Terri Hemmert, Chicago rock-and-roll institution and the voice of WXRT-FM radio for 37 years, will be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame at a fundraiser Saturday, Nov. 6. Her presenter will be Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins.
Nominees in several categories are selected each year by a committee and individuals win based on a popular vote. "So, I'm homecoming queen," said Hemmert with a laugh.
"This is a nice honor, but I do feel a little awkward about it," said Hemmert, who has never played the diva, despite having ready access to international music legends such as Paul McCartney and Melissa Etheridge. "The nuns always told us never to get big-headed about these things, that this too shall pass.
"What really meant a lot to me is that so many of the people who voted got on our website and wrote notes that really touched me. Not just comments like, 'Love your show, been listening for 530 years,' but meaningful things. I believe in the community and the relationship that radio builds. I understand that because I've felt a relationship with people I've listened to and I'm honored to be on the other end of that.
"I'm thrilled about Billy because I've been a Smashing Pumpkins fan since they first came out. He used to listen to XRT when he was a kid and every time I play their version of Landslide I can just picture him as a high school kid laying in bed at night and listening to the Fleetwood Mac originaland then he covers it."
Hemmert's younger sister, Julie, will come in from Ohio to attend the awards. Julie also accompanied her to the White House this summer when Paul McCartney received the Gershwin Award. "Paul kissed her on the cheek; I'm her favorite sister now," said Hemmert with a laugh.
Hemmert's knowledge of music has justifiably been called encyclopedic. She is not merely a repository of historical facts, but is deeply engaged in the history of music and the way it has both influenced and been influenced by political and cultural events and movements.
In her classes at Columbia College, she emphasizes these themes. "From the get-go I tell the students that if you don't understand race relations and the history of the races in the United States, you don't understand American music," said Hemmert. "It's not isolated, it's not 'here's music and here's life'. It's the same thing now. I go to Lollapalooza and I think, 'this is Woodstock, except people keep their clothes onwhich is good.
"I think there's a lot of great music out now that speaks to the current generation, and to anyone who really takes the time to listen. Now the technology is different, the culture is different. We've had our Beatles, we've had our Elvis. It doesn't mean it's better or worse, it's just different. You'll never have everybody sitting in front of the TV watching the Beatles. People will TiVo it, there are 57 channels available. That [ kind of mass experience ] won't be replicated. We're much more segmented as a society.
"That's not to take away from what's going on now. The other thing I find very encouraging is that young folks now are into their contemporary music, but are also into, and extremely aware of, music from 40 and 50 years ago. Now, when we were growing that would be us doing the Charlestonwe weren't interested. Music has helped erase the 'don't trust anyone over thirty' crap that we bought into. That's a very healthy trend. I think if you check most kids' iPods, they've got the new music on there but they have Beatles and Stones and maybe Howlin' Wolf and some old Country. I turned my students onto the Carter family. They love Johnny Cashand that music is prehistoric to themI find that very interesting."
The range of "classic rock" played at WXRT may well contribute to the wide scope of many individual's rock tastes. Hemmert certainly thinks so. "We're very unique. Which is why everybody stays there, they don't want to go anywhere else," she said. "There's that sense of continuity, starting 38 years ago. I didn't set out to do that, the station didn't set out to do that, it just evolved. I'm glad that we didn't stick in the past, Lin Brehmer says 'the past is a great place to visit, but I don't want to live there'. I like the combination and the challenge to me of listening to and evaluating new music. I've had this conversation with Mavis Staples, who thought all her fans were over 50. She played Lollapalooza this summer and totally flipped out that all these kids were out there and they really 'got' her stuff. I told her that Dr. King would be proud of her because she's giving the kids a history lesson, you're inspiring them and you're getting their backfield in motion. That's amazing.
"That's our job as the older generation, not to say, 'oh, kids these days', but to inspire and to teach. I want them to be well informed so they can deal with the present and the future. The deeper you go into history the better prepared you are. I bring history into the music class. You can't understand Jimmy Hendrix if you don't understand the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War and the demographics of the baby boom and changes in technologyit's all intertwined."
Hemmert agreed with Yoko Ono that music truly has the power to heal. "Even if you make the music in your own garage and wouldn't every put it out, that vibration is healing the world," Ono was quoted as saying, in an Oct. 5 Chicago Tribune article.
"I've seen it happen," Hemmert said. She also emphasized the need for perseverance.
"One of the beefs I have with my generation, and I'm very candid with my students about it, is that we were going to change the world and it didn't happen in 15 minutes and it was darned hard, so let's forget about it and work on our portfolios. The thing is that when you make change, more often than not you make change in the world you live in. Our world, our spheres are smaller than John Lennon's world. His influence was a lot bigger. But every person, no matter what they do, has the potential to change attitudes, change hearts. Being a Catholic girl and a follower of Dr. King, I believe in the conversion of the soul, that you win people over one person at a time. I believe that's how change really happens. You need the big, cataclysmic events of course but you need the hard, day-to-day stuff.
"Music is a big part of that. Working a lot in the AIDS community, I've seen people who are really sick and dying and music giving them solace. Music has helped me through every difficult time of my life. Music elevates. My mother was a musician and spent her life bring people of very different backgrounds together through music."
Hemmert is well known for her social conscience and countless hours devoted to volunteer teaching, lending her celebrity to worthy benefits across the city and her work with the LGBT community. This schedule doesn't leave her much time for hobbies or leisure, although she does carve out time for reading and dinners with friends.
"I've always wanted to live a life of service," said Hemmert, who once considered a vocation as a nun. "It's my modus operandi and value of living. You don't just sit around and figure out how you are going to spend you're money, you get busy and do stuff." She credits her ethic to her Catholic faith and the values her parents instilled during her youth in Piqua, Ohio.
"Luckily, with the radio I can do service and have some fun at the same time. I encourage my students to find their own passion and to figure out creatively what they can do to make a better world. One of my parting shots at the end of the semester is hoping that they find success, fulfill all their dreams, but when they figured out a way they can really change the world, then call me, because that's when I'm really going to be proud of them, because success isn't enough."
The Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Saturday, Nov. 6, at WTTW studios, 5400 N. St. Louis. Cocktails are at 6 p.m.; dinner is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $350.00; call 312-245-8200 or visit www.radiohof.org/ .