Polka Magic Radio Network

Hosted by Robert Pawlak and John Lesniewski

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.

Three hours is a long broadcast, and Polka Magic Radio Network uses the length properly. A show this size can build: open with the familiar, work into deeper catalogue in the middle hour, and come back out with something that sends people into their Saturday in a good mood.

Two hosts sharing a three-hour live shift also means the talk stays fresh. Live broadcasts carry the week's announcements and take requests in something close to real time, which is the part of radio that streaming playlists have never managed to replace.

The Monday replay repeats the full three hours for anyone who missed it, which for a show of this length is a genuine service rather than a formality.

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.