Bruce DuMont
| Bruce DuMont | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Bruce DuMont |
| Born | June 18, 1944 New London, Connecticut |
| Show | Beyond the Beltway (formerly Inside Politics) |
Bruce DuMont (born June 18, 1944 in New London, Connecticut) is an American broadcaster and political analyst based in Chicago, Illinois.[1] He is the host of Beyond the Beltway, a syndicated talk radio show that airs on more than 20 stations around the United States. The program, which began in 1980 as Inside Politics, also airs a televised version on Chicago's secondary PBS station, WYCC. From 1987 to 2006 DuMont was the host of Illinois Lawmakers, a television show covering legislative news that originated from the State Capitol in Springfield during the months of the year when the Illinois General Assembly was in session.
Beyond the Beltway celebrated 30 years on the radio in June 2010.[2] Four months later, DuMont recycled the title of Inside Politics, using it now to refer to the televised version of Beyond the Beltway.[3] (It has since reverted to its original title.)
DuMont got his start in broadcasting as a producer for WGN 720 AM in 1968. He interrupted his radio career to make an unsuccessful run for a seat in the Illinois Senate in 1970, then returned to WGN, this time as a producer for Howard Miller, a controversial radio personality.[4][5] DuMont gained his first on-air radio experience at WLTD, now WCGO, in Evanston, Illinois, a 1,000-watt AM station at the time. It was at WLTD that he became nationally known for his investigative reporting on subjects such as Watergate and the CIA.[6]
DuMont then began to focus on producing news and documentaries for local television. A documentary about teenage suicides for WBBM-TV earned him an Iris Award from the National Association of Television Programming, while another documentary, this one about censorship in public libraries, earned him the Golden Gavel Award from the American Bar Association. He then worked as a producer for Chicago's primary PBS station, WTTW, heading up its broadcasts of the 1983 mayoral debates between Mayor Jane Byrne and her challengers, Richard M. Daley and Harold Washington.[7] DuMont also produced WTTW's Chicago Tonight, and his on-camera work began in 1984 as the program's anchor for both the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention.
DuMont is the founder and president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, which began development in 1982. The MBC opened in June 1987 inside the River City condominium complex at 800 S. Wells St. in Chicago, then relocated to the Chicago Cultural Center five years later, where it remained until December 2003.[8] After eight and a half years of delays related to construction and financing,[9] the MBC reopened in its new location at 360 N. State St. on June 13, 2012; attending the pre-opening ceremony on June 12 were actors John Mahoney (Frasier) and Betty White (The Golden Girls) and newscaster Hugh Downs (20/20).[10]
He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1992 to 1998.[11]
DuMont is the nephew of Allen B. DuMont, founder of the DuMont Television Network, the first commercial television network.[12]
References
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- ↑ http://www.peabodyawards.com/stories/story/george-foster-peabody-awards-board-members
- ↑ Weinstein, David (2004). The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television, p. 16. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-59213-499-8.
