The biggest thrill we at The KAT have in presenting our annual Listener Appreciation Concert is seeing you having a good time at the show. While we’re not doing the actual performing, it gives us a sense of what the artists experience in watching you dance, clap and sing along with their songs. It’s very gratifying seeing you having a good time because we truly appreciate you. And while all of us at The KAT look forward to LAC each year, please know there are members of our staff (names you would not recognize) who work tirelessly year-round to make this concert happen. They don’t get to come up on the stage and take a bow. And unlike the names you do recognize (because we’re on the air everyday), they continue to work like dogs during the concert. And once it’s over, it’s not long before they start it all over again planning for next year. So we appreciate them too.

The other thing I look forward to is seeing where the LAC artists go with their careers after being here. Many have gone on to big things. Just look at last year’s artists like California’s own Jon Pardi, Granger Smith, Locash and Mo Pitney. I’m sure you can remember seeing some at LAC from years past that you can now say “I remember seeing them when they were nobody.” (Do the names Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Lee Brice, Rascal Flatts or Eric Church ring a bell?) Here are my favorite artists from last year…Mo Pitney, Granger Smith and the freakishly-tall Jon Pardi.

So enjoy KAT Country Listener Appreciation Concert 2017! Love you, mean it!

-Scott Simon, Afternoons 3-7p on The KAT