Longtime talk radio host, columnist, author and political commentator Martha Zoller passed away suddenly on Monday. She was 67 years old.
Zoller began broadcasting in 1994 on WDUN AM 550 and later became best known for her daily radio show on that Gainesville station focusing on local and state politics, and for helping to plant seeds in state Republican politics to grow the party to be competitive.
In 2012 her career pivoted with a run for Congress in Georgia’s Gainesville-based 9th District. She ultimately lost in a GOP primary runoff to Doug Collins (now head of the Department of Veterans Affairs). But that race significantly raised her political profile.
Along with her beloved radio show, Zoller was also a part time panelist on Fox5 Atlanta’s “The Georgia Gang” public affairs show over the years. Education was one of her favorite topics, and she had been serving as the 9th Congressional District Georgia Board of Education at the time of her death.
Zoller received numerous awards over her career such as the 1997 GABBY Award for best locally produced talk show, and has been one of James Magazine’s Most Influential Georgians.
James CEO and Publisher Phil Kent, a longtime Zoller friend, recalled that “she was a female pioneer in the talk radio field in the 1990s and evolved into an interesting interviewer who was successful by keeping up with current events and the latest in politics and business. She knew many of the influencers in state politics and business and had them as guests on her show. And she often talked about them and what they had to say when on The Georgia Gang. She loved her state, and her legacy is that she will be remembered as a respected voice in Georgia journalism.”
