The bright lights are up. The talent does last-second review and improvisations, while in the control room, the director and producer go back and forth with their cameramen over headsets.

"Can you zoom in on three?"

"Camera two zoom in -- wait -- back out a little. That's good."

"Could you move the plant? There. That's a nice shot."

"Ok -- let 'em know we're ready."

"Wait a minute ... we don't have a tape in ... ."

So the live broadcast of the Super Bowl it isn't. But now in its 20th year, the community access station has grown under the stewardship of Director Jim Koepfinger from a rudimentary "Wayne's World" type of operation to the envy of communities in the Pittsburgh area.

"Originally the idea was to find a better way to get information to the community, because at that time, Moon was pretty disconnected from Pittsburgh," Mr. Koepfinger explained. "Community TV on cable was just getting under way."

When the station opened, he had just earned a communications degree from then-Robert Morris College.

"We were using black and white cameras and tape decks then," he chuckled.

Mr. Koepfinger worked as a volunteer for eight months, and when the director left, he took on the position. He has been here ever since, fostering the growth of the fledgling channel.

The station now operates on a $305,000 annual budget underwritten almost entirely by the franchise fee Comcast pays to the township to be the community's cable provider. A live show is planned to celebrate the station's 20th anniversary.

Tucked in the bottom, rear floor of the Moon Public library building, the control room is a labyrinth of highly technical equipment, much of which costs more than the sticker price of a new SUV. To wit: a $30,000 digital switcher used to make cuts between cameras and hundreds of digital effects, and a $25,000 character generator which can connect to a database and provide automatic on-screen updates of election returns or sports scores.

Hot, bright lights hang from the ceiling in the adjacent studio, which has a fireplace backdrop resembling something from "Masterpiece Theater."

Mr. Koepfinger offers a free class on weeknights that teaches local residents the basics of television production.

Jim Douglas is taking the class with his son, Derek, a ninth-grader interested in film and video. While Mr. Koepfinger teaches Derek how to use the character generator, Mr. Douglas explains that he used to repair television transmission towers in the field.

"I'm more familiar with the technical end of things, so it's interesting to see the other side," he said.

In addition to the class, MCA-TV has made an effort to serve the community better. A survey of more than 1,000 Moon residents was taken earlier this year. Nearly 89 percent of residents said they watch the station at some point during a given week.

The anonymous responses ranged from "A valuable service -- I don't want it dropped!" to, "If it saves any money, cancel it completely." The vast majority were positive, with the most frequent complaints registered about the channel's audio.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the always combustible Moon Area school board meetings were listed as the favorite programming, followed closely by the meetings of the Moon Township Board of Supervisors. Scholastic sports and arts productions were third.

Such programming, along with community message board announcements, is typical of most cable access channels. What sets MCA-TV apart is the volume of locally produced shows.

Recent shows include "Bogey or Better," a golf challenge that features local golfers trying to beat host Ellen Pearce in nine holes at Scally's Par 3 championship course in Moon.

Fitness and cooking shows are offered as well as "Dave's World," a comedic guitar lesson taught by Dave Granatti of the local rock band G-Brothers.

Then there's "Stay Fit," a workout hosted by Sarah Fisher and Carrie Davis that one viewer said helped him or her lose 27 pounds.

Whatever the topic, Mr. Koepfinger provides the technical support to make the programs possible.

"On one of our shows called 'The Doctor Is In,' they were talking about esophageal reflux," Mr. Koepfinger said. "I don't know anything about that -- I just make it work," he said.

But he doesn't do it without help. Lisa Curry is MCA-TV's other full-time staff member, and the station has a pair of paid assistants, including Matt Wallace, a 2004 graduate of Moon Area High School. He's studying film and video at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and hopes to write and direct films professionally. In the meantime, he's gaining experience as a technical director and cameraman for MCA-TV.

"It's definitely really helpful. I have easier access to equipment than I do at school and it's great resume material," Mr. Wallace said.

MCA-TV usually has an intern from Robert Morris University working. Mr. Koepfinger said he would like to get students from Moon Area High School more involved, but for the most part the operation of the channel is heavily reliant on volunteers like Mark Ray.

On a recent night, Mr. Ray and Mr. Wallace handled the control room while Mr. Koepfinger and township cable television advisory board members Laura Schisler and George Kenness taped a show discussing the results of the MCA-TV survey.

A Moon resident for two years, Mr. Ray also dabbled in film and video during his undergraduate tenure at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He works at a bank now, but enjoys volunteering at the station if only as an outlet to explore a personal interest.

"This is a great facility," Mr. Ray said. "It's a real attribute to the community."