I first met Martha Zoller sort of the way thousands of others do. As part of my early work at WSB Radio, Scott Slade, broadcast icon and not quite four decades long host of “Atlanta’s Morning News with Scott Slade,” began a Sunday morning edition of his Monday-Friday show. However, the AMN Sunday Edition was long form radio, much like CBS Radio with Charles Kuralt or Charles Osgood. Though born and raised around Griffin, Georgia, Slade has a Midwestern accent and a deep, authoritative voice that you know and trust.
Scott’s voice introduced me to a radio colleague and already friend of his, Martha Zoller, already a dozen years into her radio career, as the host of “The Martha Zoller Show” on WDUN-AM 550, then and now sort of the North Georgia and Gainesville-based equivalent of WSB and the heart of the Jacobs Media Group. Scott assembled a round-table of journalists and pundits who would gather and tape each Friday, a roughly 7.5-15 minute segment typically consuming the final quarter of the hour long AMN Sunday Edition.
The group varied, but regulars included the AJC’s Jim Galloway and Greg Bluestein, Lori Geary (then of WSB Action News and now host of The Georgia Gang on Fox 5) and more often than most featured guest Martha Zoller. I knew of Martha because of her clout within the Georgia GOP and campaign media circles… Republican and Democratic candidates, nominees and incumbents all had her number on speed dial. Very few of them would pass through Gainesville, or enter or exit a campaign season without making a pit stop to sit down and chat with the one and only Ms. Zoller.
When an opening occurred for a U.S. House seat in the 9th Congressional District, as Gainesville’s Nathan Deal became Governor. She ran hard to succeed him. That special election contest was won by Doug Collins, who represented Georgia and the 9th well in Congress. He now leads the Department of Veterans Affairs. The loss was tough, but Martha rebounded very quickly, perhaps more significantly, at least to me, though the race got a bit muddy and there were certainly shots fired by both camps… I have never since heard Martha criticize or speak ill of her former opponent. I asked her about that once, during an unrelated chat about the first Trump impeachment proceeding in the U.S. House. Collins was serving as Chief Defense Counsel for Trump.
She paused for a moment, laughed, looked at me with those sparkling eyes of hers and said, “Yeah… life is too short.”
She would later spend a few years doing radio with another group in Athens and with a friend and colleague, Tim Bryant. Both Martha and Tim are conservatives and Martha is additionally a Christian Conservative. On many topics and issues, then and now, we didn’t quite see eye to eye. Even when our disagreements were substantive, and she always did her homework, her tone was always upbeat. There was no meanness in her arguments and civility, respect for others and general kindness prevailed in EVERY SINGLE encounter I have had with her for more than two decades.
After contributing and working as a political analyst at WSB Radio for 16 years, by 2022, I had begun making occasional appearances on other Georgia radio stations outside of the Atlanta MSA. Martha’s show was one of the first stops I made as well… Unbeknownst to me, I was about to go on a ‘two-year sabbatical’ from my home at WSB TV and Radio after anill-chosen description of our Commander In Chief’s use of bronzer… Though much more a fan of the President than I am, after that ax dropped, Martha was among the first to check in, suggesting that my occasional visits with her become weekly, with a fixed position and that WDUN would also be interested in adding my column, One Man’s Opinion, to their website, where it continues to appear today. Though I only lost one syndicate member and daily newspaper during that career speed bump, Martha was the first to extend a hand and remind me how touched she was by a call I made to her after the loss of that Congressional seat…
For the last four years and change, every Wednesday morning between 10:00 and 10:30, I would join Martha for Crane’s Corner. Though Martha prepped for her every show, and arrived at the station hours ahead of air, I seldom knew what we might be chatting about, or if there might be an occasional guest host. It was wonderful, live radio, which I hoped sounded like two good friends having coffee and catching up (as that in part, is what it was)… But at least for me, it was a lot more than that. I would lose my mother almost at the start of this shared weekly coffee. Martha’s husband, Lynn, would face and beat back two battles with cancer. My twin grandsons, the Might Mites, would become social media darlings and later a third, the Tiny Tyke would join the family…Martha noted, commented and complimented each addition.
Within days of going public about a year and change ago with a rather dire cancer diagnosis and prognosis, again Martha as among the first of many friends to call, check in and ask if I needed to take some time away from her show. I chose just the opposite, as her program often lined up with my then twice monthly chemo visits, we frequently sat in the virtual Crane’s Corner while I was in the chemo chair at my oncologist’s office. And I assure you those visits more than helped to pass that time.
In February of this year, Martha had a cardiac episode. The heart attack got her attention. Very active and vital, she shared that stress was her cardiologist’s key concern, and she was only a couple of years ahead of me. IF she didn’t reduce those daily doses that a several hour live radio show can induce, that stress might start making some choices for her. Martha called to share her plans to retire from her daily show at the end of June. This Friday was her last planned regular show. She was going to continue on as Senior Political Analyst for Jacob’s Media, appear twice monthly on The Georgia Gang, continue her Blog and perhaps grow her consulting business. But I also know from spending a couple of evenings with her and Lynn in Atlanta during this year’s General Assembly that they were also planning some more family time and travel.
Tomorrow, Thursday, June 25th, would have been our last regular radio chat. Instead I will visit with her most regular guest host, the Reverend, Dr. Tom Smiley. Her family will hold visitation in Gainesville on Monday, followed by what I am sure will be a packed house for her farewell and service. Martha was a loving mother and wife, also a business partner in Lynn’s medical practice and staffing enterprises, a loyal UGA Bulldog and Grady College grad, a member of the State Board of Education, longtime GOP grass roots activist and even more loyal mentor and friend. Wednesdays will no longer be quite the same for me…and along with a few thousand others across north Georgia, I am going to miss getting a chance to regularly hear from my friend, Martha Zoller. Rest in peace.
