Polka honors for Larry Walk
If you go
What: Larry Walk’s “Happy Polkaland”
radio-show anniversary dance party, with music by Stephanie, America’s Polka Sweetheart
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kuzman’s, 1025 S. State St., Girard; 330-545-8995.
Info: Admission, $11
- Place:Kuzman's
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1025 S. State St., Girard
Staff report
Youngstown
Radio broadcaster Larry Walk has been a Sunday staple for Mahoning Valley polka fans for almost a half-century. This month, he will be recognized for that contribution.
The United States Polka Association will present the Lifetime Achievement Award, its highest national honor, to Walk at its annual convention in Cleveland on May 28.
Co-hosted by his wife, Diana, Walk’s weekly “Happy Polkaland” show offers what he likes to call “prime-time polka happiness.” The show airs from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on 830 WKTX-AM (Cortland), and, after a short break for lunch, resumes from 1 to 4 p.m. on 600 WSOM-AM (Salem). Both channels can be heard from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, and the reach has given Walk a fan base that literally has grown up with him.
Walk will celebrate the 47th anniversary of “Happy Polkaland” on Saturday at Kuzman’s in Girard.
During the past 46 years, the show has been affiliated with 14 stations, often in a network. Any time one station dropped the show due to a format change, another would pick it up.
What turned out to be a career started out as a hobby for Walk — whose given name is George Lesnansky — when he was a college student at Youngstown State in 1964. “I felt like there needed to be a new image in polka programming,” he said, noting he was determined to convince WNIO management that polkas could fit into their format. “I made an audition tape, and they thought my voice sounded like Lawrence Welk and decided to give me a try.”
Lesnansky hit the airwaves with the name Larry “Polka” Walk, and his “Happy Polkaland” show was given a 13-week trial. It grew from there.
The show’s popularity soon expanded. In 1967, Walk hosted a 12-hour polka festival in the Idora Park ballroom, and what would become the Penn-Ohio Festival was born. With his success at this and other festivals, Walk became the booking agent for a number of regional events. He continues to host the Sunday afternoon polka cruise on Pittsburgh’s Gateway Clipper, and he also promotes special events at Conneaut Lake Park.
In 1994, Walk was elected to the International Polka Association’s Hall of Fame. He received the USPA’s Special Achievement Award in 1992.