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“Jolly” Joe Timnier opens his December 2 television show with a bold-faced lie. “This one will be a different kind of show,” he says, before a mischievous grin spreads across his face. “A happy show.” Different? A happy Jolly Joe Timmer Show is as out of the ordinary as afree growing leaves. To every person who has ever seen or heard Tinuner in action, and in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey there are many, the falsity of his statement is obvious. Because whether on radio, television or the stage, Jolly Joe Tixnmerhas dedicated his life to making people happy. While he has attained celebrity status in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, thanks to his 50 years oh area radio shows, he has developed a national following as well with a band that has traveled the country and a television show that is the longest- running cable program in the United States. His Jolly Joe Tlxnmer Show is entering its year on the air, a testament to his love of both polka music and its fans. He was inducted into the Polka Music Hall of Fame in 1990. He has built up a legion of fans with a lot of hard work, most of it done in his tiny office at WOPA Radio in Bethlehem, Pa. “My first love is radio, and this is where I spend most of my time,” he says. While he is a disc jockey at WOPA now, he has not always been one. He started out performing music on WGPA back in 1948, when he graduated from high school and assembled a polka band that he took to the station. Eventually in 1970, Thinner bought 25 acres of field and forest in Bath, Pa., where he built a pavilion and dubbed it “Jolly Joe Thnmer’s Grove.” A local cable company, Twin County (now known as RCN), gave him a program to broadcast his band and the other polka acts that played there. Seven years ago he bought his long-time radio home, WOPA, which he now owns and manages. The radio station is independently owned, local and community-minded, Jolly Joe Turner has 30 years on television, 50 years on the radio, and more great experiences than one could count. |