BOSTON (AP) – For decades, evening radio listeners sank back in their chairs, tuned out shock jock chatter and tuned their dials to David Brudnoy’s low-decibel discussions of current events, culture, politics and other subjects over the airwaves.

Brudnoy’s refined voice of culture and conservatism, a rarity amid the increasingly coarse chatter of talk radio, fell silent the night of Dec. 9 when he died of renal failure at about 6:20 p.m. at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, surrounded by friends. He was 64.

The iconoclastic Brudnoy defied labels by coming out as a gay man in 1994 after collapsing from an AIDS-related viral infection, then abandoning the Republican Party to become a Libertarian in 1998. He could be heard every weeknight in 38 states and in Canada on WBZ-AM since 1986.

He announced on air in September 2003 that he was suffering from Merkel cell carcinoma, a form of rare but treatable skin cancer.

Brudnoy’s death came a day after an interview conducted at his hospital bedside, when he announced the cancer had spread into his liver and kidneys – and that he was ready to die.

“I am not asking my doctors to do anything illegal,” Brudnoy told veteran news anchor Gary LaPierre. “I wish I could but they won’t. I will make it through. My head is completely accepting of this. I am absolutely ready.”

He left his show in November 2003 to fight the cancer, recovered and returned in March, interviewing Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, Gov. Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in his first night back.

But Brudnoy was hospitalized again this month, and his condition deteriorated quickly.

WBZ general manager Edward Jordan said Brudnoy “will sorely be missed.”

“So many talk hosts in America are trying to shock someone or trap someone. David treated everyone with dignity. He showed everybody how much he cared. He was always polite, he always did his show with such a sense of class,” Jordon said.

After his final interview aired, elected officials including Sen. Edward Kennedy and Gov. Mitt Romney and everyday listeners called in to the station to offer remembrances and thanks.

“He was a friend to hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom he never even saw in person. They will miss him, too,” Romney said after Brudnoy’s death.

Kennedy said “it’s no wonder the David Brudnoy Show was such a hit.

“He couldn’t care less about your party label, as long as you knew what you were talking about, because he always did,” Kennedy said.

Born in Minneapolis, he received a bachelor’s degree in Japanese studies from Yale, a master’s in Far Eastern studies from Harvard, a master’s in the history of American civilization and a doctorate in history, both from Brandeis University.

Though best known for his broadcasting career that started in 1971 at WGBH-TV in Boston, he also wrote movie reviews for suburban newspapers and lectured at a number of area colleges, most recently at Boston University. His articles have been published in The New York Times, National Review, TV Guide, New Republic and many more.

Brudnoy started his talk radio career at WHDH-AM in 1976, then moved to WRKO-AM in 1981.

Brudnoy’s radio show touched on almost any topic, from politics, to current events, to the arts. He was known for his intellectual thoughtfulness, his sense of humor and his easygoing manner with callers, who came from all walks of life.

His loyal listeners revolted in the early 1990s when he was taken off the air in favor of cheaper syndicated talk programming. Listeners boycotted the station and advertisers, and Brudnoy was back on the air within weeks.

Brudnoy revealed in 1994 that he was gay and had AIDS. He said at the time that he only expected to live five or six more years. His memoirs published in 1997, Life is Not a Rehearsal, chronicled his battle with HIV.