Photograph by Derek White/Getty Images for The Same House
Q99.7 morning man Bert Weiss and The Bert Show’s impending departure from the airwaves on October 24 will mark the end of an era in Atlanta morning radio. For 25 years, Weiss—with assistance from his current team of Kristin Klingshirn, Abby Murphy, Cassie Young and Tommy Owen, and over the years with former castmates including Moe Mitchell, Brian Moote, Davi Crimmins, Jenn Hobby, Melissa Carter, and Jeff Dauler—helped to redefine morning radio in the city. Debuting in 2001 on Q100, the city’s then-brand-new Top 40 station (broadcasting on an anemic “move-in” signal from Anniston, Alabama), the station’s parent company was hoping to recreate the success of The Morning X on its pioneering 99X modern rock format. Program director Brian Philips created a new morning team consisting of Weiss, who was working as a morning radio producer in Washington D.C., former MTV Real World: New Orleans cast member Lindsay Brien, and Dauler, a morning show producer relocating from Philadelphia. Carter, a newscaster at sister station 99X, would soon join the upstart morning show down the hall. Already out on-air at 99X, with Weiss’s blessing, Carter became the first lesbian on the city’s morning airwaves to discuss her personal life on-air each morning alongside the rest of The Bert Show cast.
Photograph by David Stuart, makeup and hair by Stephen Mancuso, styling by Brandi Elizabeth Barnes
Early in its run, The Bert Show made national headlines when Mariah Carey called in over an hour late to discuss her new comeback single, and Weiss politely explained to the less-than-punctual pop star on-air that her allotted time had expired. A year later, the still-tardy diva attempted to mend fences during an in-studio visit to Q100 while nibbling on a turkey sandwich as an assistant cleansed her soda can with an anti-bacterial baby wipe. The show again made headlines after it put said sandwich up on eBay, where it reached a bid of $751 before being pulled.
With The Bert Show’s buzzy mix of funny, in-depth and often emotional segments drawing on the personal lives of Weiss and his teammates, as Q100’s signal grew stronger, so did ratings. Over the years, Weiss openly discussed problems in his relationships, becoming a father, his divorce, and parenting two now-college age sons. In some of the show’s most raw and authentic moments, Weiss opened up about his estranged relationship with his emotionally abusive father and their reconnection after Weiss moved his ailing dad to Georgia to take care of him in his final months.
Photograph courtesy of Bert Weiss
In 2018, as The Bert Show’s success continued to grow, Atlanta learned to share its favorite morning drive program as it became syndicated across the country, eventually airing in over 24 markets. Between celebrity interviews and nonstop appearances around the city, Weiss and then-wife Stacey started Bert’s Big Adventure, a nonprofit that takes sick children and their families to Disney World. In 2020, Weiss was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. Post-Bert Show, the radio personality plans to grow Pionaire, the boutique podcast consulting firm he co-founded to help launch the next generation of creative broadcasters. He’s also looking forward to his upcoming marriage to fiancé Atlanta photographer Amanda Coker—away from a radio microphone.
In an exclusive conversation with Atlanta, Weiss discusses his favorite moments from two-and-a-half decades of The Bert Show, the cost of putting your personal life on the public airwaves, and the message he has for Atlanta listeners who have faithfully listened each morning while idling in traffic for more than two decades.
As I prepared these questions for you, I kept thinking back over the 25 years and how rare it is in radio for lightning to strike twice and create two long-running morning shows. But Cumulus Media (then Susquehanna Radio) did that, first with The Morning X and then with The Bert Show, right?
I look around the industry and wonder if it’s even possible now. The one thread that The Morning X and The Bert Show have in common is Brian Phillips, who either has an amazing ear for talent or made terrible mistakes and we ended up proving him wrong! [laughs] The way The Morning X started, the way we started, is just unheard of now. Now, if you start a new morning show and they’re not performing in the first six months, they’re gone. They put us on that little signal, and I guess the advantage for us was we literally had no listeners when we started. Things did not take off right away, for sure. I don’t think shows have that opportunity anymore.
Why is this the right time to yank down the circus tent?
I’m just in a different life cycle now. I’ve done this for 25 years. I’ve been vulnerable on the air, let people into my family life, my home life, my relationships, and it takes a toll on you. I’m in a place now where I’m ready to not perform. As much as the radio show has meant to me, I’ve been so stressed out about it now for 25 years, starting from minute one. Being so Type A, I don’t know how much I’ve really enjoyed it. Now, I want to pursue joy and try to find some peace. For me, that’s traveling and family. I don’t want to be on the air at 75 years old talking about Sabrina Carpenter. I already find myself checking out on a lot of the stuff in the entertainment world. I just don’t attach to it as much anymore. I feel more and more like I’m faking it through those conversations. To me, that’s cheating The Bert Show. It just feels like this is the right time.
Looking at the state of the industry now, I realize you were the last generation of traditional morning radio guys, where folks were organically tossed together on the air and a program director said, “Let’s see how this works.” As you point out, that doesn’t happen anymore. Do you think about that a lot?
