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Bruce DuMont
Born (1944-06-18) June 18, 1944 (age 80)
New London, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationColumbia College Chicago (BA)
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Kathy Osterman (1992); Kevin Fuller (2023–present)
RelativesAllen B. DuMont (uncle)

Bruce DuMont (born June 18, 1944) is an American syndicated radio political analyst and former TV broadcaster based in Chicago, Illinois.[1] He is the host of Beyond the Beltway, a syndicated talk radio show that airs on approximately 25 stations around the United States.[2] The program, which began in 1980 as Inside Politics, also aired a televised version on Chicago's secondary PBS station, WYCC, from 1996[3] to 2017,[4] when WYCC went off the air.

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.[5][6] 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.[7]

He 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.[8] 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 former 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.[9] After eight and a half years of delays related to construction and financing,[10] the MBC reopened in its new location at 360 N. State St. on June 13, 2012.[11] In August 2016 DuMont announced that he planned to retire as the museum's president;[12] however, according to the website Chicagoland Radio and Media, "Officially, DuMont is voluntarily retiring from the MBC, claiming the decision is entirely his own, although in reality, there is far more behind it," including alleged financial mismanagement and controversy surrounding his personal life.[13] He officially retired from the MBC on December 31, 2017.[14]

From 1987 to 2006 he 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.

DuMont was a member of the Peabody Awards' Board of Jurors from 1992 to 1998[15] and is the nephew of Allen B. DuMont, founder of the DuMont Television Network.[16] He has one child, a daughter, from his first marriage, and was married to Kathy Osterman from May 1, 1992, until her death from cancer on December 8, 1992.[17] DuMont has been partners with Kevin Fuller since 1997; they were married on September 20, 2023.[18][19] Fuller served a prison sentence from 2011 to 2016 for possession and online distribution of child pornography.[20][21][22]

References

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  1. ^ Lavin, Cheryl (19 September 1999). "Bruce Dumont". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  2. ^ "On The Radio". Beyond the Beltway. JenniBe Productions. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Meet Bruce DuMont". BeyondtheBeltway.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  4. ^ Feder, Robert (September 25, 2017). "Robservations: WYCC gets reprieve to November 24". RobertFeder.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Howard Power". Time. 31 January 1969. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  6. ^ Heise, Kenan (November 10, 1994). "Howard Miller, Radio Disc Jockey And Controversial Commentator". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  7. ^ Deeb, Gary (July 8, 1974). "What evil lurks in the CIA?". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  8. ^ Henderson, Harold (October 8, 1987). "The Shouting Show". Chicago Reader. Sun-Times Media, LLC. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  9. ^ Storch, Charles (December 11, 2003). "Broadcast Museum on hiatus for move". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  10. ^ Dahlman, Steven (June 13, 2010). "Construction of broadcast museum resumes". Loop North News. Marina City Online. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  11. ^ Johnson, Steve (June 13, 2012). "Museum of Broadcast Communications opens doors". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  12. ^ Feder, Robert (August 25, 2016). "Robservations: 'WGN Morning News' gets primetime showcase". Robert Feder. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Museum Of Broadcast Communications Seeking To Replace Bruce DuMont". Chicagoland Radio and Media. August 29, 2016. Archived from the original on December 31, 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  14. ^ Feder, Robert (November 29, 2017). "Robservations: Bruce DuMont retiring from broadcast museum". Robert Feder. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  15. ^ "George Foster Peabody Awards Board Members". www.peabodyawards.com. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  16. ^ Weinstein, David (2004). The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television, p. 16. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-59213-499-8.
  17. ^ Kass, John (July 28, 1999). "If Truth Be Told, Letter To Reno Wouldn't Be Needed". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  18. ^ DuMont, Bruce (22 June 2019). "Thanks to my partner of 22 years Kevin Fuller for putting the shindig together!". Facebook. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  19. ^ Fuller, Kevin (20 September 2023). ""Got Married"". Facebook. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  20. ^ Dwyer, Bill (24 November 2009). "Oak Park child porn suspect on electronic monitor". OakPark.com. Wednesday Journal. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  21. ^ Sweeney, Annie (9 February 2011). "Child porn sentence includes lifetime of supervision". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  22. ^ "News & Notes: Harpo Studios; WKQX; Moody Radio; Steve Bertrand; Kevin Matthews; Steve Cochran; Stephanie Miller; More". Chicagoland Radio and Media. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-12-31. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
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