It’s taken pretty much a literal army of staff, volunteers, and listener-supporters, plus a whole lot of word of mouth, to keep the airwaves pumping at WMNF 88.5-FM over the years. It’s only going to take nine of Miami’s most-skilled Afro-Cuban aficionados to get all that humanity up and shaking at the Skipperdome on Saturday, though, when the community radio station celebrates 36 years on the air with another one of their legendary, and probably barefooted, bacchanals.

Skipper’s and the stronghold of free speech that is WMNF — founded in ‘80 and ‘79, respectively — have grown up alongside each other while the community around them has changed, but both still manage to stay rooted in their common commitment to good tunes and the pretty decent humans who love seeing 'em live. Suénalo (consult the Google oracle for an audible pronunciation) will provide hip-hop infused Latin flavor complete with horns, and a reggae-loving dance n' party band from Mad Beach, Resinated, will kick things off for the early birds. Presents are not required, but you should probably buy a raffle ticket at some point in the night.

Details: WMNF 36th Birthday Bash with Suénalo and Resinated. Sat., Sept. 12, 8 p.m., Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa. $12 advance/$15 dos. 

This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2015.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...