Broadcaster Brazil’s Career Started with CVHS Game
Brodie Brazil (right) receives an Emmy Award with San Jose Sharks announcer Randy Hahn.
Brodie Brazil, a senior at Castro Valley High in the fall of 1998, noticed a guy filming a Trojans’ football game, so he thought he’d introduce himself. That turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made.
The cameraman was J.D. Pruess, a reporter for KICU-TV’s High School Sports Focus show. Brazil told Pruess of his interest in video making and sports, so Pruess gave Brodie his business card and said to give him a call. Brodie did, and by the next spring, he was interning at Channel 36 in San Jose.
Bay Area sports fans now recognize Brodie Brazil as the face of the pre-game and post-game telecasts for the Oakland A’s and San Jose Sharks on NBC Sports California, and it can all be traced back to that eventful night at the old Trojan football field. Shows what a little initiative can do.
“I got to do it all,” Brazil recalled of his internship at KICU. “I figured out how to use a camera. I’d edit highlights and write the script to go with it. And I was still in high school. I had to pinch myself sometimes.”
Brazil continued working for KICU while attending San Jose State and majoring in broadcasting. In 2003, he became co-host of High School Sports Focus, where he won his first of 13 Bay Area Regional Emmy Awards. For his stellar work in sports broadcasting, Brazil has been elected to the Castro Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Many of Brazil’s Emmy Awards have come for his work with the A’s and Sharks on NBC Sports California. He began that position in 2009 when NBC took over the channel that carried A’s and Sharks games. Brodie’s timing was perfect.
KICU had canceled High School Sports Focus in 2007 and laid off the program’s entire staff, so Brodie spent a year teaching flying lessons at the Livermore airport, out of TV entirely. But his reputation at Channel 36 helped him procure the new position at NBC, and he’s been there ever since.
Lately, with the A’s potential move to Las Vegas, Brazil has been spending more time than he would like on baseball's political and business sides.
“I miss the days of just discussing baseball as a sport,” Brazil admitted. “Now it’s referendum votes.” But he realizes that it’s all part of the job.
In the 25 years since Brodie interned at KICU, the media industry has changed dramatically. With social media, YouTube, and all, news – including sports news – is a 24/7 proposition.
“In previous times, you’d just show up for work and do your job,” Brazil said. “Now I need to stay (constantly) dialed into my two teams (the A’s and Sharks) and sports in general. The hardest part is just keeping pace. It’s a fast-moving industry. It’s easy to get left behind.”
In addition to his work with NBC, Brodie has his own YouTube channel and is a regular on social media. He produces most of those shows from a small studio in his Danville home.
“Ten years ago, people would tell me they saw something I did on television,” Brodie said. “Now it’s often, ‘I saw you on YouTube.’”
Brazil still has the same enthusiasm as he did when the idea of becoming a sportscaster hit him way back at Canyon Middle School. He loved sports and making videos and figured the combination would be a nice way to make a living. Although he earned varsity letters in baseball and basketball at Castro Valley High, he realized playing professional sports was not his future.
“It’s amazing to me to think I’ve been in the business for 25 years,” Brazil said. “I still love it. I haven’t lost that passion.”
Brodie, his wife Amanda, and their six-year-old son Max currently live in Danville. In addition to his sportscasting career, Brodie is a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor.
This is the fifth in a series of 16 articles profiling the 2024 inductees into the Castro Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame ceremonies and banquet will be held on Sunday, April 21, at Redwood Canyon Golf Course. For tickets, go to castrovalleysportsfoundation.org and click on “Events, Hall of Fame Banquet.”