Media: March 2026 • National Radio Hall of Fame Chicago Nomine
Lin Brehmer
The National Radio Hall of Fame is located right here in Chicago, in the Museum of Broadcast Communications (440 W. Randolph).* This is a National Hall of Fame, but Chicago is well represented. For instance, among the inductees you’ll find Chicago radio greats like Dick Biondi, Jonathon Brandmeier, Jack Brickhouse, Harry Caray, Bob Collins, Steve Dahl, Yvonne Daniels, Terri Hemmert, Herb Kent, John Landecker, Larry Lujack, Garry Meier, Dick Orkin, Wally Phillips, Orion Samuelson, Studs Turkel, and Eric and Kathy.
On the other hand, here are twelve all-time Chicago radio greats that are somehow, inexplicably, not yet enshrined. I’ve been lucky enough to interview all of them over the years and have picked out a sample quote from each. (Posthumous candidates)
Lin Brehmer (WXRT)
“(At WXRT) We’re not stars. We didn’t get into this for the attention or to say, ‘Look at me!’ We sound like normal human beings. We sound like the people who are listening to us.”
Ron Britain (WCFL, WIND, WJMK, WTMX, WRLL)
“We would laugh until our sides hurt. One critic said it sounded like I was going on the air just to entertain myself. He meant it as a slam, but he was right. I thought everyone else was in on it, and the people that got it, got it.”
Roy Leonard (WGN)
“I listened to Chicago radio as much as I could when I first came to town. I tried to find what nobody was doing and make that my own. Nobody was talking about theater or film at the time, and I enjoyed both immensely, so when I first started, that’s what I talked about.”
Clark Weber (WLS, WIND, WCFL, WMAQ, WJJD, WAIT)
“I introduced the Beatles at Comiskey Park. There were 38,000 screaming teenage girls, and the sound was indescribable. I told (fellow WLS jock) Bernie Allen to hold his hand out with his fingers spread. We could feel the vibrations in our fingers. I don’t think anyone in that ballpark heard a single second of the show. I was standing right next to the stage, and I didn’t hear it.”
Talk Radio or Music Radio Candidates
Patti Haze (WLUP, WMET, WCKG)
“I just remember thinking, ‘I am such a lucky person.’ It was such a privilege to do what I did every single day. I absolutely loved every second of being on the air.”
Kevin Matthews (AM 1000, WLUP, CD 94.7, WCKG)
“AM 1000 was a perfect storm that happens once in a lifetime. We got kicked out of ten golf courses in ten years, ten golf outings. I’m most proud of that. We just did anything we wanted. Anything. And we did it with the audience. We all grew up together, we all had kids together. We did everything together.”
Mitch Michaels (WXRT, WKQX, WLUP, WCKG, CD 94.7, The River)
“Those first few months at the Loop, we were everywhere. Those black t-shirts were part of it. The logo. The promotions. The incredible Lorelei commercials. The music was great. It just all meshed and hit. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a Loop t-shirt.”
Bob Sirott (WBBM-FM, WLS, WGN)
“Working on WLS in the 70s was thrilling. There really wasn’t any competition at all among the personalities—not friendly or otherwise. No rivalry. A few of us even spent a lot of time together off the air. What we did is still classified but will be released to the public after we’re all dead.”
Bobby Skafish (WXRT, WLUP, WKQX, WDRV)
“A DJ gives a format flesh and blood. A good disc jockey can enhance the pleasure of the music. We’re a diversion – someone to make you laugh and think, someone that entertains you.”
Bob Stroud (WMET, WLUP, CD 94.7, WXRT, WDRV)
“They knew I loved that ’60s era and told me to pick out songs from that time we could get away with on a kick-ass rock and roll station like WMET. The first few times, I got calls from people saying stuff like, ‘Did your mother teach you how to pick music?’ That’s the way it started, and now I’ve been doing Rock and Roll Roots over 40 years.”
Fred Winston (WLS-AM, WCFL, WMAQ, WFYR, WJMK, WPNT, WXXY, WLS-FM)
“I’m a lucky guy. I was on the air in the heyday of radio when creativity was at its highest. At WFYR in the late 70s, I would start the show with Monty Python’s ‘Sit on my Face March.’ Can you imagine being allowed to do such a thing now? It was unbridled freedom, and the social mores were different then. The timing was perfect for a Fred Winston.”
Sports-Radio Candidate
Pat Hughes (WGN, WSCR, Cubs announcer)
“I’m not obsessed with baseball or talking like most broadcasters are. Most of them are natural yakkers, and talking about the game itself is just a natural extension of how they are the rest of the day. I’m not that way. For me, it’s a performance. There’s an element of acting involved.”
This is a murderers’ row of radio greats. C’mon Chicago. Let’s get these people where they really belong, in the National Radio Hall of Fame.
You have until April 1st to nominate them. https://www.radiohalloffame.com/
*In a previous column, I wrote that the Museum of Broadcast Communications would only remain in its current location until January 2026. That was incorrect. They currently plan to remain in this location until at least January 2027.
– Rick Kaempfer
