Lisa Flynn

Program Host/Producer

Lisa Flynn has been a program host and producer for WFMT since 1991. She presents The New Releases on Sunday mornings and is co-host of the Lyric Opera opening-night broadcasts and nationally syndicated series. Lisa has hosted many programs for the WFMT Radio Network, including “War Letters” (which won the 2002 Peter Lisagor Award), a series of live broadcasts from Salzburg to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday, and concerts by the Berlin Staatskapelle with conductor Daniel Barenboim

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Kerry Frumkin

Program Host

Peabody Award-winner Kerry Frumkin hosts the station's weekly live studio performance series, Live from WFMT, featuring classical music soloists and ensembles from the Chicago area and across the nation. He also and has hosted WFMT's concert broadcasts from Colorado's Aspen Music Festival.

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Carl Grapentine

WFMT Morning Program Host

Carl Grapentine first joined WFMT in 1986 and has been the host of the Morning Program since 1996. He has given pre-concert lectures for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, and many other groups. An alumnus of the University of Michigan School of Music, Carl has been the "stadium voice" of the Michigan Marching Band for 38 seasons—his voice being heard on national telecasts of 16 Rose Bowls and numerous other bowl games.

Where's Carl? (Upcoming Public Appearances)

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Andy Karzas

Program Host

Program host of From the Recording Horn, Andy Karzas has long been an aficionado of opera and historic singers. From the Recording Horn began as a weekly series in 1976 and continues every Saturday afternoon with rare recordings from Andy's own collection. In addition to radio work on WFMT, Andy lectures extensively on opera for Lyric Opera of Chicago and other organizations.

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Victoria Lautman

Producer/Program Host

Victoria Lautman joined WFMT in 2004 when she inaugurated Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman, an hour-long author interview series airing once a month and broadcast live from the stage of Lookingglass Theatre. Martin Amis, Louise Erdrich, Frank McCourt, Anchee Min, Edward P. Jones, Jay McInerney and dozens of others have appeared on the program before a live studio audience. A veteran of public radio for over two decades, Victoria is also Contributing Editor for Chicago magazine where her Writers on the Record column appears.

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Michelle McKenzie-Voigt

Weekend Program Host

Michelle McKenzie-Voigt joined WFMT in 2007 and is a broadcasting veteran with WTTW11, where she was also an announcer for 10 years. She has been an Associate Director for the live nightly series Chicago Tonight since its inception in 1984. A graduate of Northwestern University, Michelle was a double major in theater and art history; she has been active in choral groups since childhood and still particularly enjoys performing in musical theater. Her love of music began with the first records she remembers listening to: “Ballet Music from the Operas” and the ballet music of Khachaturian.

Dennis Moore

Program Host

Dennis Moore joined the WFMT announcing staff in 1990 after being a regular listener to the station via cable during his ten years as Music Director of WMFE-FM in Orlando, Florida. Dennis has worn many hats at WFMT – as an announcer, host of Music in Chicago, the Dame Myra Hess Concerts, and Northeastern Illinois University concerts, and producer and host of special broadcast events, including the Aspen Music Festival.

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Andrew Patner

Critic-at-Large

Author, critic, and journalist Andrew Patner has been WFMT's Critic-at-Large since 1998. Andrew has also been Contributing Critic to the Chicago Sun-Times since 1991 and has been the paper's acting music critic since July of 2006. He is the author of I.F. STONE: A Portrait and other publications. Andrew Patner hosts and produces Critical Thinking, a weekly one-hour program of conversation about the arts, heard each Monday night at 10 p.m.; Critic's Choice, weekly commentaries heard Wednesdays at 10 a.m., Saturdays after the opera broadcast or after From the Recording Horn, and Sundays at 8:30 a.m.; and coverage of all of the international and U.S. tours of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as other special programs and projects.

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Carolyn Paulin

Producer/Program Host

Carolyn Paulin joined WFMT in 2001. She is the host and producer of the weekly program Profiles, hosts the monthly live Jewel Box Concerts from Northeastern Illinois University as well as the Chicago Chamber Musicians’ First Monday Concerts, and is a regular weekday evening program host. Carolyn has produced a number of 13-part series for the WFMT Radio Network, including First Ladies of Music with Virginia Eskin which won a Clarion Award in 2007, and On Wings of Song from the Marilyn Horne Foundation, as well as the two-hour Network special A Portrait of the Berkshire Choral Festival. Carolyn has been a choral conductor for over 35 years.

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George Preston

Program Host

New afternoon drive-time host George Preston comes to 98.7WFMT from WNYC, New York City's primary NPR affiliate, where he most recently served as Music Director, supervising the music staff and producing a wide array of live concert broadcasts, festivals, and specials. Prior to that, he hosted the station’s Overnight Music program from 2000-2003. A native of West Virginia, George is a former singer and actor, having performed in works by everyone from Mozart and Rossini to Molière and Cole Porter. He holds music degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and Boston University.

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Steve Robinson

Senior Vice President for Radio

Steve Robinson joined WFMT in August 2000 from the Nebraska Public Radio Network. He is a 33-year public radio veteran. While at Nebraska Public Radio, he was active in all levels of programming, outreach, development and fundraising, a role he continues to play here at WFMT, while overseeing day-to-day operations of the station and the WFMT Radio Network.

Peter Van De Graaff

Program Host, WFMT Through the Night
Program Director, Beethoven Satellite Network

Program director/host Peter Van De Graaff joined the Beethoven Satellite Network in February 1989 after a year as one of the staff announcers on WFMT. As a professional singer, Peter has performed with opera companies and orchestras throughout the world, including the Czech State Orchestra and the symphonies of New Orleans, Utah, Colorado Springs, and San Antonio.

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Rich Warren

Program Host/Producer The Midnight Special

Rich Warren, host/producer of The Midnight Special, grew up listening to the program. Since joining WFMT in June 1974, Rich has recorded several hundred folk music concerts and produced and co-hosted the City of Chicago/WFMT Folk Music Festival. Rich has been one of the hosts of The Midnight Special since November 1982.

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Peter Whorf

Program Director

Peter Whorf joined WFMT as program director in 2005. For more than 25 years, he has hosted and produced numerous classical music, news, talk and arts programs and has served as program director at stations in New York and Missouri. Peter oversees all of the day-to-day programming on WFMT. Some highlights include the weeklong series of programs heard across the country, Mozart 250: Live From Salzburg, the nationally broadcast Elgar 150, WFMT’s Lyric Opera broadcasts and the CSO Soloists series. Peter has also expanded WFMT’s content by featuring hundreds of audio and video excerpts through his blog, Plug into Programming. He is regularly heard on the air as the host of the weekly Fazioli Salon Series. Peter is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a degree in violin performance. He has performed at the Aspen, Chautaqua, Tanglewood and Heidelberg Festivals and has played in many professional ensembles in Chicago and New York City.

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