The 99.9 KISS-FM Website

WKSF, Asheville/Hendersonville/Greenville-Spartanburg

Listeners who had set their alarm clocks to the soothing sounds of WRLX were literally jolted out of bed with rock & roll the morning of Monday, September 17, 1984. Though the format change had been announced in the Asheville Citizen-Times (see the article ) it came as a shocker to many. Their favorite easy-listening station was suddenly playing Twisted Sister records and airing television commercials which featured John Cameron Swayze saying "takes a knockin' and keeps on rockin" while showing people smashing their radios. For several days, many listeners called the office to complain about the switch. In many regards it was reminiscent of the first episode of the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati when Johnny drags the needle across the "Hallelujah Tabernacle Choir" record, kicks off a slamming rock song and yells "BOOGER!!!!".

Pat Garrett in the studio, Fall 1984.

The format change prompted one local religious leader to base his entire sermon the following Sunday on how our station was the work of the devil, saying that "KISS" stood for "Knights In Satan's Service", the call letters "WKSF" stood for "We Kindle Satan's Fire" and the frequency 99.9 was "666" upside down. We pointed out that 99.9 upside down is really only 6.66 which meant that we were only 1/100 as bad as the real devil was, but this didn't seem to appease the guy.

The original staff of K. C., Dawn, John, Brother Bill and Pat changed a few months later, when John replaced K. C. on the morning show, Bill was moved to afternoons, and the 7p-12m shift was filled by G.T. (Glenn Trent). Glenn was also well-known in the market and was serving as PD of WHVL-Hendersonville, NC. Chuck Finley joined John on the morning show in the spring of '85 and the following summer, John Oliver was hired as the station's promotions director. With the addition of John Oliver, the lineup became Chuck & John Stevens 5-10, Dawn 10-1, John Oliver 1-3, Bill 3-7, G.T. 7-12 and Pat 12-5 and it pretty much stayed this way for the next year.

Chuck Finley in the KISS Studio, 1987.

KISS featured lots of talented weekenders the first few years, including Michael Lane (Terry Ballard), Bruce "Radar" Chandley, Ed Sanders, Joe Scarborough (not the same one who does "Morning Joe" on TV), Kenny Buckner, Vic Thomas (Tom Clevinger), Ric Hampton (Ric Rowe) and Sid the Surf (Larry Hilker). Many of the weekenders held down full-time shifts on AM sister station 13 Big Wise and worked a weekend shift on KISS. And Vince Rutherford, a long-time member of the Big Wise crew, was frequently heard on KISS on commercials.

During the summer of 1985, after only spending a few months on the morning show, Chuck Finley left to take a job at station WMC in Memphis, TN. Chuck's slot on the morning show was filled by Kent Compton from Spartanburg, SC. Kent, who was kind of heavy at the time, was nicknamed "The Battleship" (this probably started when Pat Garrett said on the air that if Kent showed up wearing a gray shirt, people would think he was the U.S.S. North Carolina). Kent and John did the morning show until mid-1986 when Kent left and was replaced by Chuck Finley, who was back from his stint in Memphis.