Where is New York City Pacifica Radio WBAI’s live coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement? That’s what blogger Matthew Lasar is pondering after receiving this note from former WBAI programmer Doug Henwood: “I’m stunned. [The station is] right on Wall Street. They could walk out the door and ask the denizens of Brown Bros Harriman and Deutsche Bank what they make of it. And then walk five minutes down the street to Zuccotti Park and cover breaking news and all kinds of stuff. It could attract a worldwide listenership.” Lasar attempted to contact various WBAI execs, and heard back from Mitchel Cohen, chairperson of WBAI’s Local Station Board. “WBAI does NOT lack coverage,” Cohen wrote. “There is a lot of it on the air, and almost all of it has been terrific — although it took some doing that first week to get that rolling (which seems to be an unfortunate pattern). What is STILL lacking is, as most radio people would understand, is live coverage, especially of the hour or so last Friday morning when the cops were expected to attack.”
“I still have been unable to find out the real story” as to the lack of live reports, Cohen added.