Chet Schafer
Living Category – Inducted 1976
The polka career of Chet Schafer began in 1950,
when, together with Li’l Wally Jagiello, their voices were heard on a
half-hour polka program on radio station WCRW in Chicago. But things
didn’t roll for Chet until he started his own “Polka Hit Parade” program
on station WTAQ, LaGrange, Illinois, in 1952. On this program he spun
the best selling polka records according to the surveys, getting the
idea from the then popular television show “Your Hit Parade”. The
request and dedication idea caught on and his Sunday morning program
flooded with mail.
 In
1954 he expanded to another hour program on Sunday afternoon and held
the first polka band popularity contest in the Chicagoland area. In
response to his plea for mail with votes for the listener’s favorite
band, he received over 22,000 pieces of mail. Emerging as a winner of
this contest was Steve Adamczyk’s Hungry Six who received 5,102 votes.
“Reader’s Digest” magazine carried a story about this contest in one of
their articles.
In addition to his radio activities Chet owns a
recording company which is known under the label name of “Chicago
Polkas”. Since 1952 he has produced 85 polka albums recording such
artists as the Pala Brothers, 47th Street Concertina Club,
Li’l Richard, Casey Siewierski, The Naturals, Skaja Sisters, Marion
Lush, “Joe Pat” Paterek, Marisha Data, Eddie Zima, Mattie Madura, Jolly
Stan Lee, John Zurawski, the Hi Notes, Harmony Kings, and others.
Chet was the first in Chicago to produce live polka
stage shows. These were variety shows which featured live bands,
vocalists, dancing groups, comedy skits, etc… He also found time to
write and his articles appeared in such publications as the “Polka
Guide”, “Polka World”, “Michigan Polka News”, and others. At present he
is editor of the “I.P.A. News” , the official publication of the
International Polka Association where he also serves as first vice
president.
Born in 1922 in Chicago, married in 1953, Chet and
his wife Dolores have raised a family of twelve children: eight girls
and four boys. Today, in addition to his Sunday radio programs and
recording company activities, he performs his duties as part owner of a
printing firm. |
