J. Leslie Doss Jr., Oral History
Title
J. Leslie Doss Jr., Oral History
Subject
WJLD
Description
J. Leslie Doss, Jr. (b. Aug 9, 1929, d. Nov 14, 2011) remembering his dad JL Doss, Sr, (b. 1896, d. 1977) founder of WJLD radio. Pictured is John Leslie Doss Sr.
Creator
Bob Friedman
John Leslie Doss, Jr.
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
November 9 - 10, 1993
Contributor
Burns Kennedy
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
DossOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
J. Leslie Doss Jr.
Transcription
Transcript of audio snippet:
Bob Friedman- Ben Franklin’s got a picture of himself in front of the old transmitter.
Leslie Doss – Had a little house…in a little house…in a little bitty white house. I know he threw the wire down when he wrapped the wire around the ground wire, dropped in down the underground stream…the FCC came in about 2 weeks, was howling, you know, flashing and everything.
BF – Is that right
LD – In the South all 1400, you know…that lasted maybe about 2 or 3 weeks. That had some power to it! We’d get cards from all over the world. Those ham operators. Had a hell of a signal. That lasted about 2 or 3 weeks.
BF – That’s a great story. I’m going to have to ‘raz’ Ben…I’m going to see Ben on Saturday.
LD – They named the station up here when they first started out WMFO, “We May Fizzle Out”
BF – “We May Fizzle Out”
LD – The history of that thing is my uncle went to California back in the depths of the depression and to work for Fairbanks Radio selling radios…Fairbanks Morris. And came home one Christmas and told Daddy thought make some money on the other end of it and…so uh…they got…scrapped some money together…got some folks…pulled some strings and got a permit and got it on air with a home made, a man named Jimmy Codle… homemade 100-watt transmitter to get on the air with
BF – Wow
LD – And then went up to 250 and then at that point, when they sold it to Mutual Savings
BF – Sold it to who?
LD – Mutual Savings Life Insurance. They changed it to WMSL. I guess it’s still on the air. I don’t whether it’s got the same call letters or not.
Bob Friedman- Ben Franklin’s got a picture of himself in front of the old transmitter.
Leslie Doss – Had a little house…in a little house…in a little bitty white house. I know he threw the wire down when he wrapped the wire around the ground wire, dropped in down the underground stream…the FCC came in about 2 weeks, was howling, you know, flashing and everything.
BF – Is that right
LD – In the South all 1400, you know…that lasted maybe about 2 or 3 weeks. That had some power to it! We’d get cards from all over the world. Those ham operators. Had a hell of a signal. That lasted about 2 or 3 weeks.
BF – That’s a great story. I’m going to have to ‘raz’ Ben…I’m going to see Ben on Saturday.
LD – They named the station up here when they first started out WMFO, “We May Fizzle Out”
BF – “We May Fizzle Out”
LD – The history of that thing is my uncle went to California back in the depths of the depression and to work for Fairbanks Radio selling radios…Fairbanks Morris. And came home one Christmas and told Daddy thought make some money on the other end of it and…so uh…they got…scrapped some money together…got some folks…pulled some strings and got a permit and got it on air with a home made, a man named Jimmy Codle… homemade 100-watt transmitter to get on the air with
BF – Wow
LD – And then went up to 250 and then at that point, when they sold it to Mutual Savings
BF – Sold it to who?
LD – Mutual Savings Life Insurance. They changed it to WMSL. I guess it’s still on the air. I don’t whether it’s got the same call letters or not.
Original Format
MP3
Duration
Full interview: 30 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
Bob Friedman and John Leslie Doss, Jr., “J. Leslie Doss Jr., Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed September 7, 2026, https://www.thebbrm.org/item/41.
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