Bruce DuMont, the longtime Chicago radio and TV broadcaster who founded the Museum of Broadcast Communications in 1987, died on Sept. 10 in Chicago of complications from cancer. He was 81.

His daughter, Jennifre, said her father had long had cancer, and he had announced the end of his longtime political talk show, “Beyond the Beltway,” in January of this year after 44 years on the air.

“He was a walking encyclopedia of TV and radio,” said Chicago broadcaster Bob Sirott, currently the morning host on WGN-AM. “He knew I was fascinated with broadcasting history, so he was kind enough over the years to ask me to emcee events at the museum that he knew I’d be interested in. He was a no-nonsense producer and organizer and a tireless worker on behalf of his ‘baby’ — the museum — but always smiling, joking, and with a permanently happy disposition.”

Bruce Barton DuMont was born in Connecticut in 1944 and moved to Chicago’s Northwest Side as a child, living with his parents at 3912 W. Diversey Ave. On his 10th birthday, DuMont went to New York to visit his uncle, Allen B. DuMont, who founded the DuMont Television Network and was one of the co-inventors of the cathode ray tube.

“I have never wanted to do anything else but be in television or on television since that moment,” DuMont told the Tribune in 1993.

While at Schurz High School, DuMont received a gold achievement key for his entry in a regional scholastic art contest. DuMont then studied radio and television at Columbia College Chicago, and during college in 1965, he was a fill-in weekend host at WEEF-AM in Highland Park, and was named the producer and host of a daily hour-long closed-circuit television program that debuted in February 1965. The show was exclusively for residents of the Hollywood House senior citizens home at Hollywood Avenue and Sheridan Road, becoming one of the first high-rises in the country to offer daily closed-circuit TV programming.

After college, DuMont worked as a producer on Jim Conway’s morning TV show on WLS-Channel 7 and then took a job as a producer-director for WGN-Channel 9. In 1969, he was selected as a Republican candidate for State Senate in the 11th senatorial district on the North Side. He left broadcasting for a time as he made his ultimately unsuccessful challenge to incumbent state Sen. Robert Cherry, D-Chicago.

DuMont returned to broadcasting, producing an afternoon radio show on WGN-AM. Then in 1973, DuMont got in front of the mic, teaming up with Chicago Today columnist Kenan Heise to co-host a Saturday show on WLTD-AM in Evanston. The following year, he began hosting a public affairs show on WLTD called “Montage,” which he syndicated to other stations, including in St. Charles and Lansing.

DuMont’s time on WLTD was short-lived. The station changed formats in May 1975 and DuMont and other personalities were relieved of their duties. After that, DuMont hosted an interview show on NBC’s all-news WNIS-FM for a time before leaving to take a job as director of public relations for the Henry Regnery publishing house.

In 1978, DuMont was named the producer of WBBM-Channel 2’s show “Noon Break,” anchored by Lee Phillip and Bob Wallace. He held that role for four years.

“He was one of the first people to put me on TV. When I was still at WLS in the late 1970s, he was the … producer for Lee Phillip’s ‘Noon Break’ on CBS 2,” Sirott said. “He had me do weekly live reports on media, music and lifestyle trends. So he helped open the door for me at Channel 2 news. I started there full-time in 1980.”

DuMont frequently held several gigs at the same time. In the mid-1970s, he began hosting a 90-minute weekly program, “Chicago Show,” on WBEZ-FM. He also hosted a news and public affairs show, “Straight Talk,” on WFYR-FM.

Then in 1980, DuMont began hosting “Inside Politics,” a political talk show on WBEZ. He also worked for nine years, from 1982 until 1991, as a producer, field correspondent and substitute host for John Callaway on WTTW-Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight,” and he later hosted the station’s “Illinois Lawmakers” program.

However, DuMont’s “Inside Politics” was what propelled him to national prominence. Placing a Midwest spin on politics, he broadcasted the show live before a studio audience. The program changed its affiliation in 1992 to WLS-AM and FM, and around that time entered national syndication. He changed its name to “Beyond the Beltway” at the start of 1995.

“When we began on WBEZ-FM 91.5 in 1980, it was a 13-week experiment,” DuMont told the Tribune in 1995. “It was a show by, for and about political junkies. What we started 15 years ago has become the staple of talk television — and to some extent talk radio — in the country. There’s a core group of political junkies who, 15 years ago, were not being served at all. We were one of the first shows in the country to have a raucous discussion of passionate issues. Politics, when played best, are played by people who are passionate.”

DuMont continued hosting “Beyond the Beltway” on other outlets such as WCGO-AM and then WIND-AM and also videotaped it live for a time, airing it on WYCC-Channel 20, until he stepped back from it in January.

DuMont was a champion of broadcast history, and starting in the early 1980s, he worked to make Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications a reality. It opened in the River City condominium complex at 800 S. Wells Street in 1987, and then moved in 1992 to the Chicago Cultural Center, where it was based until 2003. DuMont served as the museum’s president, and he worked both on museum exhibits and on digitizing and preserving an archive of radio and television programming.

DuMont resigned in 1991 as Channel 11’s political analyst and substitute host of “Chicago Tonight” to devote all his time running the museum, although he continued hosting “Inside Politics” and continued to host “Illinois Lawmakers” specials on Channel 11.

“I can’t think of a better place than Chicago for the Museum of Broadcast Communications,” he told the Tribune in 1993. “The museum represents the historical significance of Chicago as a broadcast center.’

After eight and a half years with no physical location, the museum reopened in 2012 at a new location at 360 N. State St. It closed its doors at that spot in 2023 and will be reopening this fall in a pop-up location in the West Loop.

DuMont retired as the museum’s president in 2017.

A first marriage ended in divorce. DuMont’s second wife, former Chicago Ald. Kathy Osterman, died in 1992. In addition to his daughter, DuMont is survived by his husband, Kevin Fuller, three granddaughters and a grandson.

DuMont’s family is planning a memorial service.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

 

Originally Published: September 11, 2025 at 8:32 PM CDT