Career
Out of costume, he is also the knowledgeable host of the syndicated The Three Stooges Stooge-a-Palooza program Koz got his start in broadcasting at WMTH-FM, the high school radio station at Maine East in Park Ridge, Illinois. While Koz was at Northwestern University, he sent the original Svengoolie, Jerry G. Bishop, material for the horror-movie program
Bishop subsequently invited Koz on to the show.
When the show was cancelled in 1973, Bishop and Koz worked together doing mornings on WMAQ radio in Chicago, and Koz worked with radio legend Dick Orkin on commercials and syndicated features, including "ChickenMan Returns for the Last Time Again." When Bishop left for San Diego in 1978, he gave Koz permission to create a show known as, now simply known as Svengoolie. (The character is often known simply as "Sven")
In June 1979, on WFLD-television Church
32, Koz began as, winning numerous local Emmy awards, and having his show syndicated to Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, and San Francisco for a brief period. In 1986, after the station was acquired by the News Corporation, WFLD cancelled Svengoolie, believing the show not dignified for a network affiliate.
Koz did some freelance radio, including stints as a fill-in at World's Greatest Newspaper radio.
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 an actual event where World's Greatest Newspaper and Window To The World had their signals pirated). The show was originally untitled, but viewers were asked to address letters to "Lose Weight by Selling Real Estate, Number Money Down" until the show adopted the name Koz also did mornings on WCKG radio for a brief period, co-hosted live 4 July and New Year"s Eve programming, and became weekend and fill-in weather anchor for Fox 32 News. In 1995, Koz came back on the air as part of the launch team for newly independent station WCIU-television, Channel 26.
He became Svengoolie (after Jerry G Bishop told him he could drop the "Son of" because he was "all grown up now") and resumed weekly horror movie shows, along with numerous other duties.
In his persona, Rich Koz is also known for the early "80s 3-Doctorate broadcast of Revenge of the Creature (the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon) that resulted in a civil action lawsuit by people who felt they didn"t get enough 3-Doctorate for the 89 cents they spent for the cardboard glasses. Rumors that the broadcast included an accidental pornographic image are false.
Koz makes numerous personal appearances in the Chicago area. In November 2012, Koz suffered a heart attack at his home.
He previously had been stricken by an earlier heart attack in March 2002.
