Eddie Zoch, who served as a music host and operations director for KLRE/KUAR for 15 years, died on Monday, Aug. 26. Zoch, 85, retired from the stations in 1994.
Eddie was born in Springfield, Ill., in 1928, but his family moved to Bryant, Ark., when he was a child. Zoch began his broadcasting career in 1953 at KBBA, a commercial radio station in Bryant. He worked in all aspects of the radio business at stations in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Zoch was hired to be one of only two full-time employees at KLRE in 1979. Eddie directed the daily operations of KLRE and KUAR (which signed on the air in 1986) and was responsible for much of the stations’ programming during that time. Listeners will remember him as the host of Morning Concert, which aired each weekday on KLRE from 1979-1988 and on KUAR from 1988-1994.
“Eddie was important to public radio’s early development in this community,” says KLRE/KUAR General Manager Ben Fry, who worked with Zoch from 1988 to 1994. “He was one of the people who was responsible for holding on to both stations when KUAR signed on the air, and he brought many great national programs, like Whad’Ya Know, to the air in central Arkansas.”
Zoch also served his community as an alderman for the city of Bryant.
Zoch was preceded in death by his wife Ruth Erlene Zoch, who died in 2007. Survivors include his sons Stuart Zoch of Bryant and Steven Zoch of North Little Rock. A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Alexander.