Bob Friedman

Bob Friedman (born c. 1944 in New York, New York) is an operations manager and talk show host for WJLD-AM and a former commissioner of the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District. He ran unsuccessfully for Birmingham City Council in 2001 and the Birmingham Board of Education, District 3 in 2009.

Friedman has a bachelor's degree in geology from 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. After moving to Birmingham he 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 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. In his neighborhood he has helped organize block watches and supported community initiatives such as the opposition to rezoning the a large parcel in Glen Iris to R-3 for the proposed Parkside condominium development.

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. That project grew into the Birmingham Black Radio Museum which was incorporated as a non-profit in 2004.

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
• Haden, Courtney (March 28, 2013) "Tall Paul’s long shadow." Weld for Birmingham

External links

• Bob Friedman campaign website