I can handle doing a radio show — and also fighting cancer at the same time."

The bottom line: "To be back in the studio in front of a microphone selecting songs from a legendary music library is the best therapy I can imagine," he says.

  • "My treatments for cancer continue so I'll need to take a couple of days off here and there. But I'm very happy to be back where I belong warning people to stay away from the studio — because it's gonna get loud in there."
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