American conservative talk show host, rare in his intelligent approach to issues. Brudnoy was much loved for his astute and well-grounded opinions, his great ability to articulate rational arguments that did not pander to the masses or stoop to hysterical personal attacks.. After his diagnosis of AIDS and a near-death experience in 1994, his became less crusty and more compassionate on air.
He claimed his life was an open book and just before he died made a public broadcast from his bed in which he thanked all his listeners and friends and assured them that he wasn’t afraid, that he was in fact ready He died at about 6:10 PM on December 9, 2004.
He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. He initially kept his diagnosis and treatment secret, but after a near-death experience from a viral infection in 1994, he acknowledged that he was homosexual. His fans rallied around and he provided a forum for open dialogue about sexuality and the devastating illness that had already taken too many lives.
In 2003, his health suffered another serious blow when he was diagnosed with Merkel-Cell Carcinoma. Thin and weak, Brudnoy recovered and returned to the air in March 2004, broadcasting from his home when he was unable to report to the studio. He was hospitalized again early in December acknowledging that the the cancer had spread into his liver and kidneys.
An only child whose father was a dentist and mother a homemaker, Brudnoy’s education was extensive–a bachelor’s from Yale and Harvard,master’s degrees with concentration in Asian studies, Brudnoy taught briefly at a black college in Texas before moving back to Boston to pursue his doctorate at Brandeis. During his extensive time in Boston he taught at Boston University and was a lecturer all over the United States.
He began his broadcasting career in 1971 when at a friend’s suggestion, he auditioned to be commentator for WGBH, Boston’s public TV station. When he landed the post, Brudnoy joked that he was the token conservative at the station. By 1976, he was full-time at the sister radio-station and in 1981, he moved to WRKO. In 1986, he moved to another Boston-based radio station, WBZ-AM. So popular was he in the Boston area and beyond that when WBZ cancelled his show in 1990, the audiences protested so loudly that WBZ re-hired him. There he stayed until his death.
Tall, thin, with a pock-marked face and owlish glasses, Brudnoy had an intellectual air. That, with his distinct and resolnant voice, articulate and thoughtful commentary, and his ability to talk intelligently about heated emotional subjects endeared him to his audiences.
Link to Wikipedia biography