Each Monday for many years, Chicago’s WXRT radio character Lin Brehmer answered listener questions for his “Lin’s Bin” section. His responses repeatedly targeted on seemingly mundane parts of life however had been considerate, and infrequently profound. Brehmer’s perspective was uniquely optimistic, nostalgic, and conveyed an inexhaustible fervor for the journey that may very well be discovered within the on a regular basis.
Lin was Chicago. A lot so, that the producers of “The Bear” featured Brehmer for the chilly open within the seventh episode of the primary season, introducing a stirring celebration of Chicago’s ethos, bravado, and (generally unseemly) historical past, punctuated by Sufjan Stevens’ track “Chicago.”
Brehmer was born in New York however got here to Chicago in 1984 as program director for WXRT. Other than a quick stint at a radio station in Minnesota, Brehmer was a staple on Chicago morning radio till 2020, when he was switched to a noon slot—proper because the COVID pandemic shuttered the world. WXRT didn’t miss a beat, nonetheless, with its personalities persevering with to broadcast from residence studios. Brehmer’s “lunch with Lin” turned a every day ritual for me as I stepped away from my own residence workplace desk to get pleasure from a break on my patio with Lin.
Although a local New Yorker, Brehmer rapidly turned a rabid Cubs fan following his transfer. For years, he hosted an Opening Day WXRT broadcast throughout from Wrigley Area. He would additionally broadcast reside from the annual Cubs Conference, held in January annually.
I had the pleasure to satisfy Bremer on a number of events at these reside occasions—he was all the time gregarious and genuinely completely satisfied to talk with everybody who approached. Lin Brehmer embodied his self-proclaimed moniker, “your finest pal in the entire world.”
Sooner or later in 2020, I occurred upon a promotional photograph that includes Brehmer in a batting stance and clad in a Cubs uniform.
I crafted a number of customized playing cards impressed by the picture and hoped he would possibly signal one for me on the subsequent Cubs Conference. The Cubs canceled the 2021 Conference because the pandemic raged on, nonetheless, so I put the playing cards within the mail to the radio station. I invited Lin to maintain one—if he needed—and requested whether or not he was a baseball card collector.
An envelope arrived from WXRT the second week of January—however not the self-addressed, stamped envelope I had despatched. As a substitute, I discovered customized word from Brehmer apologizing for forgetting to place the signed playing cards in my envelope earlier than he sealed it.
He enclosed two signed playing cards (one for me, one for my sister) and stored the third for himself. (What an honor!) He additionally proclaimed his love for baseball playing cards and boasted that he nonetheless had his card assortment from the Sixties.
In July 2022 Brehmer made the stunning announcement that he could be taking a depart of absence to give attention to a battle with prostate most cancers. Brehmer returned in November, a sure signal that he was going to be okay. “I reasonably work reasonably than mope,” he declared.
It was good to have an outdated pal again. However shortly after the brand new yr in January 2023, Brehmer started lacking his noon shift once more.
The morning of January 22, 2023 I sat on the eating room desk with my spouse, engaged in our weekly ritual of espresso and the Sunday crossword—with our kitchen radio tuned to WXRT and Teri Hemmert’s “Breakfast with the Beatles” program. Shortly after her present completed, Hemmert returned to microphone and somberly introduced that Lin Brehmer had handed away.
It was a darkish day for Chicago.
So why has Brehmer’s passing affected me so profoundly? I’m not certain. What I do know is that I dearly miss my outdated pal from the radio. And understanding he was a card collector, too, simply made him all of the extra endearing.
To steal a line from Lin, “take nothing as a right, it’s nice—f’ing interval—to be alive.”
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