Thanksgiving, Cleveland 2011
Tony Petkovsek is to Northeastern Ohio polka fans what Dick Goddard is to weather
followers.
Both have been on the air for 50 years, and both have loyal listeners
and viewers, but Petkovsek is retiring at the end of the year.
“I turned 70 and basically
I want to enjoy more personal time,” said Petkovsek, who lives in Fairport Harbor.
“I want to look for a warm place in winter and have an opportunity to travel.”
Petkovsek
has the longest running daily show on radio in the country — two hours a day, six
days a week, since 1961 — and has decided to retire from the show on WELW-
He has mixed emotions about the near-
“I’ll feel it in the new
year,” Petkovsek said. “It’ll take a while to get used to not doing as much.”
Petkovsek,
dubbed the “polka ambassador,” for leading polka tours all over the world as a travel
host with Kollander Travel, sponsors a huge, annual Thanksgiving polka party, on
that Thursday and the following Friday night at the Marriott Hotel Downtown Cleveland.
He hires more than a dozen polka bands to entertain people from 20 states, Canada,
and an entourage from The Netherlands.
The dances this year will be his last.
Kathy
Debevits has been attending the Thanksgiving dances since 2005.
“The event is like
a candy store of the best polka music in the world,” said Debevits, a Chester Township
resident..
“I go there because you see the most wonderful polka jams anywhere,” she added. “I
saw Eddie Rodick playing the button accordion — I didn’t know he could play one.
The saxophone man Eric Stehle was from Colorado, and Joey Miskulin, on piano accordion,
from Nashville — that’s something unusual and great that you can only see in Cleveland.”
Polka
fans who have been attending the Thanksgiving dances for nearly 50 years wonder what
will happen next year. In 2012, the National Cleveland Style-
The Polka Hall of Fame celebrates its 25th anniversary
next year.
Petkovsek, who is the founding chairman of the board of the organization,
will retire as a trustee when his term ends in March.
Ray Somich, who is Petkovsek’s
partner in ownership of the radio station (WELW), praised his importance to the community.
“Over the last 50 years, Tony’s radio show has been at the forefront of providing
service to the polka-
“People asked and expected him to attend all
the events in the Slovenian and polka communities,” Somich added. “Sometimes this
meant being at six to eight different events in a weekend. Long-
In reflecting on his radio career, Petkovsek said being a disc
jockey was something he dreamed about doing since childhood.
“I heard polka music
on the juke box in my dad’s bar, from the time I was very young,” he said. “I would
pretend I was a DJ by playing 78 records. The music motivated me.”
As far as highlights,
Petkovsek has had many — more than 100 plaques and trophies from community organizations
and institutions are proof. He said two of the awards stand out in his mind,.
“I really treasure being the youngest person named the Slovenian Man of the Year
(1967), and being inducted into the Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame,” he said.
Petkovsek
is also in the St. Joseph High School Hall of Fame, the Cleveland International Hall
of Fame, and National Cleveland-
“More important were the
friendships I have made and the camaraderie of the polka travel tours,” he said.
Polka radio host Tony Petkovsek to retire
Article by Cecilia Dolgan, News-