DAVID BRUDNOY, 1940-2004

Last night I had the honor of being a small part of the WBZ radio family as they reacted to the news of the death of their long-time friend David Brudnoy. I was in the control room when the call came in that he had passed away just a few minutes earlier, and I had the honor of being on the air to start what would have been his show at 7 PM. For an hour I spoke to friends and listeners, including Jon Keller and Anthony Silva. I also got a chance to pay my small tribute to David, as I am among the many who can say that I was once a David Brudnoy producer (for three weeks in 1990 on WHDH when David was a free agent after being shown the door by WBZ management at the time...they came to their senses after being deluged by listener complaints and brought David back).

Appropriately, management (my good and dear friend Peter Casey, Director of News and Programming at WBZ) decided to go with a WBZ veteran, Jordan Rich, to take the show until Midnight. I believe completely that was the right choice, and I was happy to have been a small part of their coverage. I stayed for a while and listened as WBZ folks did their jobs with absolute professionalism, even through their grief. I'm sure David would have been proud of them all.