BETHESDA, Md. — If I say James Brown, maybe you think the godfather of soul, or the football star, Jim Brown. But number three has got to be James Brown, the multi-Emmy Award winner who anchors "The NFL Today" on CBS.
There are lots of James Browns, but only one J-B. He learned his chops as a sports anchor at WUSA9. And as we mark the 75th anniversary of WUSA9 broadcasting over the air, we are celebrating the legendary sports anchor.
“I wish we had a heated driveway for you guys. Oh my gosh," Brown said as a WUSA9 photographer captured the journalist's return to his snowbound home in Bethesda, after a long weekend anchoring CBS's NFL coverage.
JB got his start in broadcasting at Channel 9 in the 1980s, and it seems like the first thing anyone who has ever worked with him mentions is how nice he is. He greeted this reporter with a bear hug and a “Bruce Leshan, how are you!”
But Brown himself is a little leery of his nice guy reputation.
"I'll be inquisitive and ask the right questions," he said of reporting for shows like 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning. "Now if they start to dodge, clearly if I'm going to call myself a news person, I better dig deep to understand why are they running and trying to escape and shield themselves from this? And it'll be an uncomfortable interview."
JB has hosted the Super Bowl a record-setting 10 times, been elected to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, reported for 60 Minutes, and filled in as anchor on the CBS Evening News. That's a unique range for anyone on television.
He’s even been a punchline on the Simpsons.
“You're James Brown, the Godfather of Soul? 'I feel good, NA NA NA NA NA NA!'” Bart Simpson said to him on one episode.
“Sorry, I'm not him either,” JB responded with a laugh.
Get Up DC anchor Wisdom Martin remembers watching JB growing up.
"I'm thinking that guy is so talented, he's so smooth," Wisdom recalls, feeling inspired watching Brown on air. "Now I'm seeing... people who look like me, excelling in these big-time positions. And to find out that James Brown was in these very halls too -- next level."
JB grew up in D.C., was a high school basketball star at DeMatha, went to Harvard, was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and then decided to learn broadcasting.
"The bug bit me and I could not have been more blessed and humbled then to get an opportunity at Channel Nine," Brown said.
He remembers being awed to get a job at the home of legendary broadcasters like Max Robinson, Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyan, Bruce Johnson and JC Hayward.
"I thought James Brown was fake, that’s what I thought," said current WUSA9 Sports Anchor Chick Hernandez, who loves JB. "I thought no human could be that kind."
When Brown started, Channel 9 managers told longtime executive producer Samara Martin Ewing to teach him the trade.
"They said, 'we got this basketball player, make him a broadcaster.' And boy does she pull her hair out, teaching me the trade," Brown said laughing.
JB worked weekends while the late Glenn Brenner anchored weekdays on Channel 9 in the 1980s.
"I learned the fundamentals from Glenn," Brown said.
"You can see he’s in the spirit. No tie, a little cleavage showing," Brenner once teased his protege, pulling open his unbuttoned shirt on a live satellite broadcast from the Super Bowl.
Brown learned to warm up his voice from the late Channel 9 anchor Max Robinson.
"Max said, 'now go into an audio booth and scream to the top of your lungs,'" JB recalled.
The sports anchor said he still does it before recording taped narration or going on the air for a live broadcast.
"Make sure your colleagues are prepared," Brown told us with a warning to the videographers recording him before launching into an "Aye, AYE, AYE, AYE YAH!" at the top of his lungs.
Brown still calls the DMV home, and, at 72, he has no plans to slow down.
"I represent Channel Nine at what I do at the network level," Brown said, with pride in his voice. "Doesn't that speak volumes about the awesome, maybe even incomparable, history of Channel Nine?"
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