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Terri Hemmert describes her involvement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Classic Encounter series as “one of the best things that has ever happened to me.” Which is saying something, because her career has been so full of accomplishment and long-term commitment.
As she returns for her first Classic Encounter this season, Hemmert also is marking a career milestone: her 50th anniversary at WXRT-FM, her longtime radio home. She sees her ongoing association with the CSO as one of teaching, learning and connecting, just as she sees her half-century on rock radio with WXRT, and her four decades in the classroom at Columbia College. She loves music for the way it can bring people together, make the world a better place. And she puts all of herself into this mission — building bridges rather than walls.
When she was invited to help launch Classic Encounter around the turn of the century, it gave her the opportunity to share her passion for classical music, nurtured by her mother, a music teacher in their native Piqua, Ohio. The radio personality who some call “Aunt Terri” would offer a friendly initiation into the symphony experience, an introduction for those who were curious, an opportunity to get comfortable. They could get past the stereotypes of orchestral music as elitist or exclusive, snooty and stuffy — a member’s-only club.
Hemmert has been opening such doors throughout her career. In the winter of 1964, the appearances of the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” had rocked her teenage world, turning her into an obsessive Beatlemaniac. A year later, she saw a photo of Cleveland disc jockey Jim Stagg, interviewing Ringo Starr. A lightbulb went on, illuminating a career track. If she became a radio personality, she could meet a Beatle. (Or two, in her case — she eventually met Ringo and Paul, though she admits she “became a John girl forever.”)
Lots of teenage boys saw those Sullivan shows and determined that they would follow the Beatles’ lead and form a band. For Hemmert, following them to the airwaves would be an even steeper challenge, for rock radio (and rock in general) was more of a boys’ club. A treehouse fort with a sign saying “No Girls Allowed!”
“So I started this quest, and I didn’t tell anybody,” she recalls. “Because that’s like a girl saying, ‘I want to play second base for the Cubs’ or ‘I want to be a priest.’ ”
“We now have what I call my Classic Encounter ‘lifers,’ and they’ve been coming from the beginning. I tease them all the time, ‘Haven’t you learned enough yet?’ ” — Terri Hemmert
She remains a diehard Cub fan and a devout Catholic, and maybe it was prayers or fate that brought her to Chicago’s western suburbs. She enrolled at Elmhurst College to focus on the student radio station, while majoring in speech, because her father insisted that she have a backup plan. It was there that she met Tom Teuber, a fellow student who became a mentor and radio lifer, offering her her first professional air shift (overnights in Rochester, New York).
She also met Jim Stagg, who had moved to Chicago’s WCFL, a Top 40 powerhouse. “I got to meet him as a college kid, and I said, ‘Is it possible at all for a woman to get on the radio?’” she says. “And he said, ‘Well, be the first!’ He encouraged me, and I was blown away because I admired him so much.”
After returning from a couple of years in New York, she found that her early ’70s shifts at the fledlging WXRT-FM paid only $25, before the progressive rock station went from nights-only to 24-hour programming. She also served as director of public affairs for the station, a PSA mission that remains near and dear to her heart. She made history in 1981, when she switched from overnights to become the first female morning-drive deejay in Chicago radio. The national Radio Hall of Fame noted this achievement when it inducted her in 2010.
Classic Encounter, which she initially co-hosted with Martha Gilmer, the CSO’s vice president of artistic planning and audience development (and since 2014, chief executive officer of the San Diego Symphony), has extended her commitment to outreach. Hemmert had thought that the inaugural season of the series might be a one-and-done experience, if not for her and the CSO, then for the attendees. They would learn to love the symphony experience, to feel that they belonged, and thus would “graduate” from Classic Encounter.
“But we now have what I call my Classic Encounter ‘lifers,’ and they’ve been coming from the beginning,” she says with a laugh. “I tease them all the time, ‘Haven’t you learned enough yet?’ And they go, ‘We really like it.’ And we love that.”
It’s easy to understand the appeal. Over her extended tenure on Chicago rock radio, Hemmert has developed a following that is more like friends and family than fans. She seems so warm and approachable, someone with open ears and open arms to embrace anyone who wants to share her musical passions. And those musical passions not only extend from Radiohead to Mahler, she also can make connections between the two.
The current Classic Encounter format pairs her with a CSO musician in casual, pre-concert, “happy hour” conversation. Their talk generally previews the music on the CSO program that night and perhaps offers a few tips on what to listen for. The series opener on Nov. 2 features trumpet John Hagstrom, before the concert featuring Holst’s The Planets.
Since her ostensible “retirement” from WXRT in 2019, when she left the midday shift, Hemmert has been busier than ever. At the age of 75, she continues to host the station’s Sunday morning “Breakfast with the Beatles,” as she has since 2002, and serves as a vacation substitute for those in the on-air rotation. She teaches her history of rock and soul course at Columbia Collage and serves on the advisory board for the student radio station at Elmhurst College, her alma mater, which has awarded her an honorary doctorate. Once she makes a commitment, she’s in it for the long haul.
“The symphony, like the people I work with at WXRT, and my alma mater, they are my family,” she says. “It isn’t like I could look at my watch and say, ‘time’s up.’ I wouldn’t want to walk away from any of this.”
Celebrating Terri Hemmert’s 50th
Beginning at 8 a.m. Nov. 3, WXRT devotes a full day of programming to Terri Hemmert, in honor of her 50th anniversary with the station. She joins morning-drive host Marty Lennartz to share stories and memorable moments from her career and will spin some of her favorite songs. The celebration continues through 9 p.m., when “Live from the WXRT Archives” rebroadcasts a 2004 concert by Mavis Staples, one of Hemmert’s favorite singers.
