Brian Williams Reflects on His Jersey Roots, Music History, and the Cultural Impact of New Jersey Storytelling

Jersey Made

In this heartfelt episode of Jersey Made, legendary journalist Brian Williams reflects on his roots in Middletown, New Jersey, sharing how h

Key takeaways

• Brian Williams' upbringing in Middletown instilled a deep sense of responsibility and resilience that defined his entire career.

Main topics

• New Jersey upbringing
• Early work ethic and financial struggle

Notable quotes

"I am a product of the soil of New Jersey, and I'm a product of my upbringing."

Conclusion

Brian Williams' journey from Middletown's streets to national journalism

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:01) Jersey made. Speaker 1 (0:02) Some people witness history. Others help us understand it. For more than 40 years, Brian Williams did both. From presidential elections to natural disasters, he spent a career helping Americans make sense of the biggest stories of our time. He also interviewed seven American presidents. Night after night, millions of people trusted him to tell the day's biggest stories. But Brian Williams' story didn't begin in a newsroom. It began in Middletown, New Jersey, working odd jobs to help pay his own tuition, volunteering at the local firehouse at just 18 years old, learning that if people are counting on you, you show up. Those lessons carried him from a New Jersey firehouse to one of the most recognizable chairs in American journalism. And even today, after a lifetime spent covering the world, he still serves as a volunteer firefighter in Ocean County. Because no matter how far the story takes you, there's something powerful about never forgetting where your own story began. This is Jersey Made. Speaker 5 (1:22) Jersey Made. Speaker 1 (1:23) Brian Williams, welcome to Jersey Made. Speaker 2 (1:26) Thank you very much. I love the title because it applies to me too. Speaker 1 (1:31) So, you know, one of the themes that keeps coming up on Jersey Made is that so many of the people that we're talking to, they didn't really have a straight line to where they ended up. They worked regular jobs. They figured things out. They earned it a little at a time. The story is that people from New Jersey never talk about those jobs with embarrassment. I read that you paid your own tuition for high school. You were a busboy at Perkins. You worked at Sears. You sold Christmas trees out of a truck in Red Bank. And you volunteered at the firehouse all before your journalism career ever began. Now, when you look back. How much of who you became was really built during that chapter of your life? Speaker 2 (2:21) Oh, I think I am a product of the soil of New Jersey, and I'm a product of my upbringing. My dad had a hard time finding work and holding on to a job, so things got very tight. He was a very stoic New Englander, so we never knew until... After his death, he died at Navisink House in Red Bank. At one point, we were down to a net worth of $250. So I was happy to help out. Our problems cost me going to college. But yeah, I got my working papers. He took me to Freehold, I want to say, when I was 14. I worked two jobs all through high school. Perkins and Sears were adjacent to each other on Route 35, and my first firehouse was another 500 yards down Route 35. My whole life took place in one-mile circle. I lived off New Monmouth Road, went to Middletown Village School, Thompson Junior High, modern-day high school, which is no longer in existence, to my great sadness and chagrin. But yeah, I had to... I say now I had to kick back a portion of my earnings to my parents for the household, but I did. And I had to give them a third of everything I made. And more than that, other kids had brand name jeans on and brand name sneakers. Never any of that for us. So I think it helps. form you as an adult. I've never forgotten it. I don't run from it. You know, today, a 67-year-old guy, I'm living one block from Route 35, only in Ocean County. I grew up one block from Route 35 in Middletown, and I am an active member and an officer in my volunteer firehouse. So You see, you can owe the places you'll go. You can have this accidental shock of a career. But if you're wired like me, what you want at the end of it is to go right back to where you had it. And I'm not in the same socioeconomic group I grew up in, but I'm back with, as I call them, my guys. And so it's a great life. Speaker 1 (4:53) Whether it's musicians, filmmakers. journalists, athletes, there seems to be something about growing up in New Jersey that stays with people. There's this grit, this independence, almost a feeling that if you want something, nobody, nobody's going to hand it to you. You've got to figure it out yourself. So when you think back to growing up in Middletown, when you think New Jersey and what it gave you, it's pretty fair to say you couldn't have learned that anywhere else, right? Speaker 2 (5:27) Yeah, I think my experience was unique. I loved growing up in New Jersey. I am a very proud New Jerseyan. I was born at 165, raised at, well, between 117 and 114. We're now at 98. If I keep this up, I'll be in Cape May by the time I die. But I'm getting used to Ocean County. It's not Monmouth. I just... I love growing up there. I do believe it builds character. Had relatives in Scotch Plains, relatives in Westfield. And it's a great state. I won't take no for an answer. Speaker 1 (6:06) You spent years covering America and eventually the world. But before any of that, you were delivering newspapers. You were working at Perkins, volunteering at the firehouse, and you still do. Now, how much of the Brian Williams that people eventually saw? on television was actually built long before television in those ordinary New Jersey jobs. Speaker 2 (6:31) Well, you know, they do teach you how they teach your customer service. They teach you. I'm at the end of the day, I'm an introvert. And I was shocked to find out how many of my colleagues in television were introverts. There's something about speaking. Remember, when you're in a TV studio, you're speaking to a pane of glass with a teleprompter on it. There's a guy standing behind the camera. So my mental trick always was to have a conversation. with him or her, and that way it would hopefully convey to folks watching at home. But all of that goes into who you are. I didn't see any of it coming. You know, I wrote a couple articles as a stringer for the Red Bank Register, the Asbury Park Press. I wrote for my high school paper. I kind of fell into my career because I had a very persistent Irish Catholic mother in our house, and I find TV to be socioeconomic. Rich folks kind of know where their TV is, but they don't live by it. In our house, it came on during the Today Show. It went off after the Tonight Show. It was background music. It was on all day. So, my mom watched a ton of local news, and she kept saying, you know, you could be better than some of these kids they've hired at Channel 4, at Channel 2, at Channel 7. And, you know, coming home from work with maple syrup all over me, it's a tough argument to buy that I could suddenly present myself at a TV station, hey, I'm the guy you've been looking for, with my feet sticking to the floor. But somehow it worked out. And for 41 years, my life went in an entirely different direction. Speaker 1 (8:24) Music certainly has been a big part of your life. I understand your older brother had this incredible record collection and really opened that world up for you. Do you remember the first record or maybe the first moment you realized that music could actually change the way that you saw the world? Speaker 2 (8:47) I think the arrival of the Beatles' White Album was a big moment. Sgt. Pepper's too, a big moment in our household. And having a brother eight years my senior, it helps