Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Brudnoy currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Brudnoy has taught history, philosophy, politics, and communications at Harvard University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Boston College, and the University of Rhode Island.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese studies from Yale University, a master's degree in East Asian studies from Harvard University, a master's degree in history of American civilization from Brandeis University, and a Ph.D. in history, also from Brandeis University. He also directed the Honors Program at Texas Southern University from 1964 to 1966.

As a television commentator, he worked at WGBH-TV from 1971 to 1975, WNAC-TV (now WHDH-TV) from 1973 to 1983, "CBS Morning News" in 1975. Brudnoy was a talk show host with WHDH-AM from 1976 to 1981, and with WRKO-AM from 1981 to 1986.

He now hosts "The David Brudnoy Show" on WBZ NewsRadio. The top-rated program, which Brudnoy has hosted since 1986, features a variety of guests discussing current news and cultural issues. As a television commentator, he worked again at WCVB-TV from 1991 to 1993, and WBZ-TV since 1993. Brudnoy is also an accomplished writer of books, reviews and essays.

It had been months since David had opened his own show. He had left the airwaves abruptly on October 24, 1994. In the ensuing months, he had endured a slow climb back to relative health. His sudden departure from the radio talk show confirmed suspicion for some listeners that he was quite ill - he had been sounding awful for some time. But the chilling revelation that he had nearly succumbed to AIDS-related illness was terrifically saddening and shocking to many thousands of his listeners. And they listened as he confirmed it on this first night back.

For the first time in his airwaves career, David spoke frankly not only about living secretly, as he had, with AIDS, but about being homosexual as well. There was no way to address one without addressing the other. In form, he presented his show with uncompromising dignity. David spoke on the night of his return with a familiar clarity. How ironic that this clarity was in the effort to describe a muddy period during which his life was in a very delicate balance.

Brudnoy also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Emerson College in Boston in 1996. Brudnoy was honored with the first Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1996 March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Awards.

In 1997, Brudnoy won the Freedom of Speech Award from the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts and was nominated for the prestigious Marconi Award "Personality of the Year in a Major Market" in 1997. His articles have been printed in such publications as The New York Times, National Review, New Republic, The Japan Times, The Saturday Evening Post, The Journal of American History, TV Guide, Boston Magazine, and many more.

His memoir, Life is Not a Rehearsal, was published by Doubleday in January 1997 and is currently in bookstores. Included in that frank memoir is a description of Brudnoy's nine-year battle with AIDS. After a brush with death in 1994, his health rebounded remarkably.