Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 05)
Title
Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 05)
Description
Another interview with Ben Franklin (b. Mar 12, 1919, d. May 10, 1998) on his radio career
Creator
Ben Franklin
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
November 05, 1993
Contributor
Hannah Moore
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Interviewee
Ben Franklin
Transcription
Transcript from audio snippet:
Bob- I walked up to the top of the mountain..
Ben- Oh did you .
Bob- about a week and a half ago. To where the station used to be cause the
tower is still there.
Ben- Yeah. Yeah.
Bob- um but of course, you know and I I Just you know it was like was there
alone, it was a beautiful day and you know you kinda wish that your doing to trip
over a “d”, that fell off the building that was covered by Kudzu, but no such luck.
Ben- Well is there uh, There’s still some equipment in there oh isn’t there part of
it.
Bob- but the building doesn’t exist..
Ben- well the rest of the building it was pretty good sized building, that was built
for TV, uh, I was there when they blasted all that rock off.
Bob- Uhhuh,
Ben- and made a smooth enough place to put building,
Bob- well there’s a building there, I mean you know there’s a building but I just
assumed that um, I just assumed that what ever was WJLD, cause the studio
was up there wasn’t it.
Ben- Everything was there.
Bob- Yeah.
Ben- Studio, office, all was up there…
Bob- But I just assumed that when I had spoke to Frank Giardino, He said no
they bulldozed everything to the ground. It had been vandalized, it sat there for
so long..
Ben- Umm
Bob- um I just assumed that that building that now exists there was just you know
new.
Ben- Some body probably told him that, I don’t think he ever goes up there. It’s
hard to get to, isn’t it?
Bob- Uh Not terribly, I mean you can walk up, ..
Ben- Yeah Well I’m talking about..
Bob- You can’t drive.
Ben- Yeah.
Bob- But you can walk up.
Ben- Yeah well I walked up there, before they put the place there.
Bob- Uhhuh. Uhhuh.
Ben- It was just trees and rocks the first time I went up there.
Bob- yeah. It’s mostly that now. I mean,
Bob- I walked up to the top of the mountain..
Ben- Oh did you .
Bob- about a week and a half ago. To where the station used to be cause the
tower is still there.
Ben- Yeah. Yeah.
Bob- um but of course, you know and I I Just you know it was like was there
alone, it was a beautiful day and you know you kinda wish that your doing to trip
over a “d”, that fell off the building that was covered by Kudzu, but no such luck.
Ben- Well is there uh, There’s still some equipment in there oh isn’t there part of
it.
Bob- but the building doesn’t exist..
Ben- well the rest of the building it was pretty good sized building, that was built
for TV, uh, I was there when they blasted all that rock off.
Bob- Uhhuh,
Ben- and made a smooth enough place to put building,
Bob- well there’s a building there, I mean you know there’s a building but I just
assumed that um, I just assumed that what ever was WJLD, cause the studio
was up there wasn’t it.
Ben- Everything was there.
Bob- Yeah.
Ben- Studio, office, all was up there…
Bob- But I just assumed that when I had spoke to Frank Giardino, He said no
they bulldozed everything to the ground. It had been vandalized, it sat there for
so long..
Ben- Umm
Bob- um I just assumed that that building that now exists there was just you know
new.
Ben- Some body probably told him that, I don’t think he ever goes up there. It’s
hard to get to, isn’t it?
Bob- Uh Not terribly, I mean you can walk up, ..
Ben- Yeah Well I’m talking about..
Bob- You can’t drive.
Ben- Yeah.
Bob- But you can walk up.
Ben- Yeah well I walked up there, before they put the place there.
Bob- Uhhuh. Uhhuh.
Ben- It was just trees and rocks the first time I went up there.
Bob- yeah. It’s mostly that now. I mean,
Duration
Full Interview: 7 minutes
Audio Snippet: 2 minutes
Audio Snippet: 2 minutes
Files
Collection
Citation
Ben Franklin and Bob Friedman, “Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 05),” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed September 7, 2026, https://www.thebbrm.org/item/98.
Item Relations
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 01) |
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 02) |
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 03) |
| This Item | dcterms:relation | Item: Ben Franklin, Oral History (part 04) |
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