CHARLESTON -- Mountain Stage will celebrate its 25th anniversary Sunday, Dec. 7, when it records episode number 684.

Since the show first went live in West Virginia on Dec. 11, 1983, Mountain Stage has hosted nearly 1,700 guest artists including about 150 from the Mountain State. Musicians from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America have performed on the show, not to mention artists from just about every nook and cranny of North America. From cult-heroes to icons of American music, from established entertainers to rising stars, Mountain Stage guests represent virtually every genre of music from all corners of the globe.

The two-hour live performance radio show is distributed on National Public Radio nationwide and around the world on the Voice of America satellite service. Full episodes are available for download on the Mountain Stage Web site and individual segments are streamed and archived on the NPR Music Web site.

The show's forays into television produced 39, one-hour standard definition TV shows starting in 2001 and nine high-definition one-hour specials were recorded and distributed to PBS stations nationwide in 2007. Twenty-seven "Best Of ..." CDs were produced and a coffee-table style book was published in 2003 to commemorate the show's 20th anniversary.

Mountain Stage is based in Charleston, though it has periodically taken the production on the road. The first such excursion came in June of 1985 at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., when Mountain Stage became the first program to utilize NPR's portable satellite uplink service for the show's first live, national broadcast.

Mountain Stage has also traversed the Mountain State, recording live performances in dozens of venues across West Virginia from Wheeling to Bluefield, Charles Town to Huntington and Parkersburg to Franklin. Since 2004 Mountain Stage has enjoyed a collaborative relationship with WVU's Arts & Entertainment, making the Creative Arts Center in Morgantown its home away from home.

Mountain Stage began in the Cultural Center Theater before making a three year run at the Capitol Plaza Theater in downtown Charleston from 1987 to 1990.

After the two successful NPR Specials from the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Mountain Stage began regular national distribution on NPR in July, 1986. Mountain Stage changed distributors to Public Radio International in 1989. The show returned to NPR in July of 2008 and is producing 26 two-hour programs per year.

Mountain Stage currently employs 21 contractors and one state employee. They include seven band members; eight crew including engineers, stage crew and a support staff of seven including production, business management and logistics. The show's three founders remain a vital part of Mountain Stage to this day; Executive Producer Andy Ridenour, Host and Artistic Director Larry Groce and Technical Director and Chief Broadcast Engineer Francis Fisher.

The Mountain Stage Band began to form in the first year of the show and has had few changes. The Fabulous Twister Sisters, Deni Bonett and Julie Adams were guests on the first Mountain Stage and remained a staple until Bonett's departure in 1997. At that point Adams became house vocalist.

Linda McSparin came on board as the business and road manager in 1984, creating a filing system and utilizing the show's first computer. She worked her way up from assistant producer and has been the associate producer for Mountain Stage for 18 years. Steve Hill is the newest member of the Mountain Stage band and its second bass player, having replaced John Kessler about eight years ago. Bob Thompson is the third piano player to join the band, having agreed to an initial one-year commitment in 1991 that has lasted for the past 17.

The two most frequent guests on the show are West Virginia natives, Tim O'Brien from Wheeling and Kathy Mattea of Cross Lanes, who coincidently met in person for the first time when they were both guests on the same Mountain Stage show in November 1985.

Another new era will dawn in 2009 as the show will upgrade its equipment to become a digital production.

Some old friends and original cast-members are coming in for the 25th Anniversary show, including former bassist John Kessler, singer/fiddler Deni Bonett, the show's first production manager Don Wafer, engineer Dave McClanahan and former co-host George "The Earl of Elkview" Daugherty.

Photo courtesy of www.mattea.com

Mountain Stage will celebrate its 25th anniversary Sunday, Dec. 7, when it records episode number 684. Kathy Mattea will perform at the 25th anniversary show.