I do. I used to get invited to UGA to talk to students about the benefits of getting into radio. I turned it down when I couldn’t look at those kids and say “Hey, this is a great industry to get into.” It was so creative when I got into it. You were allowed to get into trouble. Back when I was in Washington D.C., a program director brought me into the office because we weren’t getting enough complaint letters. He told me, You guys aren’t pushing the envelope enough. You gotta start pissing people off. Those days are gone. Now, if we get a single complaint, it goes up the chain of command to Cumulus. Longform content now is something called a podcast. In radio terms, it just doesn’t happen. They want you to get in, say something safe, play the music, and get out. That’s not why I got into this business. It doesn’t drive me.
As you mentioned, one of the keys to The Bert Show’s success was often you in the hot seat, talking about your relationships, your divorce, co-parenting, etc., where you were required to open a vein live on the air. There was a relatability that listeners loved, but what kind of toll did that take on you?
You can’t really have very trusting relationships because they know at some point this might be on the radio. In a marriage, that’s tough. I was better at it with my kids. They had a lot of say in what I could and couldn’t talk about. I would run it by them. But in friendships, dating relationships, it takes a toll. You feel totally exposed every single day. While I loved doing it, it’s exhausting.
You’re about the enter a new chapter in your personal life as well. Do you find yourself exhaling a bit, relieved that you’re not going to have to live that on the air?
One hundred percent. When Amanda and I met, she didn’t know what The Bert Show was. To me, that was such a turn-on. She’s not a public person. We’re probably going to be doing some travel stuff together online, but it’s not going to be showing you our relationship or the arguments we may or may not being having.
Photograph courtesy of Bert Weiss
One thing that will continue is Bert’s Big Adventure. Why is it important for you to continue that work off the air and for our newer readers, can you explain how that came to be?
I wish I could say it was a unique idea, but it started in Dallas when I was on [my mentor] Kidd Kraddick’s show for two years. He did that trip for the families of listeners there. I made a deal with God—if anyone was ever stupid enough to hire me to do my own morning show, this is one of the first things I would bring to the community. I saw how it touched those families. It’s become more than a trip to Disney World now. It’s a great microcosm of what The Bert Show is all about. Twenty-five years ago and I went on the air said, I have this very ambitious idea. We want to take kids with chronic and terminal illnesses to Disney World, but we have no idea how to do it. The listeners immediately lifted us up. We heard, I’ve got nonprofit experience, I’ll help. The Atlanta Hawks gave us a plane. The listeners walked us through the entire thing that first year, and they’ve continued now for 25 years.
Photograph courtesy of Bert Weiss
As you wrap up the show this month, what are some of the celebrity moments making your personal highlights reel?
We played one this morning—when Michelle Obama called in to thank us for doing our first Big Thank You, where we got 650,000 handwritten letters for our troops deployed outside the United States. We ended up doing that for 10 straight years. Our listeners did that. Also, probably early on when Mariah Carey was an hour and a half late and I told her we had moved on and didn’t have time for her. Usher and I have a relationship that’s come full circle now. We got into an argument on the radio because he was blaming the show for him and [TLC singer Rozonda] Chilli [Thomas] not getting back together. I dug in and said, You have to accept your responsibilities. Six months ago he comes back on to say that conversation was the nucleus for a lot of the songs on the [Grammy-winning 2004] Confessions album. And of course, being the first morning show to interview Justin Bieber. We watched that kid grow up. Every once in a while, we’ll still DM each other. I’m very invested what he goes through. He’s much smarter than people think.
Photograph courtesy of Bert Weiss
Over the years one of the most personal things you shared with listeners was your tumultuous relationship with your father. So many people related to that because they don’t have that TV sitcom relationship with a parent. I’ll never forget that final photo you shared of you pushing him in his wheelchair on the beach at the end of his life. In a way, he provided the road map of how not to be a father, didn’t he?
Even when your parents show you the road map of what not to do, it’s the road map of what you should do. In a weird way, I was very thankful for how f***ed up he was as a dad. I’m also thankful I had the strength to break that cycle. It may be one of the few times in my life where I had a guiding light—“Do what is right, whether you want to do it or not.” When he passed away, I realized you can’t go wrong when you make decisions that are absolutely out of your comfort zone but are the right thing to do. He taught me that lesson. On his death bed, he told me I was the man he never could be. That was an incredible gift.
As you leave this chapter of your professional life, what do you want to say to listeners, especially the Atlantans who have been tuned in every morning for 25 years while idling on the Downtown Connector?
First, I can’t believe we’re that show. When I was growing up in San Diego, there was a show called Jeff and Jer, and they were that show. The show that changed your mood and connected you to the city. We became that for a lot of people in Atlanta. What an honor. I could never have imagined it. When we started this show 25 years ago, [producer] Jeff [Dauler] and I were working out of a promotions closet. To have that kind of impact is pretty awesome, the bigness of it. Saying thank you doesn’t feel like enough to express my gratitude to people for that kind of loyalty.
One reason The Bert Show lasted is you’ve embraced change. Now with Pionaire, you’re helping to bring along podcasters who that have that same level of authenticity. Does it feel like you’re continuing that same mission?
For me, getting into morning radio was all about expressing myself where you could have opinions and dialogue back and forth. It’s about being heard. That’s what these new podcasters bring to listeners. I’m really excited to help them on that journey.
