Pitchforks and harps

Brian McGrory has a great article in today’s Boston Globe about longtime Boston radio/TV talk show host David Brudnoy’s imminent death. For the past year, Mr. Brudnoy, a giant in the world of journalism in Boston and throughout New England, has been fighting the onset of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that attacks the liver and kidneys, eventually leading to full shutdown of the organs. Today, in his final interview from Mass General with Gary Lapierre of WBZ, Mr. Brudnoy admits to giving up his fight at the age of 64.

I won’t go into too many details of David Brudnoy’s distinguished history as a radio host, TV personality, columnist, novelist and university professor (for years he has taught media and journalism courses at Boston University’s College of Communication, receiving full professorship only this past year), as the McGrory story covers these topics quite well and no doubt a flood of obituaries and remembrances will soon be unleashed by the collective Boston media eulogizing one of the true greats of their industry.

I will, however, reflect a bit on the pervasiveness of Mr. Brudnoy in the culture of Boston. Quite literally, there was a period in Boston media history, from the time that Mr. Brudnoy signed on with WHDH radio and TV in the late seventies until his HIV diagnosis in 1994 (and, to a lesser extent, for several years thereafter) that one simply could not watch local news, flip on news radio or open a newspaper without Mr. Brudnoy’s unique brand of wry and witty journalism knocking one upside the head. Moreover, there has not been a journalist in Boston in the past twenty years that so was so unanimously respected and appreciated as Mr. Brudnoy both on a personal and professional level. Mayor Tom Menino's story in Mr. McGrory's article recounting the fixing of a pothole outside of Mr. Brudnoy's residence speaks volumes. Long time friend/rival Mike Barnicle would be the only one that comes close, but Mr. Barnicle is and was much more divisive and polemic than Mr. Brudnoy (and has since suffered the consequences).

Simply put, Mr. Brudnoy is a blue collar man in a white collar suit, an agnostic libertarian who always meant what he said, trusted his subjects and gained their trust, was always engaged in the opinions of others (and didn’t just wait for his turn to speak, like so many talk show hosts do now) and always reserved judgment until he could state with absolute certainty that the sky is blue and rock beats scissors.

Like my recent column eulogizing Pedro Martinez’ stay in Boston, I would like to end this with a wish that things may yet turn around, that Mr. Brudnoy may yet make a remarkable recovery and return to his radio show at WBZ and his classroom on Commonwealth Ave. and the pages of the Globe. But this recovery will not happen. There will be no eleventh hour negotiations or meetings in airports to talk extensions. Mr. Brudnoy has asked his doctors to cease treatment for his disease and focus treatment on his pain.

''I don't believe in pitchforks and harps," Mr. Brudnoy told his interviewer. "If you accept, as everyone must, this stage in life, then I do not complain about my 64 years. I can't evaluate my own life. That's for others to do. But I think it's been OK. I've been nice to people. I can't think of anything more I can do but to accept and welcome this."