The world of radio and the city of Houston recently lost someone who could be called a legend, an icon, a mentor, and/or a family man (pick one or all).

Bill Zak passed away after a long and distinguished career at KTRH.  Over five decades he did it all.  He was a “News Presenter”, anchored an Agri-Biz program, and was a co-host of the popular KTRH Gardenline.

Bill Zak was a lot of different things to a lot of people, but to me, he was a treasure trove of great stories about the “Golden Age” of radio.  Bill would start telling me one story, only to morph into a second one and then end up telling me a third one.  When he was done he would say, “you asked me what time it was and I told you how to build a watch”.  I didn’t care.  I loved hearing them all.

Ed Shane who was the Program Director at KTRH in the early 80’s said he tested personalities in the early 70’s to determine the most popular/best known person in Houston.  The top three were the Mayor, Judge Roy and Bill Zak.

I guess that’s why I was a  little surprised at the lack of media attention when Bill passed away.  I found it sad that the passing of someone who had such an impact on so many lives was not acknowledged by more people.  Randy Lemmon (who replaced Bill) did a nice tribute on the KTRH Gardenline.  It was great hearing the old Bill Zak stories and hearing that powerful voice one more time.

After the service was over, one of the old “KTRH’ers” said he was surprised at the lack of turn-out of people who worked with Bill through the years at the station.  I agreed and told him I thought it was disappointing, but then I started to think about it.  There were four people who were at the funeral service associated with Bill because of KTRH, but there were many more who were family and friends.  It helped remind me what is important in life.

I heard many great stories of what a wonderful husband, father and family man Bill was.  How he always stepped up and helped family and could be counted on time and time again.

A great career is one thing, but being surrounded by loved ones at the end is the ultimate tribute a person can have.