A look at 9 ‘Bert Show’ cast mates over 25 years

Since “The Bert Show” morning radio show launched in 2001, there has been one constant: Bert Weiss, the man who created it.

Weiss has seen cast members come and go, some smoothly, some not so much. But one thing he managed to do is stay laser-focused on drawing a young female audience hungry for pop culture, relationship talk and a level of authenticity not always heard on other radio stations.

More impressive is how he was able to dominate that demographic in Atlanta and never lose it even as he entered his 50s. In the most recent Arbitron monthly ratings released in September, “The Bert Show” was No. 1 among women ages 25 to 54, ahead of Steve Harvey on Majic, Charlamagne Tha God on 96.1/The Beat and Tad & Drex on B98.5.

But with Weiss’ retirement Friday at age 58, “The Bert Show” is officially over on Q99.7, his home base, and about 20 other stations nationwide.

Lindsay Brien (2001-2003)

Weiss selected Brien for his original team in part because she already had a national following courtesy of MTV’s “The Real World: Seattle,” which aired in 1998. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted in 2003, the “hyperactive, pixielike Brien … handles ‘The Bert Show’s’ entertainment news and is often a foil for co-host Jeff Dauler, who frequently teases her about her verbal foibles.”

Her scratchy voice was divisive among listeners. “People either like it or hate it and say it’s like nails on a chalkboard,” Brien told the AJC in 2003. “There’s no in between.” She left for a TV career in Tampa, hosting a TV show there under the name Lindsay MacDonald.

Melissa Carter (2001-2011)

Carter, who joined sister station 99X in 1996, started doing news for “The Bert Show” when it launched but quickly became a full-fledged member of the team. She was the level-headed voice of reason and the first openly gay morning host in Atlanta radio. She also received a kidney transplant in 2002, her journey chronicled in detail on air.

She left in 2011 voluntarily. “It’s this instinctual feeling to move on and try something else,” she said on the air at the time. “That is it. I’m not hiding anything. I’m not playing games with anybody,” she said. “It’s just time.”

She later became a morning host on B98.5 and has worked as a podcaster, a webinar host and an author.

Jenn Hobby (2003-2012)

Hobby was a cheerful, bubbly presence on the show during its rise to prominence. She left in 2012 while pregnant with her first child and for a few years worked middays on sister country station Kicks 101.5.

She later joined Jeff Dauler for a new morning show on rival pop station Star 94, then rode solo for several years on the same station. This year, she left full-time radio to work for a nonprofit organization seeking to cure childhood cancer.

Jeff Dauler (2001-2015)

Dauler was also part of the original crew. He was the wisecracker, the man who was happy to do phone pranks. He was also the show’s producer for many years, helping to create hundreds of hours of content for Weiss.

In 2015, feeling like Weiss was not providing him enough support and working without a contract, he decided to leave. He then competed directly with his former boss of 14 years over at Star 94 with Hobby. He lost that Star gig in 2019 and started a podcast with his wife Callie that ran for several years. He and Weiss are not on speaking terms.

Klingshirn effectively replaced Carter, coming from a morning show in North Carolina. She ended up becoming a keeper for Weiss, a stable force who provided the show with goofy humor and a love for dogs and the military.

Listeners followed her path to marriage and two rounds of IVF before she welcomed her son in 2021. She remained with the show until the end. It’s undetermined whether she’ll stay with Q99.7 in some capacity moving forward.

Moote, a former teacher who came to “The Bert Show” from a Seattle radio station, took over for Dauler as a male counterpart to Weiss.

He left in 2018 for a job as a co-host at a Los Angeles radio station. “This is not perfect timing professionally because I love the show I’m on. I love ‘The Bert Show.’ I love the freedom we have,” he told the AJC at the time.

Unfortunately, that gig didn’t stick. Moote returned to Atlanta in 2022 as a morning host on the country station 94.9/The Bull, a gig he lost last year.

Crimmins began as an intern with “The Bert Show” in 2012 and moved up the ranks as a board operator, phone screener, writer and producer before becoming a full-time cast member in 2018. She provided the show humor and edge, but chemistry issues with other cast members led Weiss to let her go in 2022.

She declined a severance, allowing her to speak freely about her departure. She accused an unspecified cast member of creating an “egregious and hostile workplace.”

Mitchell joined the show after Moote’s departure with no radio experience, but he had a background in social media and stand-up comedy. He was the only Black fulltime on-air cast member over the show’s tenure. He left earlier this year with no explanation, and Weiss declined to say anything specific about his departure. Mitchell continue to do a podcast.