David Brudnoy, 1940-2004.

Boston radio great David Brudnoy has died of cancer at age 64. In addition to the Globe obit linked in the preceding sentence, check out this piece by Brian McGrory in yesterday's paper and the tribute page on the website of WBZ Radio, Brudnoy's on-air home for the past 18 years. I became an avid listener of 'BZ's "David Brudnoy Show" while I was in college; almost every night, I'd tune in to hear part or all of the erudite host's conversations with politicians, public intellectuals and notable people of the moment. As much as I appreciated Brudnoy's thoughtful interviews, my favorite part of the program was the call-in portion, in which the host and his guests engaged in intelligent dialogue (and sometimes pointed debate) with assorted callers, some of whom were regulars who later went on to greater fame - like Libertarian gadfly Carla Howell. Though I disagreed with Brudnoy on many issues, I've yet to find a talk-radio program (including anything on NPR) that can match his in quality. As my friend Steve Silver relates, we once encountered the legendary radio host at an advance movie screening in Boston. Though my memory on point is as fuzzy as Steve's, I seem to recall that after we were unable to get seats for Enemy of the State we were instead conducted to a simultaneous screening of The Siege. In any case, Steve accurately recalls the brush-off we got from Brudnoy; even if the guy was rather abrupt in person, I continued to listen to his show afterward and still count myself among his many of fans. Now, David Brudnoy has departed this mortal coil - but, for what it's worth, we've still got the very different though nonetheless excellent and apparently immortal Paul Harvey. AMDG.