KISS FM a "legend (?) returns to "Billtown"

Last time I talked a bit about the period of time leading up to my election as Mayor of Canton, Pa. The Honorable Kelly Watts, Mayor, seems like an oxymoron doesn't it, well more on that after I talk about my time at KISS FM in Williamsport.

I spent a lot of time on the road during my days of owning Watts Multi Services and that of course meant a lot of listening to the radio. To this day I am not sure when I discovered KISS Fm (WKSB FM) but I liked the oldies format and as well they had some good people on the air, many I had known since my Williamsport Radio days. Their lineup included Gary Chrisman, who I knew from his days at Twin W (WWPA) and his regular gig at Bourbon Street Night Club, Lou Kolb, who I had worked with briefly at WLYC, Tom Benson (The PD) who I didn't know personally, but by name as he was Program Director at WHLM in Bloomsburg, George McKay who I had worked with at WLYC-WILQ, and Maggie Mae (Jennifer Lunt) the daughter of one of my classmates at Montoursville High School. Part timers on the air included Jackie Robinson and Tom Turner who I worked with at WMPT. Most of you know that KISS FM was the old WRAK FM a station that I long feared coming of age when I was at WMPT. 53,000 watts of power from the top of 1,800' Bald Eagle Mountain, in the 60's and 70's I can remember the late Ev Rubendahl telling me they had listeners in Canada. Even with the saturation of radio signals KISS FM still covered a very large part of Pennsylvania in the 90's. The Sister station was of course WRAK. Many of that staff that I knew from my earlier "Billtown" radio days including Frank Barber, Ken Sawyer, who was WRAK's PD, and Skip Smith Chief Engineer. So going to KISS FM like coming home again.

Anyway, when we moved to Canton in 1992, I decided it might be fun to work at KISS FM, it was the sound I had always wanted to do, tight board oldies format. I can truthfully say that at that time KISS was one of the best stations in any size market that I had ever heard! No wonder the line up of veteran radio people was first rate. I took the opportunity to call Tom Benson one day and he of course remembered my name from my WMPT days, and the fact he had hired Vicki Metz at Bloomsburg, Vicki had worked for me in Canton. Well anyway, Tom wanted to hear an air check at that point all I had was my morning drive air check from WIQT where I was playing country. I took it an a resume to Tom he listened and told me that Sunday Morning was available as he was going to do some schedule switching He asked if I would be interested, I of course said YES! My training was to amount to coming in with him on a Saturday afternoon and getting the feel of the board and format.

KISS FM's studios were still in the same building that had been WRAK's home since 1957 and the days of Steinmen Broadcasting ownership, the actual on air studio had at one time been the home of J. Wright Macky's Lowery Organ going way back to the days of live local music. The on air and production equipment was first rate and Skip Smith was a great engineer, he had studied under the late Glenn Sherman long time WRAK engineer. The Control room had an ARAKRIS slide pot console,(first time I had ever used one on the air), Dennon Pro CD players, with the cassete insert so you didn't handle the CD, and Broadcast Electronics cart machines, all in plentiful numbers!

I remember hitting the air at 2:00 pm and by 2:30 I had had several calls asking if in fact I was the same Kelly Watts that had worked at WMPT. I was flattered that people remembered as it had been 14 years since I had worked in the Williamsport Market. That continued even after I started working Sunday Mornings with people calling and saying "I turned on my radio and heard that voice and knew it "HAD TO BE YOU!" That, to a radio person, is very flattering to be remembered for all those years, and it showed me the impact that WMPT had on the community in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Around the station I got to be known, and kidded a lot, being called the Legendary Kelly Watts. My reply to that was always the same, "Hell, Elvis is a legend and he's dead."

All in all I worked for KISS FM for 4 years, till 1996, and for the most part I did Sunday Mornings. Some time around 1995 Tom Benson was promoted to Group Program Director and was re assigned to their new purchase in Albany, N.Y. the legendary powerhouse WGY. A couple of things influenced my decision to leave KISS FM the least not being Tom's replacement Reginald James Pettiford, air name, "J. B.". In all my years in radio I have NEVER met a person who was so totally un-qualified to be a Program Director. We went at each other tooth and nail, with him leaving memos about such trivial things as my playing a "B" format song instead of and "A". I remember asking him "who the hell he was programing for?" The last time I spoke with him it was over a particularly scathing letter telling me I had "better focus," what ever that meant. Anyway my final comment to him was, "Jim I was programming in this town when you were still _ _ _ ing in your diapers." The next Sunday I came prepared with my resignation letter and that was it. KISS FM was, until J.B.'s arrival a good place to work, and I really enjoyed the people. Toward the end of my tenure at KISS FM I was always afraid I would say "102 point 7 KISS MY _ SS! KISS FM, when I worked there, was owned by Dame Media a pretty good company who owned stations in State College, Altoona, and Harrisburg. After I left they were sucked into the Clear Channel Communications Company "vortex" and lost their unique and great sound.

