About Polka Parade

Polka Parade materialized from a unique combination of chance and circumstance. By the 1980’s, Milwaukee had many polka radio shows that had come and gone. In 1982, Jim Ebner was working as program director for WYMS, the Milwaukee Public Schools radio station, and it was here that he unwittingly became the father of Polka Parade.

How it All Started

Because ethnic shows were the standard WYMS weekend program format, Jim’s involvement with Latino, German, Greek, Serbian, Croatian, Italian, and many other ethnic programs was well established. Many of these shows offered polka music as a part of their format. When one of these ethnic programs suddenly cancelled their show for noon on Saturday, the time slot had to be filled for that week. The thought occurred to Jim that a polka show could substitute for a week or two until a permanent replacement could be found.

On Saturday, September 4, 1982, Jim hustled together all thirteen of his polka albums and opened the fill-in show with Don Gralak’s version of the Beer Barrel polka. When the hour long show ended, Jim figured that, at best, he would do one more show the following weekend and that would be it. Instead, polka fans heard the show and quickly spread the word to their friends. Many called or sent cards and letters to the station offering their support, while others sent in records for the show.  Band leaders quickly responded as well by contributing copies of their albums, causing the polka library to swell to hundreds of recordings within several short weeks. With response to the show being so overwhelming, Polka Parade was approved by station management to continue indefinitely during the Saturday, twelve o-clock noon, time slot.

Expanding to Thursday Night

Because Polka Parade quickly became one of the most popular, and also one of the most donor-supported shows, the station decided to expand the polka programming by adding a two hour show, called Blue Chip Polkas. Originally hosted by Don Hunjadi and Rick Gundrum during the first hour, followed by a half hour from Jerry Halkoski, and finally closing the two hour show with Jim Ebner, Blue Chip Polkas became a Thursday evening fixture from 7-9 PM. The show gradually added personnel over the years, including Don Gralak, Greg Drust, Scott Koehn, and others. Even competing against Thursday night prime-time television, thousands of listeners tuned in to hear their favorite polka music. After on-air fund-raisers for the polka programming began to reach record levels, station management moved the show from Thursday to a much better time-slot on Sunday. The move made Polka Parade and Blue Chip Polkas a fixture of the station’s weekend programming. For many years, listeners tuned to WYMS, 88.9 FM, at noon on both Saturday and Sunday to hear their favorite polka and waltz music. Though different DJs would come and go over the years, Polka Parade continued for more than two decades.

Changes at WYMS Force Change to Polka Parade

Moving into the 2000’s, WYMS began dealing with some challenges. With Jim Ebner about to retire, and new station management now at the helm, the decision was made by WYMS to discontinue the polka format in 2003. Not wanting to let the shows die, Jim, along with some of the DJs, quickly found a new home at one of Milwaukee’s historic radio stations, WEMP, 1250 AM. While broadcasting on WYMS, which was public radio, didn’t cost anything for air time, broadcasting on commercial radio, required money to rent air time on the station and remain on the radio. Public radio, by its very nature, had no advertisers – something else that would be needed if Polka Parade was going to continue. It soon became time for Polka Parade to find new sources of revenue.

To help offset costs, the Polka Parade Pals were formed, with more than 300 charter members joining. Fund-drives and benefit dances were also initiated. Top area bands donated their time and talent for annual Pals dances. Marketing and advertising sales were successfully undertaken by Irene Ridosko, Jerry Halkoski. and in later years, Bob Zigenbein. Their efforts brought in dozens of advertisers and allowed Polka Parade to continue its ambitious three hour Saturday schedule that had now combined Polka Parade and Blue Chip Polkas into a parade of shows offering different polka styles each hour – a true parade of polkas – called Polka Parade.

A New Home is Found on WJYI

When, in 2004, WEMP changed formats, Polka Parade moved to its current home at WJOI, 1340 AM and later 98.7 FM. Since then, Polka Parade has become the only weekly polka radio show still broadcasting from Milwaukee and now Southeastern, Wisconsin. After completing over 20 years on WYMS, and a little over a year on WEMP, WJOI has been the home of polka parade for nearly two decades.

In 2011, Polka Parade further expanded its programming by adding a fourth hour to the lineup with the creation of Heimat Echo. Departing away from polka music slightly, this German show is the perfect compliment and has extended the parade to four straight hours. Other Polka Parade additions include live streaming, allowing anyone throughout the world to listen as the shows air live, and on-demand archives where previous shows are available 24-hours a day after they air.

Celebrating Over Four Decades of Polka Radio

Many DJs have come and gone since 1982, with over 30 different personalities being involved over the 41 years that Polka Parade has been broadcasting. Although he’s been involved with Polka Parade since the start of Blue Chip Polkas in 1983, Don Hunjadi assumed the leadership role in 2012 and has strived to provide the highest quality polka radio possible. Under Don’s leadership, the show has added some of the finest DJs from outside of Wisconsin and across the Midwest – many of them having 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years of both polka and radio broadcast experience. The Pals program has continued to thrive and four hours of the best polka music radio continues to air every Saturday.

Polka Parade is now in their 41st year of putting polka music on the radio in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin every Saturday. Not a week has been missed since 1982. In fact, Polka Parade is the only remaining polka program broadcasting from the city of Milwaukee.  From what could have been a two or three week fill-in, never to be heard from again, to a show growing into one of the longest running, most listened to polka programs in the country, Polka Parade has persevered and become somewhat of an institution. Very few radio shows of any type have lasted as long as Polka Parade has. With the continued support of advertisers, the Pals, DJs, staff, and listeners like you, Polka Parade will continue to be heard for many more years!