Posted on 12/13/2004 9:09:35 AM PST by RepCath
The radio on my nightstand usually played classic rock, but 1994 was my summer of talk radio. During those heady days of populist-conservative backlash, the medium was a near constant companion. Lunch with Rush, drive time with the indefatigable Beacon Hill-basher Howie Carr and a full five hours a night with David Brudnoy.
Anyone who has ever cruised up and down the static-and-blather-filled AM dial knows that few hosts are capable of providing five hours of meaningful discussion, but rarely did the "David Brudnoy Show" disappoint. So every weeknight, unless the Bruins rudely interrupted, I and some 3 million others in 38 states and Canada tuned into WBZ, Boston's 50,000-watt superstation, to hear the master at work.
There were plenty of hosts who could effectively mock the Clinton administration, rail against Hillary's health care power grab, and attack the day's legislative outrages (remember midnight basketball?). What set Brudnoy apart, aside from eloquence and polemical skills that put most of his peers to shame, was his ability to go beyond such well-worn subjects. His show was no less interesting when he was interviewing antique collectors, obscure academics, and authors of books on subjects that would have otherwise made my eyes glaze over.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
r.i.p., bruds.
For years I would welcome the chance to drive at night because I can pick up WBZ in my car here in upstate New York. Why is this important? Because BZ was David Brudnoy's station.
I am saddened that he has been taken from us. Those who listened knew of his calm delivery, gentle sense of humor, and awesome intelligence and breadth of knowledge. On rare occaisions he would encounter a combative or aggressive caller, and, when he did, he could put them into an intellectual head-lock so quickly, so totally, that it was like the famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones dispatches the assassin with a single shot.
Many were the times that I found myself thinking "how incredible it is to live in a country where the thoughts of such brilliant people are available on the radio, free of charge, for the enlightenment of countless millions of people."
G-d's Speed Dr. Brudnoy,
(steely)
I moved from Boston to LA in 1976. There was nobody out here to listen to comparable to Brudnoy or Avi Nelson. I don't know whatever happened to Avi.
"I don't know whatever happened to Avi."
He's a political analyst. Here's a link to audio/video of a panel he was on in October at Boston College, discussing the upcoming election.
http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/panelelection/
How interesting! I met Avi Nelson as a freshman at Boston College in the fall of 1972. He was giving a lecture, and then opened up for q&a. I believe he was 26-27 years old at the time. I was a guest on his show twice a few years later.
Brudnoy always feigned complete ignorance of professional sports even pronouncing the Boston Celtics correctly with a hard c.
Hah. I never heard him do that, but it does sound like him. But are you sure he was feigning ignorance? Isn't the hard 'c' pronounciation really the correct way to pronounce the word? I know sports fans pronounce it "seltics," but isn't that kind of like the way Kentucky people pronounce the name of their town called Versailles as "Ver-Sal-es." Who is right?
(steely)
No question it should be pronounced (K)eltics but Bruds was the only one who did it.
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