CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Her office isn't packed up yet, but that's coming. On Thursday, Linda McSparin, executive producer for the annual "Bob Thompson's Joy to the World" holiday show and associate producer for the "Mountain Stage" radio show, will help usher in one more show.

It's not her last, but it's close.

"This year's Joy to the World [the 19th annual show] was going to be my last," she said, then shook her head.

"Then Bob said 19 was a pretty good number to go out with." Good, but not really good enough.

She sighed and said, "I told him I'd come back and produce the show next year."

So, one more show for McSparin after Thursday -- but when "Mountain Stage" kicks off their new season Jan. 15 in Morgantown, she won't be there. After 27 years with the show, McSparin is retiring.

"I'd planned to stay until the end of the year," she said. "But I've got a grandchild due in a couple of weeks."

So, she's leaving a little early, Dec. 23, shortly before her 62nd birthday.

McSparin leaving represents the second major departure from "Mountain Stage" management. Executive producer and show co-creator Andy Ridenour retired in June and turned over the reins to Adam Harris, who joined the show in 2005, first as an intern.

Harris said of McSparin, "I absolutely wouldn't be here without her."

He said when he was first trying to land the internship, McSparin was the first person to respond to his query. She was also the person who brought him in for the interview, introduced him around and provided what is considered training for "Mountain Stage."

"It's a real feet-to-the-fire method," he said and laughed. "You learn by doing. You learn by making mistakes."

Well, little mistakes, because in a detail-oriented operation like "Mountain Stage," most of the big mistakes were made decades ago.

McSparin joined the program in its infancy in 1984, when she was hired as a part-time secretary for West Virginia Public Radio.

"Mountain Stage" was still just getting started and still figuring out what kind of radio show it wanted to be. They were largely flying by the seat of their pants.

"When I came in, they had no files, no system," McSparin said.

And no secretary. McSparin said Ridenour would book bands, then assemble a show. They were still learning, and the paperwork was a bit jumbled.

Helping tame the "Mountain Stage" paper tiger was just part of her secretarial duties, but the show was growing.

"When they started doing 40 shows a year, it was really just too much," she said.

McSparin was given a choice. She could keep her job as a secretary for West Virginia Public Radio or she could work for "Mountain Stage." It was a big professional risk.

"You have to understand," she said, "none of us thought this thing would last as long as it has."

But McSparin loved music. She grew up playing piano in her hometown of Clinton, Miss. She played around town, at churches and even gave lessons.

"I haven't really played in years," she laughed. "But there was a time when I was sitting in front of a piano eight hours a day."

She'd come to Charleston because her then husband, Jim McSparin, was an engineer for Peabody Coal. Her job with WVPR seemed stable and safe compared to the radio program, but the radio show was a rare opportunity.

"NPR told us we couldn't do this show in Charleston, West Virginia," she said.

McSparin signed on, and a new job as associate producer grew around her as the show flourished. Learning as she went, getting around minor disasters here and there, McSparin helped create the supporting structure behind "Mountain Stage."

McSparin dotted the i's and crossed the t's. She oversaw contracts, and talked with managers, publicists, record companies and vendors.

With a show like "Mountain Stage," there are details, details and more details and each one of them fits into a huge jigsaw puzzle of agreements, responsibilities and requirements to make the program even possible. 

"Because of what she did in the office," Harris said, "is why our show went so smoothly. Because she took care of the big stuff, we could worry about the little things."

McSparin takes some satisfaction in having done her job well.

"It's been a great ride," she said and she has stories, lots of stories.

There was the time that folk singer Ramblin' Jack Elliot arrived for a show in an RV. He was so taken with Charleston that he decided to stay awhile. So, for about a week, he stayed with McSparin and her two daughters.

"Every morning," she said, "he'd come down to breakfast all slicked up and decked out. My girls thought that was just the greatest thing."

She contributed to something valuable and had a few adventures along the way. These are great things to look back on, but McSparin said, mostly, she'll miss the people.

"Some of us have worked together so long," she said. "And we're like a family. I'm going to miss being around them."