ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Fresh off celebrating its recent move into new digs at the Thrive DTSP co-working space downtown, the nonprofit Radio St. Pete is hosting its annual Spring Fling Fundraiser Thursday and Friday.
The free event offers two days of live, local music, noon to 5 p.m., at two venues.
On Thursday, Tony Amadore, Pat Ward, Happi & Patti, Jeff Blak, George Wright, Charlie Morris, Pamela Jo, Eddie Kusar and Keith Pleuss perform at Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe, 2927 Central Ave., in the Grand Central District.
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Meanwhile, Shadric Smith, Doran/Pickett, Randy Burton, Holt and Hoke, Kari Kane, Adrianna, Berkley and JP and Greg Woodruff take the stage Friday at the new Foodie Labs, 515 22nd Street S., Suite 130, in the Warehouse Arts District.
“We like to make our fundraisers fun,” J Kolb, music director, told Patch. “We think it’s important not just to go on the radio and talk about our need to raise money, but to balance that with something that’s entertaining and fun for people in the community.”
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The event aligns closely with Radio St. Pete’s mission of “being hyper focused on local,” he added. “We’re a local station. We want to focus on local music, local events, local arts, local community. It is very much about local.”
The station has about 3,500 songs in its rotation. This represents about 1,200 acts and 2,400 musicians, Kolb said.
In addition to music and the arts, the station also covers sports and news, and even offers talk shows on local topics and issues.
The station launched in 2013 as an internet-only radio station. Then, in 2019, Radio St. Pete merged with Music Tampa Bay, taking over its FCC license for 96.7 FM.
“And that’s when we really started to build out the station to make it a more all encompassing real community radio station that’s here to support the arts and music community in the greater Tampa Bay area,” Kolb said.
Now the station is looking toward its next step, moving into its new recording studio at Thrive DTSP and fleshing out its volunteer staff and programming.
“It’s been a process,” he said. “For the longest time, it was just a very short, not even a skeleton crew; it was like three bones of a skeleton crew.”
In recent months, the station has expanded its board of directors, brought on Nanette Wiser as news director and introduced new programs.
“Now, we’re starting to really see some traction, not just adding content, but adding more presence in the community,” Kolb said. “One of the nice things with radio now is it used to need an 18-wheel truck full of gear to go out into the community and broadcast live radio. Now I can do it with a laptop and a microphone.”
He added, “We try to do a lot in the community. I think that’s something that’s important for a little community radio station. If we just had a presence like this (in the studio) it would limit us. If we didn’t have this (studio) it would limit us. By having both it gives us the option to do the things you really need a studio to do, but we can also go out in the community and do things there.”
In addition to tuning in at 96.7 FM, listeners can also stream the station’s programming online or via the Radio St. Pete app.
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