A Double Dose of Polkas

Hosted by Brian Kapka and Tony Blazonczyk

Polka radio lives or dies on the person behind the microphone. A playlist alone will not carry three hours; what carries it is somebody who knows which band recorded which arrangement, who remembers the hall it was cut in, and who can tell you why a particular version of a standard is the one worth hearing. Every show on this schedule is built that way — put together by hand, week after week, by people who have spent decades inside this music.

Two hosts, two record collections, and a running argument about which one is deeper — that is the format, and it is a good one. A Double Dose of Polkas alternates picks rather than blending them, so the hour has a rhythm of its own: a Chicago push-beat number answered by something smoother, a new release answered by a fifty-year-old side.

The show is unusually good on band history. Where a lot of polka radio treats a record as three minutes of airtime, this one tends to tell you who was in the horn section, which label put it out, and what the band was doing that year. Listeners who came to the music through a grandparent's collection get the context that never came with the records.

Thursday evening is a deliberate slot. It catches people finishing the working week and gives the weekend's dances something to advertise into. The Tuesday and Saturday replays exist because a fair share of the audience works evenings and would otherwise never hear it.

About the Music

Polka in North America is not one style but several, and the differences matter to the people who play it. The Chicago-honky sound leans on trumpets and a driving push beat; the Eastern style favours a fuller horn section and a smoother swing; the Cleveland-Slovenian tradition puts the button box at the centre and takes the tempo down a notch. Add the Polish-language repertoire, the crossover bands, and the younger groups mixing rock and jazz phrasing into a two-step, and a well-built show has more range than most listeners expect on the first hour.

Times shown are Eastern. Shows are pre-recorded unless a live broadcast is announced, and the schedule can move at short notice when a host is broadcasting from a festival or a hall. If a show you are following is not where you expect it, check the programming grid, which is kept as current as we can keep it.