Browse Items (52 total)

Another interview with Ben Franklin on his radio career

Engineer Ben Franklin continues in this November 4th, 1993 interview recounting his stories of early Birmingham radio.

Engineer Ben Franklin (Ben) continues in this November 4th, 1993 interview recounting his stories of early Birmingham radio.

Engineer Ben Franklin (Ben) continues in this 1993 interview recounting his stories of early Birmingham radio.

Ben Franklin (b. March 12, 1919, Lees Vernon Parish, LA; d. May 10, 1998, Calera, AL) was a radio electronics engineer and eventually a station owner (WBYE in Calera) with a 60 year history in the field. He turned the transmitter of WJLD AM 1400 on…

Honey Brown (Willa Lee Davis) 3/8/94 a broadcaster with early WBCO (1951-1952), a Birmingham native sharing her memories of being on the air and working at the station and meeting others in other local stations, including Bob Umbach. She’s…

Hampton Sides, author of “Hellhound on His Trail” (publ 2010, Doubleday), the stalking of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the international hunt for his assassin. Interviewed by phone while Friedman was on the air, so callers are part of the…

Dr. Frank “Doc” Adams (b. Feb 2, 1928, d. Oct. 29, 2014), Director of Education at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and The Carver Theatre. Well known for his proficiency as a sax and clarinet player, and for his stints with Duke Ellington and Sun Ra’s…

Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth (b. March 18, 1922; d. October 5, 2011), a Birmingham Baptist Minister and Pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham from 1953 to 1961. He was the founder of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR)…

Lydia Thompson, Perry “Tiger” Thompson’s daughter, part three of three interviews. Bob Friedman visited Ms. Thompson at her home in Bessemer. Lydia continues to reflect on her family and her dad’s career in radio. Bob was given a picture of Tiger at…