WXRT's Lin Brehmer on returning to air after taking leave for cancer treatment: 'Radio has been my life'

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Four months ago, 93XRT host Lin Brehmer announced he was taking some time off to battle prostate cancer.

On Monday, the beloved radio star returns to the airwaves – and he said that alone is good medicine.

Brehmer talked with CBS 2's Jim Williams Wednesday.

Williams: "Sixty-four-thousand-dollar question - how are you feeling?"

Brehmer: "I'm hanging in there. It's been a rough road, but the immuno-suppressed - there are very few things you can do that you enjoy - and one of them is to hide out in a radio studio by yourself. And since it's something I love, I thought I should go back and play some rock and roll music.

"It turns out I'm getting a temporary break from chemotherapy after my last session, which was November 21, so I'll have a nice month and a half off with no infusions - and that's a nice ramp to kind of take off and see how I do, and see how I can handle doing a radio show - and also fighting cancer at the same time."

Williams: "Is that going to be therapeutic for you?"

Brehmer: "Absolutely. Radio has been my life. Music has been my life - and whenever I've had a rough time or a joyous time, it's the music I turn to. So getting back on the air and sharing music with XRT listeners is something that I was hoping that I'd be able to do again."

The midday host has been off the air since July, when he began his medical leave.

Brehmer said in a social media post in July that he had been fighting prostate cancer for several years and had been through radiation treatments, biopsies, CT scams, MRIs, and drug therapies. He said Wednesday that his condition is chronic, and he will need to go on undergoing chemotherapy "for the foreseeable future" – though the chemotherapy has succeeded in beating back some of the cancer.

Brehmer, 68, has been on the air at WXRT since 1991 – as morning drive host until 2020 and as midday host since. Before that, going back to 1984, Brehmer served as music director at WXRT – a role in which Colgate Magazine noted he screened "50 to 60 albums a week for the gems that deserved airtime."

Brehmer started in radio at Colgate University in upstate New York, and also worked for WQBK-FM in Albany, where he became known as "The Reverend of Rock and Roll," before joining WXRT, Colgate Magazine reported.