This Day in the History of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Orchestra leader James Kern "Kay" Kyser, a 1927 graduate of the University, was born in Rocky Mount. As a student, his band played for college dances and other functions and he wrote "Tar Heels on Hand," one of the University's fight songs. After leaving Chapel Hill, Kyser and his band toured the nation, and in 1934 his "Kollege of Musical Knowledge" began to be aired on the National Broadcasting Company.