Long before Occupy Wall Street, there was Bob Fass, the legendary overnight host on WBAI whose 50-year career is lovingly saluted in the documentary “Radio Unnameable.’’ He was the man who back in the ’60s and ’70s used his popular show (I was a faithful listener) — which ran from midnight to 5:30 a.m. five days a week — to promote such Occupy precursors as a “sweep-in’’ on the Lower East Side, a “fly-in’’ at JFK Airport and a “Yip-in’’ at Grand Central Terminal.
During the heyday of his show, he was visited in the WBAI studio by Abbie Hoffman, Joni Mitchell, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary — even an up-and-coming Bob Dylan. A staff revolt at the noncommercial radio station cost Fass his show for several years. These days, Fass — heavier and grayer but still outspoken — is back on the air, but only for three hours on Thursdays, starting at midnight.
Directors Paul Lovelace and Jessica Wolfson weave together archival visual and aural materials along with new interviews with Fass, his wife, Lynnie, and other WBAI alumni. They end “Radio Unnameable’’ with touching footage of Fass’ friends converging on his Staten Island home in a gallant effort to save his vast archive of tapes.