Brad Willis (journalist)

NBC Journalist in Afghanistan 1986
Brad Willis in 2011

Brad Willis (also known as Bhava Ram) (born August 27, 1949) is a former NBC News foreign correspondent and Vedic scholar. As a journalist, Willis was the recipient of the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for his work from inside Afghanistan during the Soviet Occupation in 1986.[1] Since retiring from journalism due to disability, Willis has focused on teaching ayurveda and yoga.

Early life

Willis was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of three children. As a teenager coming of age in the 1960s, he was actively involved in the national protest movement against the Vietnam War. From 1969-73, he attended Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, earning a degree in English Literature and a Secondary Teaching Credential. Forsaking a planned career in academia, he left graduate school and joined KVIQ as a news reporter. Within two years, Willis was the news director, anchor and investigative reporter for KVIQ.

Broadcast career

Willis worked for KVIQ from 1973–76, earning several awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for his investigative reporting.

In 1976, he was recruited by KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California. After a brief stint as executive producer of KCRA’s prime time news magazine show, Weeknight, he became an award winning investigative reporter for the news division.

In 1984 he was hired by WFAA-TV, Dallas, Texas and continued as an investigative journalist. During this time, he produced major investigative reports on corruption involving national politics and corporate business. His reports from Venezuela on a Texas oil executive wrongly imprisoned in an international oil scandal led to eventual freedom for the American.

In 1986 Willis moved to WBZ-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, and continued his career as an investigative journalist. He launched WBZ’s first foray into global news coverage with reports from Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. His documentary covering his time with the mujahideen freedom fighters and in the massive refugee camps along the Afghan/Pakistani border earned him the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award. On vacation afterwards, he fell from a ledge battening down storm windows in the tropics and fractured his lower spine. Despite constant pain, he continued working for seven more years. Willis subsequently reported on the struggle against apartheid in Africa from Botswana, Zambia and Zaire, the drug wars in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, the reopening of US/Vietnamese relations in Hanoi with Senators John Kerry and John McCain, and efforts to help the indigenous people of the Guatemalan highlands.[2] In 1987, he was given the Gabriel Award for broadcast excellence with a positive and creative treatment of concerns to mankind for his work in Guatemala.

In 1989 Willis began a career with NBC News as a foreign correspondent posted to the Miami Bureau and covering Latin and South America. His major areas of focus included El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba and Colombia.

In 1990 Willis was dispatched to the Middle East to cover the Persian Gulf War for NBC.[3] He was on the front lines of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Provide Comfort. As the network Pool Reporter for the First Marines, he covered the Battle of Khafji and the liberation of Kuwait, reporting live from Kuwait City with NBC New anchor Tom Brokaw.[4] Willis then moved into northern Iraq to cover the Kurdish refugee crisis.

In 1992, Willis was posted to Hong Kong as the NBC correspondent for covering Asia. He reported from China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Post-journalism career

In 1993, Willis suffered a severe break in his lower back from the injury seven years earlier. A fusion-laminectomy operation failed, left him deeply disabled and ended his career with NBC News. Several years later, Willis was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer and given little chance of surviving the disease.

Willis then stopped years of heavy medications and turned to the Vedas as an alternative to the Western medicine that was apparently failing him. He claims that two years of intense meditation, pranayama, fasting, veganism, Shatkarma purifications and yoga postures affected a cure of his cancer and back problems.

In 2004, Willis took on the spiritual name Bhava Ram, and under this name has produced several books on Yoga and Ayurveda, plus CDs of yoga instruction and original music. He and his wife run a yoga training and healing arts school called "Deep Yoga," based in San Diego. His memoir, Warrior Pose-How Yoga Literally Saved My Life, was published in May of 2013 and is currently under contract with a Hollywood-based film company to be released as a feature film in 2016.

As Bhava Ram, Willis holds certification in Ayurveda from the Kerala Ayurveda Academy and is certified as an Advanced Yoga and Ayurveda Educator through the American Institute of Vedic Studies. He is on the teaching staff of the Yoga Journal Conferences and for the annual "International Yoga Festival" at Parmarth Niketan ashram in Rishikesh,[5] Ram leads trainings and retreats in the U.S. and internationally, plus lectures and provides keynote speeches to medical schools, executive groups,and holistic health practitioners.

Publications

Books

Articles

CDs

References

  1. ↑ "All duPont-Columbia Award Winners". Columbia University School of Journalism. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  2. ↑ Kahn, Joseph P. (16 May 1989). "Ch. 4's Willis interviews Cerezo during Guatemala coup attempt". The Boston Globe.
  3. ↑ NBClearn: Kuwaitis Struggle With Loss at End of Gulf War
  4. ↑ Brokaw, Tom; Willis, Brad (20 February 1991). "They See By Night: Iraqis Have Night Vision Equipment, Too". NBC Nightly News. NBC Universal. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  5. ↑ Yoga Journal Conferences, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and Essence of Life spiritual retreats. "International Yoga Festival 2009" (PDF). Parmarth Niketan. p. 3.

Further reading

External links

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