The name “Johnny Popko” reaches out and grabs you, squeezing like a smooth Ukrainian cage fighter crushing a stranglehold on a terrible tattooed opponent. A gentle man by nature, Popko still snaps and crackles as the laid-back host of an increasingly popular internet radio podcast that puts imitators to shame.
Mature, smart, thick-skinned, all attributes for survival in the thin-skinned world of local online entertainment, Popko takes chances. That’s where he breaks from a petty pack that gets caught coughing in his dust.
Most Popko guests hail from the music world, usually regional, talented and sometimes hard to label. Some are cultural oddities. Others spew false importance. Popko treats them all respectfully. He makes his interviews look easy.
A pro stays calm when the locusts land.
Popko doesn’t let the bugs bother him.
Because he’s composed, his audience learns something deeper about his guests. Because of Popko’s aura, everybody settles down and goes deeper into themselves than what we see when a conversation falls into the hands of less skilled hosts.
Johnny Popko.
An alias?
A brand?
All of the above.
The Steamtown Music Awards recently honored him to be the recipient of two awards – local radio/podcast/streaming personality of the year and his show, ALT-Natives on ALT 92.1, won local podcast/streaming series/radio series of the year.
“I am so proud of what I’m able to do on ALT-Natives on ALT 92.1 and so honored to be a part of the local music scene here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
So I was pleased to recently share the platform with the man himself and let the NEPA establishment tight asses know I’m still riding hard with a powerful message to deliver.
Here’s us – Popping Johnny Popko and me, The Outlaw Corbett, rattling cages for the benefit of civilization.
Shoot that into your brain vein.
