Terri Hemmert
Encyclopedia
Terri Hemmert is an American
radio personality, musicologist, and instructor at Columbia College Chicago
. She is a long-term presence at WXRT-FM in Chicago, Illinois
where she became the first female drive time
host for a rock music station in the Chicago radio market. She is known as an expert on The Beatles
and hosts the weekly Breakfast with the Beatles program and has been featured speaker at many Beatles conventions worldwide.
Hemmert grew up in Piqua, Ohio
. As a youth she saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show
and was inspired to set her sights on a career as a disc jockey
as a potential way to meet her idols. She maintained her interest in pop
and rhythm and blues
music through her teens and enrolled at Elmhurst College
where she wrote for campus publications and worked at the college radio station WRSE
; she received a bachelors degree in Speech in 1970. After a stint as a late-night disc jockey
at WCMF
in Rochester, New York
she returned to the Midwest and, in 1973, joined fledgling progressive rock
station WXRT in Chicago as Public Affairs Director and overnight announcer.
Hemmert's career and popularity grew along with that of the station and by 1981 she was the morning drive-time personality for the highly-rated station. Hemmert became the regular celebrity host for the Chicago-area Beatle Fest beginning in 1979. Also in the late 1970's she began a long association with Columbia College, where she taught music history and radio classes.
Hemmert has been active in social and political causes and sits on the board of directors for the The Peace Museum
and Facets Multimedia.
Hemmert was featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's "Rock and Radio" exhibit and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago chapter of the Recording Academy.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio personality, musicologist, and instructor at Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
. She is a long-term presence at WXRT-FM in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where she became the first female drive time
Drive time
Drive time is the daypart analog to prime time for radio broadcasting. It consists of the morning hours when listeners wake up, get ready, and/or head to work or school, and the afternoon hours when they are heading home and before their evening meal. These are the periods where the number of...
host for a rock music station in the Chicago radio market. She is known as an expert on The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and hosts the weekly Breakfast with the Beatles program and has been featured speaker at many Beatles conventions worldwide.
Hemmert grew up in Piqua, Ohio
Piqua, Ohio
Piqua is a city in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,738 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.Piqua was one of the cities that experienced severe flooding during the Great Dayton Flood of 1913....
. As a youth she saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
and was inspired to set her sights on a career as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
as a potential way to meet her idols. She maintained her interest in pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
music through her teens and enrolled at Elmhurst College
Elmhurst College
Elmhurst College is a comprehensive private liberal arts college in Elmhurst, Illinois with a tradition of service-oriented learning. It has a rich affiliation with the United Church of Christ.- History :...
where she wrote for campus publications and worked at the college radio station WRSE
WRSE
WRSE is a college radio station in Elmhurst, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago.-Mission:WRSE strives to entertain and inform the Elmhurst College community, plus eastern and central DuPage County, with student-run non-commercial music and talk programs...
; she received a bachelors degree in Speech in 1970. After a stint as a late-night disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at WCMF
WCMF
WCMF-FM is a radio station located in the Rochester, New York area and broadcasts at 96.5 FM. Its transmitter is located on Pinnacle Hill in Brighton, Monroe County, New York....
in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
she returned to the Midwest and, in 1973, joined fledgling progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
station WXRT in Chicago as Public Affairs Director and overnight announcer.
Hemmert's career and popularity grew along with that of the station and by 1981 she was the morning drive-time personality for the highly-rated station. Hemmert became the regular celebrity host for the Chicago-area Beatle Fest beginning in 1979. Also in the late 1970's she began a long association with Columbia College, where she taught music history and radio classes.
Hemmert has been active in social and political causes and sits on the board of directors for the The Peace Museum
The Peace Museum
The Peace Museum in Chicago was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Craig Benton, a former US UNICEF representative. It was one of two peace museums in the US. The other is the Dayton International Peace Museum...
and Facets Multimedia.
Hemmert was featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's "Rock and Radio" exhibit and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago chapter of the Recording Academy.