James Colton Brazier Oral History Project
Interview with James Brazier
Date of Interview: April 7, 2007
Interviewer: Emma Jade Brazier
Transcriber: Emma Jade Brazier
Begin Tape 1, Side 1
Emma: This is the James Colton Brazier Oral History Project, session number
one. Today is April 7th, 2007. I am with James Colton Brazier at his home in Carlsbad, California. The address is 2905 Via Pepita. I am the interviewer, and my name is Emma Jade Brazier.
Emma: When were you born?
James: I was born February 5, 1951
Emma: So growing up, what do you remember about how you used the media?
James: Well, to tell you the truth I didn’t use it for much. The only time I would watch TV would be too watch some of my favorite sitcoms, like, “I Love Lucy,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “The Andy Griffiths Show,” and so on.
Emma: How much time would you spend a day watching TV?
James: Probably about an hour to two hours a day. Really it was just to watch goofy shows, never really anything newsworthy. The only times I would spend watching the news was when there was nothing else on for a half hour. As I got older, it changed a little bit. I started to watch the news in high school and around college. I was never too interested in it though… never really paid attention to what was going on.
Emma: Why?
James: Well because I never really cared much. I watched TV for entertainment purposes, not too sit and learn about what was going on in the world. I watched it so I could laugh and have fun. It allowed me not to think about anything else. Watching the news was not like that. And you know I was young. Growing up I didn’t care to watch the news, and didn’t really understand what was so important about being informed about what was going on in the world. I guess thinking about television; the only thing that comes to mind is to watch it for its entertainment value. But like I said, I watched the news as I got older, but no, not really while I was young because I wasn’t interested…. And probably didn’t understand it’s importance.
Emma: So I take it you never really listened to the radio, television was the only source of entertainment and news from a broadcast standpoint?
James: Yeah, the radio was long gone by the time I started listening to things like that. I was too young for radio. We had one in our house, but it was more for decretory purposes, we never really used it. By that time, the Black and White TV is what everyone used to get information.
Emma: What were specific programs you watched as a child and into your teenaged years?
James: News or entertainment?
Emma: Both, what shows were important to you?
James: Well, all the sitcoms. Like, “Father Knows Best,” “Ozzie and Harriett,” and the ones I listed before. For news, I think we watched CBS for the most part. But the news was a lot different than what it’s like today, so I just got bored out of my mind.
Emma: How so?
James: Well for one thing, there was usually only one man on the screen. He would be sitting down and smoking, holding big glasses or something. Then everything would just be recited off to you. There weren’t pictures to go along with it, or things on the screen that would help the viewer visually. To me, it was like sitting and listening to your teacher speak. You were just being lectured on what was going on. The information back then was slow. There were constantly updates, or things read wrong and later corrected. The news was very dry, and nothing much to it. For a young kid, it wasn’t very much fun to watch, and I didn’t really like it. I got bored and distracted by other things. As I grew up, and things became more advanced, it was easier to watch just because there was more to look at. There was more to see and more to understand because photographs, or images supported what they were saying. This made it more interesting and a lot easier to listen too because it wasn’t just a segment of you sitting and listening to one person speak. It became more developed and included more people, rather than just one on one time with you and an old, stuffy anchor.
Emma: So as you got older, do you think you became more interested in the news because of the changes it went through with new graphics, more pictures and such, or because you became more interested in what was going on around you?
James: A little bit of both. I mean of course, when you grow up you become more aware of the world and different cultures and how they all affect you, but the news became more entertaining to watch as I got older as well because it really started to show us what they were saying, and show us more things rather than just telling us. I think anything in life is more affective that way if you show the people what you are trying to do, rather than just tell them. So yeah, I think a little bit of both. I was more interested because I was more aware of my surroundings and the things that are happening, and news was evolving and becoming more of an entertaining thing to watch because it involved more than just a recital of facts.
Emma: What do you remember about the first time you watched a television?
James: Oh gosh, nothing. I don’t remember anything at all, I remember the first time I watched a colored television…
Emma: ok, tell me about that, what did you think?
James: Well, I remember when they first came out; my Dad made us wait a couple of months until they were stable enough and were good. I think the first thing I saw was the, “Wizard of Oz.” That was such a big deal because it was the first movie to have color in it. It starts out black and white, and then… well, you’ve seen it.
Emma: Ha-ha, yeah. Can you remember seeing news for the first time in color and what that was like?
James: Well it all made it a little more real. These people you see on TV were hard to relate too because they were in black and white. It wasn’t a reality. When colored TV’s came into play, and I was able to see things that were truly happening, and that I could see with my own two eyes, it made it all a little more real for me. It was definitely a shock, and was really neat.
Emma: What are some of the big news events you remember?
James: The first news I remember was the Nixon and Kennedy campaigns. I think I was about nine years old and they were covering the first debate on Television. And I remember everyone thinking that Nixon lost because he didn’t shave. Ha-ha. Yeah, it was really big deal though, that debate, because it was the first time they had ever done something live like that on television. I also remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I didn’t really know a whole lot, I just knew that it was there and happening. I think I was in like 5th or 6th grade. That was the big news at the time.
