By Frank Kourt, '69

It happened on a cold and snowy day in February, 1969.

SUNY Morrisville was about to get its own newspaper.

 The question was, as my future wife, Cynthia Hathaway;  Joe Sutherland; Jim Flateau; and Al Lawrence sat around a table with our faculty advisor, Jerry Leone: what would the name for the newspaper be?

We sat… and we thought... brainstorming...

The cold, grey winter oppressed us…. We really didn't want to be there, but, suddenly, the campus chimes rang out the four o'clock hour.

 "There it is!," Cindy exclaimed.

"There's what?, we all asked.

"The Chimes," she said.

The chimes on campus in those days rang the hour… just like Big  Ben. And it was something we took for granted.

What better a name for the newspaper? (She got extra credit!)

 The Chimes it was!

 I was madly in love with Ms. Hathaway, and already knew I was going marry that gorgeous 19-year-old woman. We wed in December of that same year, had nearly 33 years of a wonderful life together.

So, folks, whenever you hear those chimes, and whenever you wonder how that paper got its name, think of a beautiful 19-year-old girl who became my wife, a lady who always smiled and loved life, Cynthia Hathaway Kourt (1949-2002).

That's the way it was, just the way I remember it, more than 35 years ago!

We also ran the radio station, WCVM, back in those days.

 I was the Program Director (The Big Cheese) I had a Music Director (Cindy), a News Director  (Jim Kenyon, who was succeeded by Jim Flateau), and various sports directors and special events people who made the whole crazy thing a success.

A "pirate" radio station; we were, at the time, technically illegal. If the FCC came calling, we'd all be up on a federal rap. Nobody cared. We just kept broadcasting on our (I think it was, at that time, 5 watts of pure power!) When the transmitter went down, I'd say to our resident techie, "Do what you can, Scotty!"

We did "block" programming at that time. (I would do "hard rock" for, say, from 7 to 8 p.m. (HEERS THE LATEST FROM THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE), and then switch, with the appropriate mellow voice, to "easy listening" (Sinatra, et al) from 9 to 10. I thought at the time that it didn't sound like the same guy.

Cindy would make the "Top 50 Chart" based, in part, on what the part-time janitor who cleaned up the radio station thought.

It pleases me, in my old age, to look back and see how well we've all done.

It really all goes back to Morrisville. So many successful lives...so many

good friends...so many memories!

Anyhow, if you're still with me, that's the honest and true story of how The Chimes got its name. I know; I was there in 1969!

Keep Ringing The Chimes,

Frank Kourt, Class of '69