 In 2014, he received an ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for his article about the life of composer Tupper Saussy of the Neon Philharmonic, "Scenes From The Chocolate Orchid Piano Bar".From 2001 to 2003, Zax co-starred on the Comedy Central game show Beat the Geeks as the show's primary "Music Geek," answering difficult questions about all forms of popular music in order to defeat the show's contestants.From October 2006 until May 2007, Zax hosted a weekly radio program, "Archives of Oblivion", described as "a treasure hunt through the scrapheap of mid-20th Century pop-culture ephemera", showcasing his notoriously eccentric record collection.