By Taylor Rexrode
Staff Writer
Zack Owen and Jim Cody will celebrate 20 years with Waco 100 as Central Texas’ longest-running No. 1 morning team.
Zack and Jim’s 20th Anniversary Blowout will take place from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Extraco Events Center off Lake Air Drive and Bosque Boulevard.
Box and balcony areas at the event center are free. Floor festival tickets are $6 and the proceeds will go to local charities. Tickets are available through the Extraco Events Center.
Past charities include The Ronald McDonald House, Meals on Wheels, Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children and Waco Goodfellas, but the station continues to seek out other charities in the area.
The station has given nearly 500 thousand dollars to charities over the past 20 years.
This year’s blowout will feature headliners Easton Corbin and Dustin Lynch as well as special guests Bonnie Bishop, who Owen said has a “Janice Joplin kind of raspy voice,” and Kayla Ray, a Texas native who has opened for artists like Deryl Dodd and Whiskey Myers.
Owen, who has been on the radio for 36 years, expects about 6,000 people will attend but will be happy to enjoy the fun no matter the size of the crowd.
“I’ll be happy with anything,” Owen said. “I tell Jim, ‘Even if no one shows up, we’ll still be there partying!’ We’re excited to have Corbin and Lynch because they’re out with the big boys. It’s a great opportunity with the economy today to go to a concert of this size for so inexpensive.”
Corbin has toured with Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton and is best known for singles like “A Little More Country Than That” and “Roll With It.” His hit “I Can’t Love You Back” was a Top 15 hit and Billboard named Corbin the Top New Country Artist of 2010.
Euless junior Megan Stewart likes Corbin’s music and the country music scene.
“It’s the lyrics and the feel of Easton Corbin’s music, which is kind of old and new mixed together,” Stewart said. “I like the culture of country music. I like how much fun everyone has.”
Lynch is a country singer-songwriter known for his two hit songs “She Cranks My Tractor” and “Cowboys and Angels.” He recently started touring with Justin Moore and has written hundreds of country songs in his career.
The Zack and Jim Show, which broadcasts from 6 to 10 a.m. during the weekdays on 99.9 FM, has been on the air since January 1993. Owen says this blowout event originally started as a way to say “thanks” to the loyal fans that have kept Waco 100 “Texas’ No. 1 Country”.
“We know there are other stations,” Owen said. “It’s our way of saying thank you for listening.”
