TAMPA — The warm glow from the sound mixer gently lit Mark Perfetti's face as he sat in the control room and cued the start of WMNF's Live Music Showcase radio show.
Inside the recording studio, a team of camera operators focused on guest host Cricket Larson as she introduced the Ashville, N.C., bluegrass quintet Town Mountain.
Halfway through the show, the band introduced a song entitled A House With No Windows.
"This is a song about anybody who finds solace in a bar and spends a lot of time there," said 35 year-old banjo player and vocalist Jesse Langlais.
The subtle strumming of the banjo set the tone in the studio as LED lighting undulated from warm to cool hues. The bluegrass waltz transformed the studio into a breezy open-air bar overlooking a sunset.
Such transformations are just one of the reasons the music showcase is rising in popularity among musicians and fans.
Since the summer of 2014, WMNF and the Tampa Bay Arts and Education Network's brainchild came to life when the two entities combined ideas and resources to produce an audio and visual experience that would reach beyond the local audience.
WMNF has been known for its public radio presence on the Tampa Bay airwaves since its first show aired in 1979. TBAE Network, formerly the Education Channel, began broadcasting public access programs throughout the area in 1987.
Years prior to the opening of the new WMNF studios in 2005, the showcase, normally hosted by Bill Dudley, was recorded in a small studio that wasn't large enough to accommodate a large band, camera crew and a show host.
"The show started in the morning and we had a lot of singers/songwriters, duos and acoustic acts that could fit in that facility, said Perfetti, the show's sound mixer and engineer.
In addition to the studio space, the previous airtime of 8 a.m. also had to be changed in order to bring in more of a variety of acts. The current showcase show is recorded and broadcast each Friday at 1 p.m. on the radio.
"That has worked out really well because we can have a big band that may be playing at Skipper's or somewhere on a Friday night and then we can have them here on the show during the day," Perfetti said. "It helps the venue, it helps us, it helps everybody."
WMNF's partnership with the TBAE Network came about as an initiative to broaden the reach and diversity of audience members for both organizations.
"We are trying to bring the younger generations in, and with this, I think that we are going to accomplish that," said TBAE marketing director Jessica Sturges. "We are hoping to drop the demographic from 50 and older to 30 and older. Those 30-somethings will be 50-somethings and we definitely want to start captivating them now with the programing that we are doing."
Part of that initiative to attract a younger diverse following involves having an active presence on social media platforms and showcasing a variety of musical acts that represent a broad spectrum of genres.
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Explore all your options"I watch the numbers on the board and the online numbers and it's amazing," said show producer Stephen Arduengo. "Sometimes you think that this singer/songwriter may not be as good and then the numbers just go through the roof. It's what the audience likes at that time, and they do like a variety."
Arduengo is also responsible for booking the musical acts for each show.
Town Mountain, a group with members who range in age from 26 to 40, heard about WMNF's live music show through a promoter of Brooksville's annual Riverhawk Music Festival. They saw the radio show as a great way to promote their music and their Nov. 7 appearance at the music festival later that evening.
"The production is not usually like this," said banjo player and vocalist Langlais as he admired the space of the WMNF recording studio. "Nine times out of 10 it's like a small public radio station and we are all cramped up into a booth with the DJ and a couple of microphones."