It’s the “happiest sound around” and it has deep ties to Cleveland. In the mid 20th century polka music poured from bars across town and America’s Polka King, Clevelander Frankie Yankovic, has two million-selling hits. The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum tells the whole story.
New generations continue to enjoy the music their grandparents and great grandparents loved so much and they can find it pouring from the radio and internet now on “Polka Hall of Fame Radio,” Saturdays live @ noon-2pm on WINT, 101.5 FM, 1330 AM, and WINTradio.com, and streaming on 247PolkaHeaven.com. The show re-airs Tuesdays and Thursdays @ 2pm.
“Polka Hall of Fame Radio” is hosted by three people well known in the local polka community: long-time polka deejay and polka musician Denny Bucar, along with the Polka Hall of Fame Museum Director Joe Valencic and accordionist/bandleader Joey Tomsick. The program features community news in both Slovenian and English, polka and waltz music, interviews, album premieres, on-location shows and more.
“Polka Hall of Fame Radio” continues the legacy of Tony Petkovsek, who began broadcasting on radio in 1961 and continued to be a major force in the Cleveland’s polka scene until his death in 2019. He was also founder of the long-running Thanksgiving polka weekend in Cleveland which attracts musicians and visitors from across the country. Bucar, Valencic and Tomsick co-hosted programs with Petkovsek for many years.
Get more information here and here.