Veteran radio talk show host David Brudnoy dies at 64

Boston Herald ^ | 12/09/04 | AP

[Reaganesque]

Thursday, December 9, 2004

BOSTON - David Brudnoy, the most recognized voice of Boston talk radio for more than a quarter of a century, died Thursday night at Massachusetts General Hospital, his radio station, WBZ-AM, reported. He was 64.

Brudnoy, whose soothing voice could be heard every week night in 38 states and in Canada on WBZ since 1986, announced on air in September, 2003 that he was suffering from merkel cell carcinoma, a form of rare but treatable skin cancer. He had already lived with AIDS for more than a decade, beating a viral infection that nearly took his life in 1994.

His death came a day after, in an interview conducted at his bedside at Massachusetts General Hospital, he announced the cancer had spread into his liver and kidneys - and that he was ready to die.

``I am not asking my doctors to do anything illegal,'' Brudnoy told veteran news anchor Gary LaPierre. ``I wish I could but they won't. I will make it through. My head is completely accepting of this. I am absolutely ready.''

He left his show in November of last year to fight the cancer, recovered and returned in March, interviewing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry [related, bio], Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio] and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in his first night back. His voice was noticeably more hoarse.

``We're guaranteed nothing in life except life itself, and what we get is an adventure, not always a happy one but always a learning experience as well as, like now, a time of fear and maybe even (I hope temporary) despair,'' he said at the time.

But Brudnoy was hospitalized again this month, and his condition deteriorated quickly.

Wednesday, after his final interview aired, elected officials including Sen. Edward Kennedy and Gov. Mitt Romney and everyday listeners who had come to know him from their radios called to offer rememberances and thanks.

Brudnoy had been optimistic about beating the cancer, not just because of the expert medical care he was receiving, but because he had been living with AIDS for nearly a decade.

``I've lived nine years since fall 1994, defying the odds, and unless my nine lives have been used up, I'll survive this too,'' he said.

Brudnoy revealed in 1994 that he was gay and had AIDS after he was hospitalized with a viral infection that almost took his life. He said at the time that he only expected to live five or six more years. The cancer had nothing to do with AIDS, he said.

Brudnoy's radio show touched on almost any topic, from politics, to current events, to the arts. He was known for his intellectual thoughtfulness, his sense of humor and his easygoing manner with callers, who came from all walks of life.

His loyal listeners revolted in the early 1990s when he was taken off the air in favor of cheaper syndicated talk programming. Listeners boycotted the station and advertisers and Brudnoy was back on the air within weeks.

Though most well known for his broadcasting career that started in 1971 at WGBH-TV in Boston, he was also wrote movie reviews for suburban newspapers and lectured at a number of area colleges, most recently at Boston University. His articles have been published in The New York Times, National Review, TV Guide, New Republic and many more.

``David was a breath of fresh air on the faculty,'' said Robert Zelnick, chairman of the journalism department at Boston University, where Brudnoy taught a media criticism class. ``He challenged students ... he made them think critically.''

He started his talk radio career at WHDH-AM in 1976, then moved to WRKO-AM in 1981.

His memoirs published in 1997, ``Life is Not a Rehearsal,'' chronicled his battle with HIV.

Brudnoy was a Republican until 1998 when he officially switched to the Libertarian Party.

Brudnoy, born in Minneapolis, received a bachelor's degree in Japanese studies from Yale, a master's in Far Eastern studies from Harvard, a master's in the history of American civilization and a doctorate in history, both from Brandeis University.

[zook]

I want to tell you to go to hell, but that kind of thing is frowned on around here.

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

I want you to try to imagine how much that means to me. Really. I'm touched. I'm rethinking my whole outlook on life as a result of your erudition and amazing insight. You never know when just a few well-placed words can make a difference. I would like to express to you how appreciative I am, but that kind of thing is frowned on around here.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

This is the part where you show your chritian love, eh? I am none too impressed. It seems that your ability to forgive and to love your neighbor as yourself has been severely impaired. I believe it was Jesus who said "Judge Not, Least You Be Judged."

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Brudnoy prob'ly did more for our cause than most of us here will have the opportunity to do. He always seemed like somebody who really would have been a treat to know.

[Phocion]

However, the amount of federal and state funding put into AIDS is way out of proportion to the health threat to the general, normal public. The only reason for such a waste of resources is political pressure brought to bear on cowardly or evil politicians by sodomites such as Mr. Brodnoy. You may think that to be a perfectly acceptable arrangement. I do not.

Reason: How do you feel about government-sponsored AIDS research?

