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The Origin of the Listen Up Awards

By Staff on February 7, 2026

The Origin of the Listen Up Awards – by Rob Smittix.

What must’ve been like six years ago, Art Fredette, Kit Haynes, and I (Rob Smittix) attended a hall of fame induction award show. We went to show our support for all the well-deserved inductees. Unfortunately, the show itself was a snooze fest; it literally was a struggle to keep my eyes open. The atmosphere was stuffy, and all of the fun that could’ve been had was sucked into the vacuum of pretentiousness.

As soon as we exited the hall, it really was a breath of fresh air. The three of us carpooled, so on the way home, we all discussed how we felt about the award ceremony. We all felt the same, that it was not lively enough. You could hear a pin drop in that room. This isn’t a knock on the efforts of this hall of fame, but rather an observation of the experience of those who paid to be there.

It all started as a joke. Kit made the comment that we should start our own award show and call it “The Arties” (referring to Art Fredette). We laughed, but Art replied no, I’m not that egotistical. I chimed in that we should give out old bowling trophies and have an award show that doesn’t take itself so seriously. Art said we should have funny awards like “Most Likely to Fall Off Stage” and “Most Likely to Owe the Club Money.” The conversation continued for the remainder of our ride home, unaware that we’d actually make this a reality at that point.

Fast forward just a few months, and we had conversations with Frankie Cavone of Mirth Films about this silly idea of ours, and it was at that moment that we decided to team up and make it happen.

Originally, we wanted the Listen Up Awards to be held at different venues every year. Our first award show was held at Lark Hall in 2022. The next year, we brought Listen Up to the Cohoes Music Hall, and the third year, the awards were held at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs. During this time, RadioRadioX and Xperience Monthly had relocated our studios to Cohoes, a block away from the Cohoes Music Hall, so going forward, it only made sense to bring the awards back to Cohoes, and the music hall has now become our official venue.

Photo by Stephanie J Bartik.