His Honor? Me?

For those of you that have known me for a long time, it might come as a surprise the have the term His Honor, or The Honorable put in front of my name. Over the years I had toyed with the idea of taking an active role in the political process. When I lived in South Williamsport I was approached to run for council, but at the time Dave Castlebury and I were in the process of planning the radio station in Canton. While being a stranger to serving in public office, over the years I had held positions such as President of a Jaycee chapter, Fire Department Secretary, Fire Department Line Officer, Lions Club Board Member, etc. In addition, during my radio career, I was involved in the coverage local government as the reporter governmental body meetings. I must admit I did have an interest in the political process and felt that I could do the job as well as those sitting around the table.

When we moved back to Canton, Pa in the early summer of 1992 I became active again with the Canton Business and Professional Association, (Chamber of Commerce) and Canton Fire Department. The Mayor of Canton at the time was James Arnold, I had known Jim for many years as he had been active in the fire department, Lion's Club, was a teacher at Canton High School, and had been Mayor when Dave and I built WKAD FM. As I spent more time in the community it became clear to me that a change was needed in Canton politics, so I made the decision to run for Mayor against Jim. The political process involves getting a nominating petition and obtaining signatures of registered voters in the party you belong to. Being a registered Republican, bye the way so was Jim Arnold, that was the party I had to seek the nomination in the Primary election. Pa law says that the candidate must be a resident of the community for one year prior to election. When the May Primary Election came, I had only been in Canton for 10 months. A call to the Bradford County Board Of Elections confirmed my interpretation of the Election Code, with the key words "at the time of election the candidate must have resided in the municipality for a period of one year." Since this was only a primary and the General Election did not take place until November, I could run in the Primary.

When I went seeking signatures on my Nominating Petition I found that several people were reluctant to sign as they felt if I lost the election there might be reprisals on them or their business. But I did manage to get the required 20 signatures and was certified as a candidate in the Primary Election of 1993, running against Jim Arnold for the Republican nomination. In the period leading up to the Primary Election I went to every open meeting, as I had been doing since my arrival back in Canton, and spoke to every group that wished an after lunch/dinner/supper speaker. My platform was pretty simple, the modernization of the Police Department, rebuilding of the Canton War Memorial Swimming Pool and the updating of the Borough Codes.

While the office of Mayor in a Borough was largely a figurehead position, having been stripped of its powers over the years, the Mayor was in charge of the Police Department, could perform civil weddings, also the Mayor was in complete charge in the event of a State of Emergency, which the Mayor could declare, and was required to sign all ordinances into law. The lack of the Mayors signature meant that Council had to approve the ordinance by a 2/3 rds majority, with the President of Council then signing the ordinance in place of the Mayor. One other interesting throw back to the days of old, was that the Mayor would open and conduct the re-organizational meeting, held ever two years, and preside over the election of a Council President. Once the Council President was elected the Mayor would administer the Oath Of Office (as he did for all employees, Borough officials, and fire officers) and then turn the gavel over to the newly elected Council President who ran the Council meetings.

A few weeks prior the the election I received a call from Chief Of Police Doug Seeley wanting to talk with me. I had known Doug since he went on the force, around the time Dave and I were building the radio station. When I went to see him the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand if you are elected you are going to get rid of me." I must say that caught me a bit by surprise as I had never stated that either publicly or privately. I assured Doug that firing him was not in my plans and that I would not make any staffing decisions, if elected, till I had time to study the operation of the department and form my own opinions firsthand. Doug was satisfied with my answer and we went about discussing what he felt were the needs of his department. I must say, I never envied the Chief's job in a small town police department, if you do it and make arrests you are a jerk, if you don't make arrests you are not doing your job. The police department at that time consisted of Doug and Sgt. Ed Larcom as the two full timers and several part time officers, many who had been with the department for 10 years or more. The Borough of Canton did not have 24 hour police coverage, with any after hours emergencies being handled by the Pennsylvania State Police from Towanda, 26 miles away, or by calling out one of the officers.

As time for the primary drew closer I had a feeling that I stood a very good chance of being elected. I might point out that there was no candidate on the Democratic side as that party had a very small enrolment in Canton. I also got the feeling that Jim was not taking my challenge too seriously, a pretty common mistake in politics.

Election day arrived, and I made it a point to be at the polls greeting the citizens when they arrived to vote, something that Jim chose not to do. When the polls closed and the ballots were counted I had won 78% of the votes on both the Republican and Democratic ballots, the Democratic was a write in, and had handed Jim his defeat after 16 years as Mayor.

The next time, I will look at the changing of the guard, my time as Mayor and my decision not to seek re-election.