Kewaunee’s Polka Past

The FM boom of the 1970s brought dozens of small, localized broadcasters to state airwaves: Mom-and-pop radio shops with some unique formats. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Joe Hardtke recalls the rise and fall of one of these stations in Northeastern Wisconsin.

Joe Hardtke worked at WAUN as a teenager during its final five years as a polka broadcaster.

Joe Hardtke

Joe Hardtke is technical director and sound designer for “Wisconsin Life” radio segments.  He was raised on a dairy farm in Kewaunee County, spending most of his youth milking cows and bailing hay. If that isn’t Wisconsin enough, his first broadcast gig was at a polka radio station.