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I don’t think Avi Nelson is related to the Ozzie-and-Harriet Nelsons...I think he’s from a Russian-American Jewish family (though he may be an atheist or agnostic himself)

From WRKO:
>>Avi Nelson received a bachelor’s degree from Yale in electrical engineering, an MBA from Cornell, and a Master of Science degree in applied physics from Harvard (experimental work done at MIT).

His first job was as an R&D (Research & Development) engineer in high-powered microwave tubes at Raytheon, but he has been doing political analysis and commentary in Boston since 1973. For two years he was a twice weekly columnist at the Boston Herald. For eighteen years he was a radio talk show host on various stations, and for six years he was the editorial director at WEEI, when it was the all-news radio station. In that capacity he wrote and broadcast over 700 editorials.

Avi has been on television here since 1975. He has hosted his own program on channels 7 and 38. On channel 5 he was a charter member and regular panelist on Five on Five – a Sunday morning public affairs program that aired for over twenty two years. For a couple of those years, when John Kerry was on the program, he and Avi also did a series of one-on-one commentaries on the evening news. Currently, Avi appears occasionally on the Channel 2 program “Greater Boston.” On radio he is a talk host on Boston station WRKO.

At the national level Avi was an advocate on the PBS series “The Advocates,” moderated by Mike Dukakis, and was a panelist on the PBS series “The Constitution, That Delicate Balance.”

Politically, Avi Nelson was a media and issues consultant to Governor Ed King (D – MA) and to Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1980. He was on the executive committee, chaired by future governor and ambassador Paul Cellucci (R-MA), for the MA presidential campaign of George Bush in 1988. Avi himself was a Republican candidate for Congress in 1972 and for the U.S. Senate in 1978.

In business, Avi has been an entrepreneur, having started a television station in the Boston market. He was founder, chairman and CEO of WMFP-TV, channel 62 – until its sale in 1995. He is currently a principal and a director of Flight Landata, Inc., a company that makes high resolution, aerial remote sensing devices for the military. He has been awarded several patents in electronics.

Avi has been involved with a number of charitable endeavors, including two years as Crusade Chairman of the American Cancer Society – MA Division. He is currently on the board of the MA Prostate Cancer Coalition.

From 1962 to 2001 Avi played semi-pro or advanced amateur baseball in the Boston Park League and Yawkey League. He is in both leagues’ Halls of Fame – and continues to play ball in two age-limited leagues.

Additional interests include physics and music composition. In physics, his first paper on special relativity (July, 2003) and an additional comment (July, 2004) were published in the European Journal of Physics. His first formal musical work, a Ballade for piano, received its broadcast premiere on WCRB-FM (the classical music station in Boston) in June, 2000.

Avi grew up in MA and resides north of Boston with his border collie, Katie (world’s best dog), his cat Phyllabonque and a feral cat Phyllandra (who lives in the garage).