Upper Peninsula TV show, ‘Finland Calling,’ says goodnight, or ‘hyvaa yota,’ after 5 decades

ISHPEMING, Mich. – A popular Upper Peninsula TV show celebrating Finnish culture is reaching its own finish after five decades.

WLUC-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1aSRiNR ) Friday that “Finland Calling” will air its final episode on the Marquette station on March 29 — four days after its 53rd anniversary.

The show, also known as “Suomi Kutsuu,” has had one host: Carl Pellonpaa. He says he thought it would last just a few years until the area’s “old Finns die.”

It’s one of the nation’s only Finnish-speaking travel, talk and music television shows.

Pellonpaa and his wife, Doris, also have hosted dances. The final “Finland Calling Dance” is set for March 22 at the Elks Lodge in Ishpeming.

Pellonpaa, who technically retired from WLUC in 1995, says it’s time for “taking it completely easy.”