Behind the Scenes at Backstage Pass

9:59 a.m. Friday, November 16th. Backstage Pass, WXXI's live studio music show, airs in about 3 hours.
Host Julia Figueras is still not sure what guests Juliana Athayde and William Preucil will be playing. Since the two violinists had a student-teacher relationship, Julia decides to focus the interview on the subject of mentoring. 10:15 a.m. Julia shows her list of interview questions to intern Hannah St. Marie.
Meanwhile, engineers Dave Sluberski and Andrew Croucher set up in the Henry Epstein studio. Since the guests have no accompanist, the guys move the piano away from the corner.
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Senior Producer Extraordinaire Dave Sluberski tests the mikes.
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10:55 a.m. WXXI-FM program director Ruth Phinney works behind the scenes.
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11:02 a.m. VP for Radio Jeanne Fisher gets ready to produce the show.

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11:06 a.m. Chris Van Hof hosts Classical 91.5's Midday show.
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11:23 Julia, still wondering what repertoire her guests want to play, sets up water bottles and her script.
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12:12 p.m. Juliana and Bill finally arrive! Bill unpacks his Stradivarius violin.

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12:18 p.m. Host Julia Figueras helps the guests pare down the list of pieces they'll play.

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12:22 Dave Sluberski adjusts the studio mikes while they warm up.

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12:49 p.m. Executive producer Jeanne Fisher and Senior Audio Technician Andrew Croucher track the time, check the studio set-up.
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12:58 p.m. About two minutes to go!
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1:05 p.m. Backstage Pass is LIVE.

1:40 p.m. William and Juliana play Four Duos by Bartok.
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1:43 p.m. WXXI volunteer Roz Baum says she likes hearing the guests talk about how their relationship has changed over time.
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1:59 p.m. Off the air. Mr. Preucil packs up his violin. Ms. Athayde says the hour just flew by.

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The engineers say the most exciting thing about live radio is, "It's live."

Backstage Pass host Julia Figueras. The next show is Friday, December 14th at 1:00 p.m. with guest Gregory Kunde on Classical 91.5 and 90.3.