Bruce DuMont, a prominent Chicago broadcaster and founder of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, died on September 10, 2025, in Chicago from cancer-related complications.
He was 81, according to the Chicago Tribune.
DuMont, who launched the museum in 1987, ended his 44-year run hosting the political talk show Beyond the Beltway in January 2025, as confirmed by his daughter, Jennifre. He had been battling cancer for years.
Chicago broadcaster Bob Sirott described DuMont as a “walking encyclopedia of TV and radio” with a tireless dedication to the museum, his “baby,” and a perpetually cheerful demeanor. Sirott credited DuMont with giving him early TV exposure on WBBM-Channel 2’s Noon Break in the late 1970s.
Born in Connecticut in 1944, DuMont moved to Chicago’s Northwest Side as a child. A visit to his uncle, Allen B. DuMont, founder of the DuMont Television Network, at age 10 sparked his lifelong passion for broadcasting. He studied radio and television at Columbia College Chicago, where he hosted a pioneering closed-circuit TV program for a senior citizens’ home in 1965.
DuMont’s career spanned producing for WLS-Channel 7, WGN-Channel 9, and WBBM-Channel 2, and hosting radio shows like Montage on WLTD-AM and Inside Politics on WBEZ-FM, which later became Beyond the Beltway. The latter, launched in 1980, gained national syndication in the 1990s for its lively political discussions. He also worked as a producer and host for WTTW-Channel 11’s Chicago Tonight and Illinois Lawmakers.
A champion of broadcast history, DuMont founded the Museum of Broadcast Communications to preserve radio and TV archives. The museum, initially opened in 1987. DuMont retired as its president in 2017.