Friends and colleagues of longtime radio personality and assistant program director Kelly McCoy, 58, are mourning her death early Tuesday morning at a local hospital following a short illness.
McCoy could be heard on WSKZ-FM 106.5 for more than three decades. Her career in radio started 35 years ago at WZRA. She later moved to WGOW-AM 1150, before taking a job with classic rock station WFXS, and then to classic rock KZ-106, where she became the area's #1 midday radio host for two decades.
"Kelly McCoy was a much-loved radio personality and colleague, and we mourn her loss and send our deepest condolences to her family," said Scott Chase, operations manager with Cumulus Media Chattanooga, which owns WSKZ. "Kelly set the standard for music radio hosts in Chattanooga. She will be greatly missed."
Chase said via telephone that McCoy, whose real name was Katie Echols, was "a wonderful person who took what we do seriously. When the weather was bad or somebody needed help, she was there. She placed hundreds of animals through her Kelly McCoy's Pet Project. She placed one a week for decades.
"And, she was one of a few people who could read my writing."
Chase added that she was also an intuitive person who always seemed to be able to "cut through the crap and know exactly what to do and she was almost always right."
She was known as a fan of the classic rock music she played and for her sense of humor.
"She was nearly thrown out of a Dan Fogelberg concert for yelling 'Freebird' not once but twice," Chase said.
He and McCoy once did a bit on the air about a bet they were having. The loser had to walk her dog naked at Miller Plaza at noon. It was later revealed that her dog was named Naked.
Kevin West worked with McCoy for more than 25 years and praised McCoy as a co-worker, but also as a friend.
"While Kelly and I have been good friends and co-workers since the old Fox 102 days," he wrote in a text, "she went so far above and beyond when I was deployed to Afghanistan in my Navy career in 2016 and 2017, that there is no way I could have ever thanked her enough.
"Deployment is very hard on the families you leave back here. But Kelly took it on herself to constantly check in with my wife, Carlene, time and time again, got her out with her friends at times just to give her some time away from the grind of taking care of the entire house and family herself, and probably helped Carlene hold everything together while I was 7,000 miles away for over a year. That was more than friendship. That was a love of people. A genuine love."
WDEF-TV 12 personality Chip Chapman also spent many years working with McCoy and praised her professionalism.
"Kelly was one of the most naturally gifted communicators I've ever heard," he said in a text, "and one of the sweetest, most caring people I've ever met.
"The world is a much quieter - and much sadder - place without her in it. She was also one of the most caring. I have been in the control room with her a number of times when a listener was having a problem. Kelly never just gave those problems 'lip service.' She honestly and deeply cared, and did whatever she could to help make that problem go away."
Fellow local radio veteran and podcast host Jeff Styles first worked with McCoy when the two were among the first on-air people at news-talk station WZRA.
"Katie was my first partner in Talk Radio (WZRA) and in Chattanooga radio in general," he said in a text.
"I'm genuinely saddened and greatly impacted by this great loss."
Memorial contributions may be made in McCoy's name to the Humane Educational Society. Final arrangements are pending.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Follow him on Twitter @BarryJC.