About Us
WFMT Hosts
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 a feature producer for 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 in 2006 from Salzburg to celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday, and concerts by the Berlin Staatskapelle with conductor Daniel Barenboim. Before coming to Chicago, Lisa presented classical music at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and WMFE and WUCF in Orlando, Florida. She holds a music degree from the University of Central Florida.
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.
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.
Andy Karzas
Program Host
Andy Karzas (1934-2011) was host of From the Recording Horn and a recognized and admired expert on opera and historic singers. From the Recording Horn began as a weekly series in 1976 and has continued every Saturday afternoon with rare recordings from Andy's own collection. He informed, uplifted and inspired us all through his brilliant presentations. In addition to radio work on WFMT, Andy lectured extensively on opera for Lyric Opera of Chicago and other organizations.
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.
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.
Carolyn Paulin
Producer/Program Host
Carolyn Paulin joined WFMT in 2001. She appears on-air regularly as host of the monthly live Jewel Box Concerts from Northeastern Illinois University as well as the Chicago Chamber Musicians' First Monday Concerts, and works as occasional host of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial concerts from the Chicago Cultural Center. Carolyn has produced a number of multi-part series for the WFMT Radio Network, including the Clarion Award-winning First Ladies of Music with Virginia Eskin, and two editions of On Wings of Song from the Marilyn Horne Foundation, as well as the two-hour Network special A Portrait of the Berkshire Choral Festival. The six-part Salzburg Festival 2010 was her most recent producing project, and upcoming 13-part series include Salzburg Festival 2011, and Song of America with Thomas Hampson. Carolyn earned a doctorate in choral music from the University of Illinois and has been a choral conductor for 40 years.
David Polk
Producer and Host
David Polk is the founding producer and host of WFMT's award-winning local series Introductions, which began in 2008 and features the region’s finest young classical musicians every week. David also produces other youth-focused programming for WFMT and reports regularly on the arts in Chicago. In 2010, he produced and co-hosted live coverage of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland, and that same year was awarded a Fulbright journalism grant by the German Fulbright Commission (Berlin). Before joining WFMT, he worked for National Public Radio (Cambridge, MA), the Ravinia Festival, the cultural services of the US Embassy in Paris (Africa Bureau) and the Paris Orchestra. He graduated summa cum laude from Tufts University near Boston in 2005.
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.
Steve Robinson
Executive Vice President for Radio and General Manager
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.
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.
