The Viking Accordion Band!

Somewhere out there is a polka fan that thinks of the Viking Accordion Band as "classic".  Note there are 8 members but only 4 accordions, a testament that more accordions only means more accompaniment. the group was founded in 1929 by Leighton "Skipper" Berg shortly after being laid off from his retail job. In other words, the great depression directly caused the formation of the Viking Accordion Band.

First Berg joined two friends as a trio, playing parties and small gigs. Then in 1930 picked up four more members (all Scandinavian) with an eye on a regular radio gig. They played out around the region: WDGY, WOI, WMT, and WNAX to name a few. WOI-AM in Ames Iowa was almost 250 miles round trip. Some bands would squawk at that gig today.

They were unusual among polka bands for being "multi-ethnic."  The band members were of almost exclusively Scandinavian descent. But their set list was comprised of every kind of Polka you can shake your Lederhosen at: Czech, Scandinavian, German, Bohemian... even Italian and Irish selections. Over time the band ditched their Lederhosen and Nordic repertoire and switched to tuxedos like a ballroom dance band. It was classy and neutral and got them into more venues. They spelled out that strangely progressive cultural mission on a post card:

"The band with music of folk songs and old world melodies, distinctively styled for your personal pleasure, completes its sixth year of weekly broadcasts over WOI.  We want you to continue being a regular Viking listener.  Wire in and let us play your personal requests. Be sure to refer us to your local dance manager."

The band went on to record for Melotone, Brunswick, Perfect, Vocalion, Decca and Columbia to name a few. The band continued on successfully until the draft in WWII claimed a few too many key members requiring a break.  But the problem persisted. After WWII Berg went through musicians like tissue paper. Somewhat amusingly he regularly posed the job openings in Billboard Magazine through 1956. Below is a sampling.. there are dozens more:

Clarinet, 1942

 

Piano, October 1946

Clarinet , February 1947

Clarinet, August 1947

 

Clarinet and Sax, May 1948

 

 

Clarinet, August 1949

Trumpet, September 1949

Trumpet, January 1950 

Brass Bass, October 1950 (also ran in November)

 



Clarinet, March 1951

Trumpet, October 1952

Accordionist, May 1955 (also ran in June)

Sax & Clarinet, April 1956

Berg polka'd on into the late 1950s. In 1992 he wrote the history of his Vikings, producing a a 145-page book  entitled the Viking Accordion  Band Reflects Colorful  History. His praises are sun in books like Polkabilly by James Leary, and A Passion for Polka by Victor Greene. Their significance to American polka is hard to over-state.

MLI to DSM

Moline isn't a metropolis. In fact it takes four towns banded together to call itself quad Cities: Moline and Rock Island Illinois, Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa. Strangely some folks count East Moline as a 5th and Separate City. I can state for the record it smells different than the rest of Moline.. kind of like Sour Cat food. It sticks with you. (I thought I left something bad in the hotel rooms trash can)
But I did have my best meal of the trip. I had lunch at cafe Fresh just because it was close and was wowed. A totally unexpected good meal is very welcome after a few days of tuck stop food. Next door was a small antique shop where I stopped for a minute waiting for the rain to let up and I was greeted by a thick stack of 45s, a fine and friendly greeting. I picked up some old Stax singles, including a little something by Booker T & the MG's. The single is S-137 Chinese Checkers / Plum Nellie. yes you should be jealous. That came out way back in 1963. There's an obsessive discography here.

I also hit the Salvation army on 19th street where they had the biggest selection of 45s I've ever seen at a thrift store. It was truly huge. It was also next to Maria's Mexican Cantina and a bakery with a line out the door.

I listened to KALA and KUNI while in town then headed off further west into Iowa that night. There is nothing between Quad Cities and Des Moines. It's not pancake flat, the hills are low but they are still hills. The land was flooded in places, and the sandy peaks of the corn fields were washing out onto Route 80 west. I stopped for Gas in somewhere near Iowa City.

There I heard something that sounded like sirens. I got in my car and flipped on the radio and was greeted by an EAS alert. There was a severe weather warning from the national Weather Service. On 600 AM WMT I found out that in fact there were tornado sightings and that the worst of it was in the area between Keokukl County and Marengo. Minutes later there was a report of a tornado in Williamsburg heading north toward Route 80 between mile markers 124 and 136. I wondered out loud where that was. It turned out to be where I was.

Dark clouds closed in and I caught non -stop coverage of it on several channels many openly mocking the national weather service for refusing to issue a tornado warning. It got very windy and the rain became heavy enough to nearly stop traffic. then off to the south I saw a thick black cloud that was undulating and below it everything was blurry. I actually passed it around Ladora, and in the rear view mirror it seemed to peter out somewhere among the muddy fields and corn stubble before reaching pavement.
I hit Grinnell shortly thereafter and heard KDIC for the first time. they were playing an unlistenable mix of 80s pop and IDM. there mission is fully intact. In Des Moines despite the abundance of non-coms KGVC, KDRA, KWDW, KDPS, I stayed tuned to WOI looking for more storm information. That night the storms continued, but there were no more sirens and my flight out even left on time in the morning.

K, W & the mighty Missisippi

In the 1800s broadcasters adopted call signs to aid in signaling. This practice continued when ships began to use radio. [popularized by the sinking of the titanic] Initially brodcasters determined their own calls. This led to duplication and confusion.

In 1884 the first effort to standardize this occurred. The head of the Federal Bureau of Navigation, (FBN) Eugene T. Chamberlain, exorcised a new vaguely worded statute and assigned marine-radio call letters. His previous career as Ships on the Atlantic and gulf coasts were assigned calls beginning with K, and those on the Pacific coast and Great Lakes were assigned calls beginning with W. It is unknown why he chose K and W.

In 1906 Berlin International Wireless Telegraph Convention (BIWTC) declared that all ship and shore stations should have unique call signs consisting of three letters. The U.S. did not ratify the BIWT convention until 1912. (why are we always behind Europe?) That year Congress empowered the FBN to license land stations in addition to the marine stations. Official documents issued in 1913 confirmed the practice of assigning W calls to stations in the west and K calls to stations in the east.

The following year Congressimproved the system slightly deciding that the Pacific coast would get W for ships and K for land stations, the Atlantic and gulf coasts would get K for ships and W for land stations. This made it more simple to distinguish a marine broadcast from a land broadcast.

It was not until 1923 that the missisippi became the dividing line. Prior to that Texas as a gulf coast state had W's! The dividing line started at El Paso and worked its way east the then north.
see map: http://earlyradiohistory.us/kwbigmap.gif

There are many exceptions to the K&W rules even today. Below are some contemporary examples. These are all considered "heritage" call letters and they are highly valued.
KYW-AM 1060 Philadelphia, PA ...the K furthest to the east
WIL-AM 1430 St. Louis, MO
WOAI-AM 1200 San Antonio, TX ...the furthest W to the west.
WOI 90.1 Des Moines, IA

Exceptions along the border are commonplace as the calls are assigned by city of license and not the location of the transmitter. Minneapolis , Memphis, New Orleans and other markets straddle the line and each contain multiple exceptions. A simple explaination here:
http://www.dxing.com/callsign.htm

For all of his trouble-making, eventually the Navy named a ship after Mr. Chamberlain. It is a Liberty Model.