PEANUT POLKA - Sunny and the Sunglows

On the label it says "La Cacahuata."  Ok.  That's what it says.  Its an instrumental performed by the Sunglows whom about all of us south of what would eventually become US Interstate 10 knew as "Sunny and the Sunglows."   No Sunny, no Sunglows that's how we saw matters.  Later they called themselves "Sunny and the Sunliners."

You have to learn to say this right:  "Sunny and The SunLIIIIINers!"  Hmmm how do I record in writing just how that was said -  the "i" in "liners" was held in your voice a little - especially when Mary on radio stanice Ka Efe Ere De announced that she had just played "The Peanut Polka" as she began her portion of the morning show on KFRD each weekday. She was on immediately after the Polka show each morning and the poor dear knew that most of us were changing our dials over to KULP in El Campo at that very moment for their morning Polka show which is still on the air after all these years. 

We stayed with Mary until the end of the Peanut Polka because usually the News on KULP was finished by that time and the music started over there.   I remember one morning when Mary said "I know a lot of ya'll will be leaving me right now to go on over where it is you go at this hour.  Zbogom, dobre den, have a nice day, and be good until I see you tomorow."   CJ just asked me if I had just a twinge of guilt when she said that all those years ago.  I answered "no, not even a twinge."  That's what we did you see, we  station hopped to get our polka music and that's how we lived everyday.  Nope, no guilt at all.

KFRD is gone now I think.  Joe Gavranovic was the DJ over there for lots of years.  chkelly1 over on YouTube has one video with Joe Patek performing "The Cradle Polka" from long ago.  KFRD used to be Fort Bend Broadcasting Co, Inc. in Rosenberg, Texas.  

I found an obituary on the Internet from October 6, 2000 for Clyde Morgan Jeffreys who was the Director of News and Talk Shows for KFRD for over 30 years.  He was born 1 Oct 1913 in Columbus Muscogee County Georgia and is interred at David-Greenlawn in Rosenberg. Buried nearby is Gonzalo Rodriguez, who was the first Program Director of the famous Spanish Program "Progreso Latino" at KFRD 980 AM in Rosenberg, Texas, in the late 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. He started with a little 15 Minute Spanish Music Format Show. The Show was so popular, eventually it went all out in a few years to 24/7 Tejano-Spanish Programing in the Greater Houston Area...with listeners all the way down to near Corpus Christi and near San Antonio to Beaumont, Galveston and beyond. In the 1980's the programing was transfered TO KFRD FM 105(aka KMIA FM 105). He was born 28 September 1902 and died 19 April 1982.
 
Last I heard, Ben Oldag was still kicking.  Ben performed live with Texas Rhythm Boys at KFRD and got a job reporting the agricultural news and later added his polka program.

Today I found a notice about Daniel Segura's death.  He was the DJ for Puro Tejano on KRFD.  The notice says "Marcua Rodrigues remembers him fondly.  Segura died 29 July 2008. I don't know how this all figures out but the Univision website says that along the line KFRD became KMIA - 10/05/1990.  KMIA became KMPQ-FM - 10/04/1993.  KMPQ became KLTO - 3/06/1995.  KLTO became KOVA - 08/01/1998.  KOVA became KPTY - 11/20/2001.  KPTY became KAMA - 12/4/2007.  The station is now owned by Univision and the Polka show is long gone but the memories remain of how Mary always always played Sunny's Peanut Polka at the end of the Polka show and the Beginning of the Tejano show every day but Sunday when the churches were on the air in the mornings.

KFRD is gone but Sunny Ozuna remains.  He is still alive and kicking, still performing although he left the Sunliners.  Sunny and a trio of close friends (Freddie Martinez, Augustin Ramirez, and Carlos Guzman) better known as The Legends, earned themselves a Grammy in 2000. According to his website "currently there is strong talk about more work with The Legends as well as many various shows and appearances by Sunny Ozuna himself in the near future."

The Peanut Polka like we used to hear it:

do sljedeći put, blagoslov - until next time, blessings,

Canovals a.k.a. Slavonac
11 Listopad 2011