Radio Free New York: Bob Fass

Radio Unnameable, a documentary about broadcast visionary Bob Fass's half-century spanning tenure as host of the late night show of the same name, is winding up its run at Film Forum. How an artist, such an original talent, could be working as a volunteer at WBAI at 79 years of age, is a mystery. I mean, if Garrison Keillor could turn a radio show into a public event, why Mr. Fass couldn't be recruited, at the very least, for an adjunct position at a university, or general manager of a college radio station seems a mystery... C'mon, how has my beloved NYU (WSUC, 1976), somehow managed to drop the ball on this local NYC broadcast gem? The film combines wonderful documentary footage of NYC in the early 60s onward, combined with a social history of WBAI and the unique reach and impact of Fass's show as an altenratively poetic and interactive media venue for the American counterculture. It's an absorbing and occasionally moving film, a bit slow in dealing with the internecine warfare at the station, but remarkable in its coverage of how one man could bring this FM radio medium in a completely new direction in a relaitvely short amount of time. The NY Times article today offered some additional archival material from the show, which was archived and digitzed as part of the film here. At 79 years of age, Bob Fass is a significant figure of historical interest in the history of American media; he has devoted his life to radio. Bloomberg, Bill Gates, somebody give this man a Grant (or a pension)!