Music & Dance News May / June 2018 Page 12
Fridays are lively on KCHK radio
KCHK radio in New Prague is a simulcast station, which can be heard on 1350 AM and 95.5 FM.
People all over the world listen online at kchkradio. net and via their free downloadable apps for smart phones and tablets.
Those with smart speakers simply need to say,“ Alexa, enable KCHK.”
For more than five years, KCHK radio in New Prague, MN has gone back to the thrilling days of early radio each Friday, by airing performances by live musicians. The offering is called Live Musicians Friday( LMF).
Station manager Tom Goetzinger beams with pride when talking about the show he has seen grow and evolve over half a decade.
“ We have never missed a Friday, and May 4, 2018, marks 300 shows in row!”
That is impressive, considering the live music starts at 6:50 a. m., and the musicians come from near and far in all sorts of weather to perform.
“ Amazingly, the person who has travelled the farthest to play and sing is a young lady
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Nelson Peterson and his dad, Hans Peterson.
named Simona from the Czech Republic, and believe it or not, she’ s been on LMF three times,” explained Goetzinger.
He added,“ We’ ve had the Cynor Brothers and the Concrete Cowboy, both from Wisconsin; Mollie B and Ted Lange drove through the night from Ohio to play on an early Friday morning; and classic country artist Kelly Stanford came from Missouri.
“ When Christmas fell on a Friday, local musician Doug Traxler came in to keep the streak alive. One of the shows Simona did was on New Year’ s Day.”
It all began Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, when New Prague musician Bob Pexa was asked to come in and play live to promote an upcoming festival at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague.
He played a concertina accompanied by a drum machine.
Goetzinger, who is also KCHK’ s morning disc jockey, made the
observation that there are a number of polka musicians in the listening area, and live music should be able to be a constant Friday offering.
At first, the intent was to feature only polka musicians, a staple of the station’ s music programming.
Goetzinger stated,“ We started with one microphone and one person playing either concertina or button accordion. We continued to experiment with more players, different instruments, more microphones, and more equipment, and now have groups of all sizes and musical styles
Clete Goblirsch from New Ulm.
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