You Would Be Absolutely Crazy to Miss PBS Tonite at 10pm:

[Smarmie Doofus]

Radio Unnameable - a 2012 Documentary about the inimitable free-form radio pioneer Bob Fass.

http://www.radiounnameablemovie.com/

On WBAI in NYC for years and years thru the sixties and 70's ... his show was ground zero for the political and cultural upheaval of that era.

Don't be a FOOL! Watch it! Especially if you didn't live through that era but would like to more fully understand it.

He's one of a kind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fass



EDIT: I'M ADVISED IT'S NOT BEING SHOWN NATIONALLY ( too bad!)

SO CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS.

[frazzled]

1. Oh, I used to always have WBAI on in those days

(we would always leave it on, too, so that our dog would have a human voice to listen to while we were out; we used to joke that he would become the first radical lesbian Great Dane in New York.) Bob Fass, Julius Lester ... those were the days.

I'll try to watch this tonight, if my feeble brain can remember to turn it on. (Turn it on, tune it in, drop out!)

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. You sound like you need a reminder. So.....

here it is.

50 minutes til showtime.

Julius Lester. "The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." Haven't thought about him in a long time/

And Steve Post and Larry Josephson. They went on to have careers in radio.

[frazzled]

11. Thanks, but unfortunately, it wasn't on in my area.

But yes, Larry Josephson.

Fass, Josephson, Post, Lester: free-form radio at its best.

Why no women? (Lots of Jews, including, eventually Lester, but I can't think of a single woman ... though I know there were some).

[Smarmie Doofus]

12. There was a segment devoted to a feminist 'uprising' led by.....

...Nanette Ranone, including Liza Cowan and Margot Adler. I stopped listening after '73 or so ( went to college in Boston) but I remember this group in particular as early as '71... and Adler was there as the news/pa director before that.

Anyway... that group initiated demands that Fass give up his 5 nites a week and share space/time w. them. This he did. I remember listening. It was straight out of the gate, early 70's feminism: fiesty, fierce and full of energy and edge. But uber-serious and not particularly great live radio. Fass' appeal was that he was a *generalist*. He could talk intelligently and perceptively to a lot of different concerns of people on the left across the demographic spectrum.

Then there was the post VN-war breakup of "the movement" into multiple movements that had little in common. That eventuated in firings, the formation of a union , a strike,a sit-in, Fass' ( among others) arrest and banning from the premises for about 5 years. I wasn't listening in those years ( late 70s and) but followed the unfolding events with medium interest in the NYT.

Fass.. near as I can tell , returned to do a free ( unpaid) show and is till on Thursday nites.... at age 80+. ( I haven't listened for years, but now that I know it's online, I might have a peek in.)

My WBAI years were my HS years, essentially: '69-'73 . Most of the on-air figures were about 10 years older than I but seemed like gods and goddesses.. Bob Fass was about 20 years older.

Anyway... it's a good ( not "great&quot doc lacking most of all: not enough of the *old* Fass; maybe there's not enough footage surviving. Plenty of recent footage of the eighty-ish Fass reminiscing but it's not quite the same guy that fascinated me in 1971. ( Although it's pretty close. I should look that good , speak that well and think that clearly at that age. Or ANY age.)

One of the good ( and frankly, surprising) things about the doc is that most of the BAI folks... almost all of them, in fact... are STILL ALIVE and look to be in pretty good health and of reasonably sound mind. Steve Post... who I thought in 1970 was the funniest person who ever lived and certainly the best monologist I'd heard.... was seriously ill for a long time but got better ( I think it was stomach cancer) and looks pretty haggard but remains bright and articulate. As does Larry Josephson... the morning guy. ( A certified genius, I thought, in the old days. OK, I was in HS, but the guy was wicked-smart.)

No mention of Paul Gorman... who did the midday live slot ("Lunchpail&quot M-F for many years. I wonder what became of him.

[frazzled]

13. We listened approximately the same years

I listened when I was in college and then working after: basically 1968-1974. Moved to Chicago for grad school after that.

I do remember Margo Adler, though mostly in name only. Thanks for the recap of the doc. I'm sure it will show up streaming somewhere fairly soon, so I'll try to get a look at it, if only for old times' sake.

[rurallib]

2. well - out here in the hinterlands we get the great story

of Queen Elizabeth. Boy I can hardly wait to see that!
sarcasm for the humor impaired.

[Warpy]

3. I don't have a teevee guide thingy this week

because I didn't have the spoons to go buy a paper on Saturday. However, I'd hazard a guess that the local station is equally lame.

They like to pretend that nobody here has heard of anything from back east and that none of us is an eastern transplant.

ETA: It's worse than Queen Liz, which might be marginally diverting. Our lousy station is showing "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii" followed by 2 hours of Do Wop.

Since it's Charlton Heston day on TCM and he was just as animated as the plaster statues he paraded in front of in most of his movies, I'll likely be listening to net radio all day and far into the night.

[rurallib]

5. Elvis was on last night here

one of their great fund raising shows

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Believe me it's not much better here. The Fass thing is a rarity.

I pay over 160 per month for wireless internet, a land line phone that I never use and a TV that I watch about three hours a week.

I'd watch it if there was anything to watch. It's Newton Minow's "vast wasteland" of the 60s.

Except for "vaster".... and more of a wasteland.

I'm taking it out when I come back from vacation.

Count on it!

[Warpy]

8. I pay about that for DSL, which I use heavily

a land line I barely use, and Direct TV. Most nights, there is decent fare. Tonight the only fairly decent thing on is "Through the Wormhole," a series on speculative physics narrated by Morgan Freeman. The speculation is often silly, but I'd listen to Freeman read the phone book.

I usually keep it on TCM but not on Charlton Heston day. He was an OK guy before he got completely potty with Alzheimer's. I just can't stand his cardboard cutout acting style.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. PBS stations vary programming, so this is WNET specific

The film can be seen in various other ways such as i-Tunes, Amazon, etc. It is also On Demand in some cable markets.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Damn it. I think you're right. I linked to it thru the pbs website so....

... I thought it was a national listing.

Confusing website. I know it's on HERE.


CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. kick