Brudnoy: My hope is that we would have sufficiently limited government so that it wouldn't occur at all. The fund I created at the Massachusetts General Hospital is specifically targeting corporations and individuals to demonstrate that people, without being taxed, without being forced to do it, will contribute. If someone asks, "Should AIDS be the only disease that isn't funded by the government?", I'd say no. But if someone said I could have my druthers and the government would be cut down to [its proper size], that would be the end of it.

[cgbg]

a treat to know

I did know him back in the 1960s and 1970s in Boston.

I have such mixed feelings about him. I hate eulogies where everyone says everything positive about a person because it dosen't reflect their true personality.

There was the "Good David" and there was the "Bad David".


Brilliant, wonderful dry sense of humor, principled libertarian, great writer, well read, always fun to be around. He had a great radio show, and convinced many young people born to liberal Massachusetts families to seek a new path of conservatism or libertarianism. He knew so many prominent people in the conservative and libertarian people, and was always ready to contact them when needed. He was a great ally in the tough times of student protests in Boston in the Vietnam era.

Bad David:

Everyone knew he was gay. They knew because he would make a pass at young men from time to time. He used his position as a leader and a teacher to assist making those contacts. For that reason I tried to keep my distance and warned others to do the same. While I have no first-hand knowledge it seems inevitable that he infected others with sexually transmitted diseases because of his immoral conduct and his secrecy about that conduct.

Ayn Rand's famous quote was "A is A". She applied that principal to morality and said you were either a good person or a bad person.

Dave was very familiar with the writings of Ayn Rand. He admired her but he found much about her couldn't tolerate. I think he knew his life contradicted her view of human nature.

Dave was a contradiction. In Ayn Rand's world he should not exist--a hero with fatal major flaws.

[af_vet_1981]

How did he get AIDS?

He received AIDS as his compensation for willful homosexual behavior, specifically oral sex with other men. After he was diagnosed with AIDS he concealed it for six years before acknowledging the disease. I wonder how many other people he infected.

[Wormwood]

That's the most accurate obituary I've ever seen.

[af_vet_1981]

David Brudnoy was a spokesman and idol for those who suffer from HomosexualAddiction as guides and leaders for young boys to scout through adolescence into manhood.

I was asked to be here tonight in part as a signal of the Boston Minuteman Council's cold war with the national Boy Scouts of America headquartered in Irving, Texas. I say cold war because there is no shooting, no shouting, just a tough disagreement separating the national organization, which demands a cruel discrimination doing nothing but enshrining a bigotry, and the Minuteman Council, which last year, in its policy of nondiscrimination, signed by Brock Bigsby, declared as unacceptable "bias, intolerance, and unlawful discrimination" in serving thousands of youths "without regard to color, race, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or economic status." In joining councils in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Minneapolis - my natal city - the Council in Boston, my adopted city for 40 years, said forcefully that it will not judge the worthiness of a boy to share in the remarkable experience of scouting on the basis of what his sexual orientation is or may be, nor the competence of an older boy or man to be a leader, on the same irrelevant criterion.

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

How nice, a "libertarian" opposed to free association, and an advocate of the "rights" of his fellow sodomites right up to the bitter end. Again, good riddance.

[af_vet_1981]

Actually it was two and a half years ago. I have seen no evidence that he repented of HomosexualAddiction. It, like Heroin, Cocaine, and Alchohol addiction has a low cure rate but it is always worth it to quit and repent. That would have been a wonderful accomplishment had he chosen to take it.

[Meldrim]

Ohhhh, I've heard him numerous times raise his voice at those of us that think letting gays serve openly in the military is a mistake. Ditto the Boy Scout. Generally he was even tempered though.

[Meldrim]

He never said how he contracted AIDS, but I do know he regularly went to Thailand during the seventies and eighties. I remember him speaking about it when he was on WHDH and later WRKO. Draw your own conclusions.

[Meldrim]

"What a wonderful role model: contracting a horrid disease through his own perversion and lack of self-control, eating up medical resources at a stunning clip for ten years, and finally expecting the rest of us to admire his "courage"."

You make a salient point, however his human failings (certainly a perverse lack of self control) do not diminish the good he espoused and did. Where else could the average guy call up and talk to Bob Bork or Bill Buckley? Until 1989 he was never "out", though those of us who listened had some suspiciions...similar to those I now have about South Carolina's Senior Senator. Brudnoy had a knack for bringing in some of the best know folks in the country; the folks in his listening area were fortunate.

Bad role model? Yes, certainly in some ways. It's not my job to judge him...not now at least.

[Meldrim]

I think he was not opposed to free association, only supportive of those seeking to reverse the policy. BTW, I think he was wrong both as regards the military and the Boy Scouts.