Lin Brehmer on 25 years in WXRT’s morning-show seat

Lin Brehmer — one of the city’s best-loved radio hosts — this week is celebrating 25 years in the morning show seat at WXRT-FM (93.1). The witty, self-described “anti-shock jock” sat down in his studio Thursday to talk with the Chicago Sun-Times about music, mismatched footwear, Donald Trump, his most uncomfortable celebrity encounter and the enduring appeal of what he’s perhaps best known for — “Lin’s Bin.”

Q: What are your friends and listeners telling you this week on your 25th anniversary as WXRT’s morning host?

A: The default comment is, “Here’s to another 25.” Another 25, I’d be 87, and I can guarantee you I’m not going to make it here when I’m 87. I have no immediate plans to retire. I just signed a new contract. So I’ll be here for a while.”

Q: What makes you, at the age of 62, still funny?

A: A lot of what people see as funny is my tendency to be self-deprecating. Everybody can make fun of themselves. That’s the safest target. Anything else, you’re opening up a can of ugly, swirling, venomous worms. … I have a certain tendency to do things, real things, that turn out to be funny, like showing up to work with a snow boot on my right foot and a sneaker on my left foot, just because I wasn’t really concentrating getting my foot gear on.

Q: You’re a literate guy, having developed a love for literature in high school. Do you lie awake at night regretting not spending your life teaching at some liberal arts college in Vermont?

A: My original plan was maybe to be in an ivory tower, but when I look back on the things I’ve done and the things I’ve seen, working in radio since 1977, no sane man would trade that for anything.

Q: Does the “Lin’s Bin” feature on your show satisfy some of those creative yearnings?

A: Yes, it does satisfy a need for me. It’s a creative outlet. There is nobody looking over my shoulder. It is absolutely 100 percent up to me — the content, the direction, the style of the piece, with one caveat: Before I send the script off to [producer] Pete Crozier, I have to get approval from my wife. Part of that is she’s trying to make sure I don’t get fired and sometimes it’s anecdotal, familial, and I can’t step on too many familial toes.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Q: Speaking of stepping on toes, you’ve taken some heat recently for some of your comments about the Donald Trump administration on your Facebook page. Do you regret speaking out?

A: This is a very toxic time to have an opinion of any kind. WXRT started in 1972, when it seemed like every song was political, when radio stations on the FM dial that played this music certainly had an agenda — they were anti-war, they were anti-Nixon, they were stridently political. And now I hear people say, “I liked WXRT in the old days before it got so political,” and that’s when I have to run towards a wall and slam my forehead into it because I think, what are they referring to? XRT is now less political than it has ever been in its history. … As for my part, I’m a lifelong Democrat, I live in Chicago. That shouldn’t shock people. There are many other Democrats in Chicago. For the most part, on the air, I bite my lip ’till it bleeds.

Q: Was there ever a point in your career when you thought you might strike a different tone, say, as a shock jock?

A: I’m kind of like the anti-shock jock. … It’s just not who I am. The closest I come to shock jock is standing up for civil rights or religious freedom. That’s very shocking these days.

Q: Do you have a favorite or a least favorite interaction with a musician?

A: Elvis Costello came out on stage [in 2002 at the Chicago Theatre] some 10 minutes after my introduction and said that he’d like to thank the XRT D.J. who lied to get on stage, which is impossible. You can’t lie to get on stage. His road manager handed me a microphone and said, go ahead. … We never formally made up, but the station does not boycott Elvis Costello. … If we did boycott artists because they were jerks at one time or another, the playlist would be thinned out.”

Q: And a thoroughly enjoyable musician?

A: I’ve interviewed Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, three times. … He’s just funny and down to earth and a huge music fan. So if you relate to him on that level and you don’t think the only thing he’s done in his career is Led Zeppelin, he is one of the most pleasant people you can talk to.

Q: 2016 saw the death of a number of pop music greats. Who will you miss the most?

A: To get a little off the beaten track — Paul Kantner, founding member of Jefferson Airplane, a guy who sang about protest and revolution from the very outset. He passed away and his legacy probably was underestimated over the years.

Q: Lastly, what do you think has contributed to your longevity on the air?

A: Most D.J.’s just don’t live that long. It’s a harsh lifestyle. I was out at a concert last night. I was up at 4, 4:30 this morning. It takes its toll. Here’s the key to this kind of longevity, if there is anybody out there who wants to do 25 years of morning radio: It’s like being in the trenches. Don’t lift your head up out of the trenches. Don’t make yourself too much of a target, and work cheaper than everybody else.