By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald
ÔGolden daysÕ of radio back in Superior
SUPERIOR -- People in the communities near Lake Superior can tune in their radios and hear some familiar voices -- voices first heard on the air more than 50 years ago. One of those voices belongs to Deacon Jack McKenna, from St. William Parish in Pattison Park.
McKenna and his old friend and colleague Lew Martin just began their third year on "Radio Superior," a program on KUWS, 91.3 FM, the radio station at UW-Superior. KUWS programming is also heard in the Ashland area on 102.9 FM.
The weekly show is a half-hour dramatization of a radio program as it might have sounded in another era. Each episode includes reports of real news -- local and national -- and weather from a particular day. The music played throughout the show is authentic and the commercials are for businesses, products and prices as they were on that day.
The latest series is "Radio Superior 1933." This season's first episode was taped Sept. 25. In the small KUWS studio on the university campus, it was March 15, 1933, and on the Martin and McKenna radio show, newsman Martin read the news items of the day, while announcer McKenna introduced music of Jimmy Durante and the up-and-coming young singer Bing Crosby. McKenna also did a commercial for Peoples Drug Store on the corner of Belknap and Baxter in Superior.
A big news item of the day was talk of federal legislation to protect bank depositors. Because of the many bank failures, all of the banks in the United States had been closed, but one of Martin's news reports said the First National Bank of Superior and the National Bank of Commerce were financially strong and had received permission to reopen.
All of the news on the show is taken from the Superior Evening Telegram from the appropriate date and the commercials are ad-libed by McKenna based on advertisements in that day's Telegram. There are also some regular visitors to the show, and they are based on real people from the pages of the newspaper.
The March 15, 1933, visitor was George G. Newton, a realtor, who was branching out into used car sales, with McKenna as his target. Newton is played by Al Katz, a professor in the UWS Communicating Arts Department.
It was KUWS/Wisconsin Public Radio newsman Mike Simonsen who first came up with the idea for the program. As program producer, he does most of the research in the old issues of the Telegram and writes the weekly script. He gets help in editing the script from the 83-year-old Martin, who remembers what things were like in the 1930s and 1940s. Simonsen said Martin is also the expert on pronunciation of the names of the people mentioned in the news or in the advertisements.
When he started planning the first show, Simonsen said he immediately thought of Martin and McKenna. When he asked them to participate, they readily volunteered. Simonsen added that McKenna and Martin, who bring an authenticity to the show, are the reason for its success.
All of the music is also authentic -- not modern recordings of old music, Simonsen said. He added that McKenna knows all the music and a lot of trivia about the artists, and Martin knows all the words to the songs and often sings them a beat ahead of the recording.
Martin interjected, "A lot of this is stuff I used to play as a disc jockey. What you learn as a youth you always remember."
Simonsen said one of the aspects of the show people particularly like is the on-air banter between McKenna and Martin -- most of it aimed at McKenna. In the current episode, McKenna's plans to buy a cheap used car give Martin plenty of opportunities to poke fun at him. When the car is described as old and creaky, Martin says it sounds just like McKenna. The friendly ribbing also continues off the air.
McKenna, 79, said he is happy to be on the Radio Superior program. "I think anybody who's been in radio and TV would prefer radio. ... I loved radio."
He got his first radio job in 1945 on WDSM in Superior. He was the announcer and also did news, sports and ran the controls. Radio jobs in several locations followed.
Martin started in radio in Duluth and Superior in 1939.
McKenna and Martin first worked together when television came to Duluth in 1954. Because he had been a weather forecaster in the military, McKenna was the weather man, while Martin did the news. McKenna also played Captain Q, host of a popular children's show.
For part of his career, McKenna said his job interfered with his religious life. "I can remember having to work Sunday mornings and it bothered me immensely, but that didn't last forever."
That was in the days before Saturday evening Masses were available, he said.
McKenna's mother was a very religious woman, as was his grandmother. He spent his summers with her as a child in what he described as a Tom Sawyer existence. "The most influential person in my Catholicity was my grandmother in New London, Wis. I watched her pray every night before she went to bed," McKenna said.
McKenna said he thought about the diaconate for some time before he entered the program. "I was at a crossroads. I didn't know what to do. I was still on TV." He talked to his parish priest and to his good friend and fellow TV personality Dennis Anderson. A television news anchor, Anderson is a deacon in the Duluth, Minn., diocese.
After McKenna retired from television in 1987, he entered the diaconate training program in Superior. He was ordained in 1994. As a deacon McKenna visits hospital patients and brings them Communion. He also counsels people who ask for his help. Getting lay people involved with the parish is another ministry that he considers an important part of his deacon's duties.
McKenna's faith helped him during a very difficult time, the death of his wife in 1999. He said, "My feeling about death is there is a heaven waiting for people. I don't get as upset as some people do."
McKenna has three sons, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. One of the joys of McKenna's life was officiating at the marriage of one of his granddaughters.
Note: A date has not been set for the premier of the 1933 series. Rebroadcasts of prior series can be heard from 5:30 to 6:30 each Sunday evening.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2001