Kenny Kott, a beloved sports radio producer and on-air contributor at 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, died on Saturday, June 27, 2026. He was 32 years old.

A graduate of Utica Eisenhower High School, Kott turned a lifelong love of sports into a career behind the microphone. He joined WXYT-FM and was promoted to board operator in December 2017, and in the years that followed he became a steady presence on "The Valenti Show with Rico," the station's afternoon drive program heard weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. As Detroit Sports Nation noted, he produced the show while also stepping in front of the microphone, lending his voice and his opinions to the broadcast whenever the conversation turned to the game he loved most.

That game was hockey. Kott was a devoted follower of the Detroit Red Wings, and his encyclopedic command of the NHL earned him a place his coworkers affectionately called the "Hockey Elite," a title he wore with pride. As Audacy recalled, he had once been a child who posed for photos with the Stanley Cup and with Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, a young fan who grew up to make hockey part of his daily work. On air and off, his deep knowledge of the sport, his buoyant personality, and his unmistakable laugh became signatures of the show.

Colleagues remembered him as a natural talent. "Kenny was a natural at radio and a tremendous human being," said host Jeff Riger, in remarks reported by Barrett Media. His co-producer, David "Hatchetman" Hull, who shared the producer's box with him each day, said simply, "I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss the 'Hockey Elite' information that man had." Detroit Red Wings broadcaster Ken Kal remembered Kott as a genuine fan who truly understood the game.

Host Mike Valenti, who worked alongside Kott for years, offered an emotional tribute on the air. "Genuinely, I struggle to find the words for this. He's a part of our dysfunctional family," Valenti said, as reported by Talkers. Reflecting on why he had pushed his young producer so hard, Valenti said he had simply believed in Kenny more than Kenny believed in himself. For his part, Kott had once described his ambition in the plainest of terms, telling Valenti that all he had ever wanted was to be part of a radio show.

Away from the studio, Kott had recently begun a new chapter in his personal life, marrying in the summer of 2025. To those who knew him, the warmth he carried into the booth each afternoon was the same warmth he brought into every room he entered.

Kenny Kott spent his life doing exactly what he set out to do, sharing the games he loved with a city that loved them back. He leaves behind a station family that counted him as one of their own, a community of listeners who looked forward to his voice each afternoon, and the reminder that a single joyful presence can shape the very sound of a place. In the long story of Detroit sports radio, his laugh and his devotion to the game endure, carried forward by everyone he made smile, long after any single broadcast has faded from the air.