Candice Agree
Candice Agree joined WFMT in 2013, her “vocal” life an alphabet soup of radio stations, audio books, commercials, and industrials. She interned for Howard Stern (WNBC) and worked on air and off in Washington, DC (VOA, WETA) and New York City (WQXR, WNCN, WNYC, WAXQ, ABC Radio Network, SiriusXM). An off-camera announcer with CBS News since 1998, she’s heard on CBS Evening News, Weekend News, and Sunday Morning, as well as Sunday Morning on the Radio and CBS News podcasts. Candice studied theory and composition at Eastman School of Music; she received her BA in Russian from Barnard College. A Foundation for Iberian Music Contributing Scholar, her weekly program The Spanish Hour has been distributed nationally since 2010 via PRX. At WFMT, she hosts weekdays from 2:00 to 7:00 pm and Baroque&Before on Wednesdays at 10:00 pm.
Marilyn Rea Beyer
Marilyn Rea Beyer hosted her first concert in junior high as the school band emcee. She got on board The Midnight Special listening to WFMT as a Chicago teenager. She has had careers in arts education, PR and high tech. In 1995, Marilyn became on-air host and music director at Boston’s premiere folk station, WUMB-FM where she was best known for the daily "Live at Noon" show, conducting more than 1,000 artist interviews on the air. She also served on the board of the legendary Club Passim and emcee'd countless concerts in greater Boston. Returning to Chicago, Marilyn joined WFMT in 2020 as host of The Midnight Special and now Folkstage. She says that judicious risk-taking, nurturing artists, falling in love with new music, and engaging with the lively Folkstage audience make the job fun. Marilyn was inducted into the 2023 Folk Alliance International Folk DJ Hall of Fame.
Oliver Camacho
Oliver Camacho joined the announcer team in February of 2019. He is the co-host and creative consultant of Opera Box Score and co-host of OperaNow! Podcast. A proud graduate of Chicago’s Lane Technical High School, where he was mentored by George Rico, Oliver went on to study music at Northwestern University, and historically informed performance practice at the Amherst Early Music Festival and Early Music Vancouver. His musical passions are opera, art song, choral music, Early Music, and discovering new composers as well as those who have been previously marginalized or disenfranchised. In January of 2021, Oliver began hosting Listening to Singers, and in October of the same year, he was named WFMT’s Music Director.
Robbie Ellis
Robbie Ellis joined the WFMT team as a part-time host in 2015, and went full-time in 2020 as the producer and presenter of Introductions. You can also hear him on air on Sunday afternoons. He's fronted a variety of broadcasts and events for WFMT, including hosting Classical Cabaret and Folkstage from the piano. Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, he has a Composition degree from the University of Auckland and started in classical music radio at RNZ Concert. Outside radio, he has created comedy classical concerts with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and Fourth Coast Ensemble, and has worked as a music director at the Chicago Magic Lounge and The Second City. Robbie hosts pre-concert talks for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Grant Park Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire and more; and you can find his comedy albums on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music.
Lisa Flynn
Lead host and midday announcer Lisa Flynn has been with WFMT since 1991. She has hosted many programs for the WFMT Radio Network, including broadcasts from Salzburg for Mozart’s 250th birthday, the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, and the WFMT Opera Series. Before coming to Chicago, Lisa presented classical music in Columbus, Ohio, and Orlando, Florida. She holds a music degree from the University of Central Florida.
Kerry Frumkin
In addition to being your host for weekday evenings, Peabody Award winner Kerry Frumkin is a regular host of live concert broadcasts including Live from WFMT, concerts from the Ravinia Festival, and WFMT’s premiere visiting artist series, Impromptu. Kerry hosts many WFMT Radio Network broadcasts from such locations as the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Salzburg Festival. A native Chicagoan, Kerry grew up with WFMT. His love of music and radio played an important part in his life at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin, where he eventually became program director of Wisconsin Public Radio. He’s always been a strong advocate of live music broadcasts, and cherishes having interviewed many of the performers he admires including Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Renée Fleming, John Adams, Leif Ove Andsnes — even the award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns.
Kristina Lynn
Kristina Lynn is a producer and host at WFMT, presenting both Sounds Classical with LaRob K. Rafael, and Evening Music on Friday nights. She has hosted live performances and artist interviews with the Rush Hour Concerts and has done voiceover work for the WFMT Radio Network. With an easygoing approach, Kristina aims to welcome all types of listeners to classical music and explore the art form from a 21st-century perspective. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree specializing in Trumpet Performance from DePaul University. Before announcing at WFMT, she has previously worked in radio production at both WFMT and at WQXR in New York.
Dave Schwan
Dave Schwan has been around music all his life and has worked in broadcasting for over 40 years. Dave joined WFMT in 2010, and he hosts a number of programs including live broadcasts from Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and the Grant Park Music Festival. In addition, he is a program host for the internationally syndicated WFMT Jazz Network. Dave is also the Sunday morning news anchor at WGN radio. As an amateur musician, he has been involved in various instrumental and choral groups in Chicago, playing both classical and jazz music. A native of Highland, Indiana, Dave grew up listening to WFMT and attending concerts around the Chicago area. During his travels, he’s had the opportunity to attend concerts around the U.S. and in Europe.
Peter van de Graaff
Peter van de Graaff joined the Beethoven Satellite Network in February 1989 after a year as one of the staff announcers on WFMT. He serves as overnight host on WFMT, a program heard on many radio stations across the United States. As a professional singer, Peter has performed with opera companies and orchestras throughout the world including the Czech State Orchestra, and with the New Orleans, Utah, Colorado Springs, and San Antonio symphonies. Peter is currently the music director and morning host of KWAX, Classical Oregon.
Jan Weller
Jan Weller has worked as both a host and producer for WFMT on-and-off since 1995. He is currently WFMT’s Saturday afternoon host and serves as a fill-in host for other station announcers. Jan first displayed his love of music at the age of 2; he happened to hear a marching band’s rehearsal, and when they stopped, he yelled out, “More mooie!” He began working at his local NPR station while still a music student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and went on to work at public radio stations in North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin, including a five-year stint as a talk show host on the Wisconsin Public Radio network. Since arriving at WFMT, Jan has had the opportunity to travel to Israel and South Africa on production projects for the WFMT Radio Network, and in 2002, he won a Peter Lisagor Award for the documentary The Making of Princess Magogo. He is an avid listener to music of all sorts and attends as many concerts as he can!