Pete Zimmerman

Technical Producer Extraordinaire

My career with the Steve Dahl Show began in 1996 and I am proud to be a part of the DahlCast as we move into a brave new world. As a young boy, I was deathly afraid of tornadoes and spent a large portion of the summer seeking appropriate shelter which, thankfully, has left me particularly prepared for working in a basement. In the many years I have been employed by Steve, my proudest accomplishment is that I have never missed a single day of work due to illness or injury. And while on the surface that doesn’t seem to be exemplary, when you take into consideration that I live in Rogers Park, a neighborhood where statistics show that someone gets stabbed every 4.5 seconds, showing up is actually quite the feat.

I spend way too much of my income purchasing music in forms that have long since been considered obsolete while the majority of my friends are busy doing grown up things like spending time with their wives and families. I am principally fond of music that is performed by unsuccessful bands and I listen to it while wasting time on blogs debating things like, “Where does Yo La Tengo rank in the pantheon of indie rock?” And I’m doing it all while wearing a t-shirt that is at least one size too small and has a logo of either a defunct record label or a bar that no longer exists (still miss you, Lounge Ax).

Despite endless persecution, which admittedly, is just, I love watching Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, and Ugly Betty. I have an unhealthy obsession for the Christmas season, which, for me, officially starts on November 1st. So, for two months out of every year, you can find me on the couch enjoying a Christmas themed television show (How great is The West Wing’s “In Excelsis Deo” episode?), sipping hot chocolate two-handed (Aniston Style), or, like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life, sipping “Mulled Wine. Heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves.” When I’m feeling especially decadent, I’ll walk over to the gas station and pick up their finest carton of egg nog.

I’m a self-described foodie so I like sampling exotic dishes called Lean Cuisines, yogurt that has been frozen (different from the much tastier frozen yogurt), and I wash it all down with freshly percolated coffee. On the weekends I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to decide if I should order a pizza only to make a PB&J sandwich because I feel guilty that my regular delivery guy is an old man. The weekends are also the time when I drink copious amounts of microbrews until I find something that I can hug.

In my spare time, I join Facebook groups where I never have to attend any meetings, silently protest the raising of CTA fares, and look longingly at broken VCR’s.