Pulse of Polkas

Hosted by Nicholas & Alex Yash and Joey Blackburn

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.

Pulse of Polkas is the youngest show on the schedule in both senses: newest to the line-up and hosted by people at the start of their time behind a microphone. That matters more than it might sound. Polka radio has an ageing audience and an ageing roster of hosts, and a show run by younger enthusiasts is the clearest evidence that the music is still being handed on.

The selection reflects it. Current bands get more airtime here than anywhere else on the schedule, and the arrangements that borrow from rock and jazz phrasing are treated as part of the tradition rather than a departure from it.

Saturday early afternoon, between the noon and two o'clock shows — a good hour to hear where the genre is actually going.

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.