UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Polka: Here and gone
from the album 40 Deutschmoister Polkes
That timeless form of music made a brief revival in Kansas City, thanks to a local radio station.
By Jake Arnold Kansan staff writer
For a few short days, polka was heard over the airwaves again.
When Heritage, a Kansas City conglomerate and owner of KCF-FM 101.1, bought KJK-JF 106.5, a country station, it had the option of letting the frequency go dead or finding something to fill the space until a new format was developed.
"We wanted to do something that was non-conflicting with something we might play later," said Bill Newman, the stations' general manager.
Newman sent one of his employees to buy polka music.
"We pretty much cleaned out the record store," Newman said. "There was a serious drought for polka fans."
From March 20 to March 30, KKCJ became Kansas City's polka connection. Although the polka format now has been replaced, the new sounds were around long enough to cause a stir. The format was seen as so bizarre that a CBS news crew and most of the local media ran stories on it.
"It brought us some attention," Newman said. Uniqueness was definitely Newman's goal. KKCJ had no competition because it was the only
polka station in the Kansas City area and probably far beyond. Kansas City does have a small community of polka fans, and they responded enthusiastically.
"They were just thrilled that there were moments of polka." Newman said.
Of course, Newman didn't want the polka contingent to get complacent. Twice an hour, the station would play Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different, Woody Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" or the 17-minute-long version of Iron Butterfly's "In-a-gada-davita." Green Day and Yamit了他 turns, too.
"We didn't want the polka fans to get used to it and complain when we changed formats," Newman said.
Eric Taylor, a disc jockey for KCFX, felt com-
Taylor had a lot of fun putting the songs together and doing the voiceovers. He used such slogans as "We polka K.C." and "You roll out the barrel, we roll out the polka."
"Polka was getting entirely too popular," he said.
Arch Jameson, Lawrence resident, repairs and sells accordions.
"We could play whatever we want," he said.
"Talk about alternative; polka is alternative. It was really popular, but it probably would have gotten old after a while."
"I listened to it every day," he said. "It is a lively music."
Not for the true polka fans.
The backback for Jameson was that the station played a variety of ethnic polkas. Each ethnicity has its own sound, and Jameson prefers the Slavic and Czech styles.
Still, he wasn't complaining.
"You don't usually hear it on the radio," he said. However, Kansas City does have a few polka bands, such as Brian McCarty and his band and Dan Lipovac and his band.
Kief's Audio and Video, 2429 Iowa St., has some polka music in stock. Steve Wilson, store manager, said the store had albums by Frankie Yankovic, a long-established artist, and Jimie Sturr, the rising star of traditional polka.
Kief's sells several polka compact discs a month, split evenly between older folks and the young.
"People like to dance to it when they are drunk at parties," Wilson said.
While polka isn't dead yet, it once again is stricken from the airwaves. KKCJ is now smooth jazz, with no plans of returning to polka.
"There is not enough of a market for polka," Newman said. "You spend this much for a radio station, you don't go off on a whim."
Pre-Order & Save 35% off all used textbooks 10% off all new textbooks And save time!
Pre-ordering your textbooks means they're packaged and waiting for you before classes start. That can save you time hunting for books and standing in long lines. Pre-order
customers also get first 'shot' at all used books in stock. That saves you money, up to 35% off new prices. When you Pre-Order your books from the Jayhawk Bookstore you will automatically receive a 10% discount on your preordered books-no minimum orders, no hassles, no kidding!
Please indicate semester this order is for: Fall Spring Summer
Dept/Course Number Instructor or Staff (Please note if Lab or Discussion Group) LINE Number (IMPORTANT) TIME / DAYS PREFERENCE New Used
ENG 203 Kielman (example) 82345 8:30 MWF | | |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Name ___
KU Address: ___
City State Zip ___
Home Address ___
City State Zip ___
KU Phone Home Phone( )
Frosh Soph Jr Sr Grad___
Your Books Will Be Ready 3 Days Before Classes Begin
The Fine Print
*Books not picked up by the 2nd day of classes will be returned to stock
*Some books may not be available prior to start of classes
*All books must be returned by 31st August for all classes
*ALL FINISH BOOKS must be suitable as new to qualify for full refund
*To qualify for 10% discount, orders must be received by the following date: Full classes-August 3rd; Spring classes-December 5th; Summer classes-
*Discount is not applicable to books not available at time of order packaging and no further discounts or promotions apply
*The Fine Print!
Jayhawk Bookstore
your Book Professionals at the top of Naismith Hill
1420 Crescent RoadLawrence, KS 66044
843-3826 FAX: (913) 843-9578