Back in 1948, local radio station WJOC first hit the airwaves in The Pearl City, and ran under those letters until the 60s what it became WXYJ, preceding the present letters for AM 1340, WKSN.

During the middle history of AM 1340, WXYJ and Quality Markets, two memories of Jamestown that no longer exist, produced a song that became an addition to the programming playlist numerous times a day, a little ditty which you can actually find on You Tube titled, “Jamestown, My Home Town.”

Being that I was born at WCA Hospital on Thursday, April 23, 1953, I guess that makes me a native Jamestowner, and being that I’ve never lived anywhere else but Jamestown, I guess I can lay a small claim to that song since it definitely applies to me.

I’ve lived here for six and a half decades. If they still gave Green Stamps and they gave them for longevity in this city, I’d probably be able to wallpaper at least the entire downstairs of my two-story home.

When that song was released, I was just a kid in this community, and as I’ve claimed many times in this forum, it was a great place to be a kid and grow up. I went to school here, attending St. James Parochial School kindergarten through ninth grades (1958-1968), then Jamestown High School for ninth through 12th grades (1968-1971). After high school, I spent two years at Jamestown Community College (1971-1973) before going to the State College at Fredonia to get my bachelor’s degree (1973-1975). After graduation, I returned to Jamestown to begin my teaching career (1975-2008), and though I’m retired from regular classroom teaching, I still substitute teach in two local districts, Jamestown being one of them.

I worked for a school district carrying the name Jamestown, for 31 years (33, counting my first two years as a substitute, and 43, if you count servicing Jamestown schools as a substitute since retirement.) I coached football for 13 years as part of the Jamestown football program. I wore baseball uniforms issued by the school district with the name Jamestown (or Raiders) across the chest for 11 years. All that being said, I think that’s proof to my claim that Jamestown is my hometown.

Being here all my life, I’ve seen good, bad, and ugly in this city, and before anyone gets upset by that statement, please know it is not an insult to the city. Do your homework, and you’ll see that every community from Hawaii to Maine has experienced good, bad and ugly. Jamestown is not any different.

I’ve seen change in Jamestown. I’ve seen ups, downs, ins, outs, successes, and failures. I’ve seen businesses and people come and go, the exodus of professional baseball, the decline of population for a number of reasons, some of those under the heading of “A Sign of the Times.”

I’m sure things will continue to fluctuate here in Jamestown and I’m sure there will be times when I express my displeasure with things in, and about, the city, as I’ve done in the past. But all has not been bad. Jamestown has provided me many great opportunities. I’ve been able to learn here, grow here, live here, raise my family here, work here, worship here, write here, make friends here, coach here, officiate here, and volunteer here. I’m grateful for those who had a hand in any of that happening to, and for, me these past 65-plus years.

I recently read an article on the first hundred days of the National Comedy Center which opened in August. It brought back some very recent memories of events in “My Hometown.” If I may, for a couple minutes, review some things this city did offer about three months ago, which Sally and I were able to attend, falling under the category of good, actually great, that happened in Jamestown, my home town.

On July 24, Sally and I were able to take advantage of the soft opening of the National Comedy Center and get a preview experience of what we’d been hearing about for so long. It did not disappoint, and motivated us to want to go back after its official opening. Just after the opening day of the Comedy Center, we received emails on our cellphones offering us free admission to the Comedy Center if we used it during the Lucy Festival week. It was a thank you for coming to the soft opening. We definitely took advantage of the opportunity to see the finished product, as it wasn’t quite finished as of the soft opening. While we were there, we were treated by a Dan Aykroyd visit to the center. The finished product was great, and motivated us even more to look into membership to the museum.

After our visit to the museum, we went across the street for a meet-and-greet with Dan Aykroyd, who, after riding and donating his vintage motorcycle to the NCC, came back to where Dan Rather had interviewed him earlier in the day to meet some of the Jamestown public.

As all of the hoopla of the Lucy Festival and the opening of the National Comedy Center was going on, the Babe Ruth World Series was going on at Russell E. Diethrick Park. Sally and I attended the championship game where we were treated to a great game played by two very talented teams.

The day after that, we accepted an invitation by Cameron Hurst to attend a program and exhibit titled, “A Model of Courage: The Life of Charles E. Goodell.” Cam put this together for presentation at the Robert H. Jackson Center, paying tribute to former Congressman and Senator from New York, and Jamestown native, Charles Goodell, who served in the House of Representatives from 1959 until 1968. In 1968, Goodell was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Sen. Goodell was a schoolmate of my dad at Jamestown High School, back in the early 1940s. As he ran for office to the House and Senate, we often heard the jingle which highlighted his campaigns, the main lyrics being, “He’s been doing the job so well, we’re for Congressman Charlie Goodell.” The Rev. Valentine Welker, associate pastor of St. James Church during the 1960s, wanted to take the church’s altar boys on a trip which included Washington. My father was close to Father Welker and helped arrange for a chance to have the boys meet Sen. Goodell in Washington. Sen. Goodell readily agreed to a meet-and-greet, and a group picture of all the boys, Father Welker, Dad, and him on the lawn of the Capitol Building. Though I wasn’t in the picture, as I was not old enough to be an altar boy yet, my brother Lou was among the large group of boys who shared the experience. I have that picture.

Sally and I were able to experience all this entertainment, and education, right here in my home town, and by the way, we never took a dime out of our pocket. That was good for us because both of our jobs, are only during the school year, so summers force us to watch, and pinch, our pennies.

There are things that have changed in this city, some of them not in a positive direction. There are things that need to be improved and/or fixed, but there are some things that this city offers in many different genres that can be experienced. Just a few of these are sports at the Northwest Ice Arena, Diethrick Park and the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame, history at the Robert Jackson Center and the Fenton Historical Society, science at the Audubon Society and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and comedy at the National Comedy Center and the Lucy-Desi Museum, not to mention theater entertainment at many venues, and a variety of programs at the Reg Lenna Theater of the Arts. Not bad for little Jamestown, N.Y., my hometown.