Bob Friedman

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Bob Friedman (born 1943 in New York, New York) is a former operations manager and talk show host for WJLD AM 1400 and a former commissioner of the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District. He ran unsuccessfully to represent Birmingham City Council District 3 in 2001 and the Birmingham Board of Education District 3 in 2009.

Friedman has a bachelor's degree in geology from Hunter College at the City University of New York. In the early 1980s he helped organize literacy programs for the City Colleges of Chicago, then helped set up computer labs for Chicago's Alternative Schools Network.

Friedman moved to Birmingham in 1988 to campaign for New Alliance Party presidential candidate Lenora Fulani. He soon became active in community initiatives such as organizing citizen resistance to a proposed waste dump in Titusville, co-founding the RAPS group that opposed the MAPS capital projects legislation in 1998, and leading residents who opposed the privatization of Birmingham's solid waste collection proposed by Donald Watkins' Masada Oxynol. In 2001 he helped lead efforts, as chair of The Petitioners Alliance to prevent the city from selling the assets of the Birmingham Water Works to its board.

Friedman helped organize the Math Busters program at Smithfield Library in the late 1990s. He finished behind Valerie Abbott to fill the seat left by the departure of Jimmy Blake in Birmingham City Council District 3 in the October 2001 election. He joined the housing authority board in 2002. That same year he lobbied from his radio program for the legislation that restructured the Birmingham Board of Education into district representatives. With the housing authority he helped put in place contract requirements for academic content in after-school programs.

Friedman, a life-long devotee of doo-wop music, asked for a job at WJLD-AM when he came to Birmingham and was given a position in sales. He later hosted a doo-wop program as "Bobby D", which evolved into the "Sound Off!" public affairs talk show. With the support of station owner Gary Richardson he assembled an archive of historical materials for the 50th anniversary of the station in 1992. Those materials were later updated and transcribed for the station's website. Friedman founded the Birmingham Black Radio Museum which was incorporated as a non-profit in 2004 and has been housed in the Carver Theatre.

Friendment retired from WJLD in 2011. In 2012 he applied for appointment to an open seat on the Water Works Board.

References

  • "City Council elections e-mail interview." (October 2001) The Southsider. Vol. 2, No. 4
  • "Birmingham Board of Education District 3: Bob Friedman" (August 17, 2009) The Birmingham News
  • Bryant, Joseph D. (November 12, 2012) "Council flooded with resumes and letters in contest to fill Water Works seat." The Birmingham News
  • Haden, Courtney (March 28, 2013) "Tall Paul’s long shadow." Weld for Birmingham
  • Chandler, Alyx (May 18, 2018) "Archiving the past" Iron City Ink

External links

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