On this West Virginia Week, we look at the challenges online gambling can bring, efforts to revitalize river otter populations and a peer accountability program for teens.
Home » July 28, 1915: Polka King Frankie Yankovic Born
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July 28, 1915: Polka King Frankie Yankovic Born
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America’s Polka King, Frankie Yankovic, was born at Davis in Tucker County on July 28, 1915, to Slovenian immigrant parents. But just days after he was born, his father was caught bootlegging and moved the family to Cleveland.
Yankovic learned to play the accordion from lodgers at his home in Cleveland. By age 16, he was playing polka music regularly on a local Slovenian radio show.
After serving in World War II, he returned to the states and did more to popularize polka music than any other performer. He was the first polka artist to score a million-selling single, the first to perform on television, and the first to win a Grammy for Best Polka Album. His hits included “Just Because,” “Beer Barrel Polka,” “Too Fat to Polka,” and “In Heaven There Is No Beer.”
Although he’d lived in West Virginia for only a few days as an infant, he returned to the Mountain State frequently in the 1980s to perform at the Vandalia Gathering. Frankie Yankovic died in Florida in 1998. A decade later, he was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
On this week's premiere broadcast of Mountain Stage, host Kathy Mattea welcomes Jeff Tweedy, The War and Treaty, Johnnyswim, and Olivia Ellen Lloyd. Recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV.
This week, cicadas are emerging again. They’re an important food source for wildlife — and even some people. Also, morel mushrooms are a forager’s delight, but don’t shortcut cleaning them. We follow along with mushroom hunters and talk to a chef. And, sinkholes can cause a lot of damage. But they’re also fascinating.
WVPB recently hosted a pair of musicians from West Virginia University (WVU) to come perform live in-studio during Classical Music with Matt Jackfert. Albert Houde, associate horn professor at WVU and principal horn with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra (WVSO), and Sun Jung Lee, collaborative pianist at WVU, serenaded our Wednesday afternoon with a live performance of Reimaginings by Frank Gulino.
The top stories in West Virginia this week include a protest against federal cuts, a plan to change what SNAP benefits can buy and efforts to stabilize the state employees insurance agency.