While Q100 listeners are celebrating the return of Jeff
Dauler, the city’s radio insiders continue to marvel at The Bert Show executive
producer’s shrewd negotiating skills.
“The process was miserable,” Dauler tells ATL Intel. “But I
loved the outcome.”
Atlanta’s airwaves might have sounded a lot
different if not for a single clause in Dauler’s contract.
The Bert Show’s chief imp was all set to jump to Star 94 to
eventually compete against his old show. The proposed plan would have jettisoned
Star 94’s current morning show Cindy and Ray back to its former afternoon
timeslot.
One scenario would have initially placed Dauler on a personality-driven afternoon show with an eye on later relocating the show to the station’s prime morning slot real estate.
We hear that one idea pitched to Star 94 would have
paired Dauler with his wife Jessica, who has been a regular contributor to The
Bert Show and runs a successful retail website, jessicashops.com.
After Dauler received the deal he was seeking from Star 94,
a “right to match” clause engineered by his agent B.B. Abbott took the deal out
of his hands and back to the Q100 fold.
“I had two incredible opportunities,” he says. “In this
economy, that’s an amazing thing.”
In the heat of negotiations, Q100 morning show namesake Bert
Weiss even stepped in, in an effort to retain his executive producer.
While Dauler’s public persona is that of a pot-stirring
wisecracker, behind the scenes he is well regarded nationally in the industry
as a producer who routinely works 24/7 to snag high-profile guests and market
the show via Twitter.
An example: Last fall, while celeb journalists were busy
chasing after Nicole Forrester, (the Tattletales dancer who claimed to have slept
with actor Josh Duhamel while he was in town shooting “Life As We Know It”)
Dauler spent the weekend securing the stripper for an exclusive in-studio
interview.
The resulting 30-minute confessional scored a mountain of
national media for the show.
The new multi-year six-figure deal includes a hefty raise.
While Dauler is relieved the deal is done, he remains
shocked at the response of Q100 listeners who even started Facebook campaigns
to get the personality back on the Q100 airwaves.
Says Dauler: “Given my on-air role of antagonist, I expected
to hear, ‘Good, glad he’s gone.’ The reaction really caught me by surprise.
It’s very humbling.”
