KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo broadcasting icon Lori Moore has died at the age of 67 from bone cancer.
Moore’s career started in 1981 doing news part-time at WKMI after she graduated from Hope College that spring and she soon became full-time there for several years before joining WKZO in the early 1990s.
She retired from radio in 2013 after hosting the morning show on WKZO for nearly two decades, and started “The Lori Moore Show” on WWMT that aired from 2014 until 2017.
Moore was known for her annual cookbooks at WKZO like “A Holiday Dish to Pass” and “Potluck Pals,” distributing those at WKZO events for 11 years.
She also coached forensics at Portage Northern High School for over a decade, helping to mentor students who wanted to become broadcasters. At least one of them, former WOOD-TV news anchor Emily Linnert, succeeded.
Moore was also well-known for her work in theater, starring in several productions at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, Farmers Alley Theatre, and Barn Theatre over the years.
Born in Detroit in 1959, she died at Bronson Methodist Hospital on Saturday.
I’m deeply saddened by the loss of my friend and mentor, Lori Moore. I met Lori during my sophomore year at Portage Northern High School. Over the next two years, she coached me to a state championship in oratory, teaching me about stage presence and connecting with an audience—lessons I’ve carried throughout my life.
Lori introduced me to radio broadcasting, sparking a lifelong love that helped shape my career as a physician caring for the professional voice. Her example at WKZO also inspired my work in health news at NBC 5 in Chicago. Today, as a professor at LSU Health Shreveport, I draw on her lessons whenever I teach students or lecture here and around the world. Every news interview still brings me back to what she taught me, and I often sent her the clips.
Through the years, I loved reconnecting with Lori when I returned home to Kalamazoo. This photo is from one of those visits, when I saw her perform in The Little Mermaid at the Civic Theatre.
Lori touched so many lives, and I’m profoundly grateful that mine was one of them. Her lessons live on in every classroom, lecture hall, and interview where I use my voice. I will miss her deeply.