Rich Koz

Richard Koz (typically credited as Rich and named so after) is an American actor and broadcaster known best for his potrayal of horror-movie host Svengoolie.

## Early Life

Koz was born March 12th, 1952 in Park Ridge, Illinois. His father was a sheet-metal worker and his mother a housewife. He was raised in a Catholic household. Even though he felt shy as a kid, he was a class clown that received good marks.

He got his start in broadcasting at WMTH-FM, the high school radio station at Maine East in Park Ridge, Illinois. During high school, Koz played the trombone alongside future creative partner Doug Sharf, who played trumpet .

He later attended Northwestern University. To support himself, Koz worked at Jack in the Box.

## Writing for the Original Svengoolie

WhenKoz ran out of money, he dropped out of college. He had begun following the Svengoolie program, hosted by Jerry G. Bishop. Koz had been a fan of Bishop's radio work, so he began sending him material for the show. He was not attempting to be hired, but Bishop thought he showed promise and felt he had exhausted the material he had to work with. When Bishop found out Koz was a broadcasting student, he invited him to come watch a taping of the show. This lead to Koz doing off-camera voices and joining the staff officially as a writing partner. Koz remained on the show until it was cancelled in 1973.

Following the show's cancellation, Bishop and Koz continued working together doing mornings on WMAQ radio in Chicago. When Bishop left for San Diego in 1978, he gave Koz permission to create a shown known as Son of Svengoolie.

## Son of Svengoolie

n June 1979, on WFLD-TV Ch. 32, Koz began as Son of Svengoolie, winning three local Emmy awards, and having his show syndicated to sister stations in Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, and San Francisco for a brief period. In 1986, after the station was acquired by the News Corporation, WFLD canceled Svengoolie, believing the show not dignified for a network affiliate. He did some freelance radio, including stints as a fill-in at WGN radio.

## The Koz Zone

From 1989 to 1993, Koz returned to WFLD (now "Fox 32") to host a new hosted movie show where he appeared to be "breaking in" to the Fox signal (a take-off of the Max Headroom signal hijacking event). The show was originally untitled, but viewers were asked to address letters to "Lose Weight by Selling Real Estate, No Money Down" until the show adopted the name The Koz Zone.

The show featured cartoons presented by Koz, interspersed by sketch comedy bits. This show won him his next local Emmy, and later became the daily Koz Zone for Kids. Koz also did mornings on WCKG radio for a brief period, co-hosted live 4th of July and New Year's Eve programming, and became weekend and fill-in weather anchor for Fox 32 News.

## The Return of Svengoolie

In 1995, Weigel Broadcasting changed formats for WCIU ("The U") from Spanish language programming to general market programming under the leadership of Neal Sabin who took control of it in 1994. Steve and Johnnie of WGN Radio put Koz in touch with Neal Sabin, who had hoped to broadcast local shows with Chicago personalities. Koz was identified as one such talent with an already established program.

For the newly resurrected Svengoolie show, the "Son of" portion of the show name was dropped with Jerry G. Bishop's blessing.

In addition to his work on Svengoolie, Koz would do other announcing and broadcasting duties for The U. In 2003, he began hosting Stooge-a-Palooza, a weekly showcase of Three Stooges shorts.

In 2004, Koz was honored with the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences's Silver Circle Award.

## Broadcasting on MeTV

In 2011, the Svengoolie program was picked up for broadcasting on the nation-wide MeTV classic TV network.

## Personal Life

Koz has been married since the early 1980s to the same woman. They have a daughter who was born between his Son of Svengoolie run and the return of the show. His daughter was born with spina bifida.

In March 2002, Koz suffered a heart attack and had to undergo two angioplasty procedures. In November 2012, he suffered a second heart attack. He wears a pacemaker following the incidents.

## Random Trivia

-The first horror movie Rich saw as a kid was King Kong (1933), which was being broadcasted on television. Another movie that frightened him in childhood was The Wizard of Oz (1939), especially thanks to the Wicked Witch of the West!

-Koz's first appearance with the original Svengoolie was on a Friday the 13th.

1. ↑ https://www.theday.com/movies/20201025/rich-koz-keeping-halloween-season-spooky-as-svengoolie/
2. ↑ https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/313obn/i\_am\_rich\_koz\_aka\_svengoolie\_the\_host\_of\_metvs/cpy6xjn/
3. ↑ https://www.theday.com/movies/20201025/rich-koz-keeping-halloween-season-spooky-as-svengoolie/
4. ↑ https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/313obn/i\_am\_rich\_koz\_aka\_svengoolie\_the\_host\_of\_metvs/cpy7csu/
5. ↑ https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-06-18-0406180002-story.html
6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20171121133840/https://www.timeout.com/chicago/tv/svengoolie-host-rich-koz-recovering-from-heart-attack
7. ↑ https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/313obn/i\_am\_rich\_koz\_aka\_svengoolie\_the\_host\_of\_metvs/cpy73df/
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/Svengoolie/status/1613906934217998337