Emma: What about the Kennedy assassination? Do you remember that?
James: I remember that perfectly. I was in Junior High sitting in Math Class. My teacher was Eastern European. They announced it over the loud speaker that the President had been shot. I remember she looked down and under her breath, she whispered, “Even in this country.” Wow, that has stuck with me. I can remember that exact moment like it happened two minutes ago. “Even in this country.” I don’t know, the whole thing didn’t really faze me too much. Again, I was young. I could comprehend what was going on, but my parents never really talked about it, and within my family, it wasn’t a huge ordeal. No one cried or anything. But everyone made a huge deal over it. I mean, on TV, for the next three or four days, that was the only thing that was on. They showed the entire thing over and over and over again. It was kind of like the whole 9/11 things that happened. That was all we watched and all any other stations covered.
Emma: What are some other news events you remember?
James: Well Vietnam of course. I remember on the news they would have a daily body count. I hated that. Toward the end of the war, the things being covered were all the protests against the war, rather than the fighting itself. I was about 17 or 18, but I wasn’t all that interested. I know I should have been because I could have been drafted, and I had friends who went over and served. But I was a beach bum and cared a heck of a lot more about Volleyball than some stupid war that didn’t make any sense to me in the first place. I didn’t care why we were there or why they took friends of mine over there because the cause was so ambiguous.
Emma: Did you try and understand why troops were sent over there?
James: Well everyone knew why. Everyone knew what our purpose was. But I was stuck with all the kids who didn’t really care. You didn’t turn to the news to find out what was going on. I heard most everything by word of mouth. I would hear stories about friends who were over there and losing body parts. In classes we would be lectured on why it’s so important for us to, “man up,” and such. I don’t know, it was all pretty silly to me. I was young. I was interested in things like that. There wasn’t a lot of war coverage on the news either. I mean there would always be a little, but it was like it is now. There is sometimes a small segment of what the troops are doing over in Iraq, maybe a list of how many people died that day, but other than that, that’s all you hear. For Vietnam, they would do their daily body count, and move onto something else more prevalent. It was kind of in a sense ignored. There were just more important things to be discussed. They didn’t sit and talk to us about why we were over there, or the importance of us supporting the troops that were there. No one really took the chance to explain, it all just happened.
Emma: So would you have liked more media coverage on the ward?
James: I don’t know. I think it would have been nice to hear more about what was happening, rather than just who died that day. It gave the war a very negative connotation. You couldn’t help but want the troops back home because the only thing you heard was about how many people were dying. You didn’t hear too much about successes, if there were any, and you didn’t hear many human-interest stories on the war. It was all about the death toll. I definitely think this created a sense of fear towards this war. People just didn’t like being over there or hearing about it because it was all about those who were dying. They made the men who lost their lives a statistic, not an actuality. They became numbers instead of bodies.
Emma: So in a way, the media deterred you from caring about the war?
James: No I wouldn’t say that. It wasn’t just the media. The media does affect how we see things and how we understand what is happening outside of our towns. But, I just didn’t care because I thought I had better things to be doing. It wasn’t something I constantly thought about or took into much consideration. It was just like this war. How many times do you find yourself thinking about all the people over there fighting? Do you truly understand why we are there? No. No one outside of the government really has a handle on things. I think the media does the best they can with the information they are given in these situations, and they give it to the people. That’s their job and I think they are just doing their job.
Emma: When you did care and you did want to learn about what was going on, what sources did you turn too?
James: The TV first. But it was boring, because it was just talking, there were no pictures. I would also read the newspaper, for comics. And I really liked LIFE magazine. I loved that actually. My parents always had those in our house. I loved looking at the pictures and seeing all of these places that were outside of my little town of Hollywood. The pictures were always really good too. They had Norman Rockwell pictures and stuff, which was neat.
Emma: So you like pictures, you like seeing what is happening rather than just being told?
James: Absolutely. I like to see what’s happening. That’s why news used to be so boring for me. It was just listening to a man talk about what is happening. As I got older, there were cameras and things that were developed enough to bring us the news, and that included visuals. There is so much more to learn from something that is happening through pictures. When you can see it, you can further understand what is being said. Does that make sense? It’s easier to understand something when it is shown to you, I guess. I don’t know.
Emma: No, that makes sense.
James: Yeah, I just think that as the news evolved, they were able to give their viewers more than just facts. They were able to truly take them to the story. They brought us pictures, and moving images. We were able to relate to the stories more because we could see what was going on. We could put ourselves in those situations and relate to the characters. When colored news came, everything became more or a reality, and again, easier to relate too because it was like I was seeing it with my own two eyes which was a new experience and was even kind of scary at first because this was something that was really going on. It wasn’t just entertainment, it was life happening around the world.
