New Q99.7 Morning Crew greet Atlanta with a smooth, conventional opening day
The new Q99.7 morning show, dubbed the Q Morning Crew, cruised through their first day Monday without incident, tackling topics such as going to Costco on a date and judging people by what they leave in their cars.
The new trio, who had never worked together before, have been doing practice shows for weeks in Atlanta, and it showed.
And because it was the first day, they spent a lot of time introducing themselves to listeners in broad strokes.
Joe Breezy, who has worked in multiple radio markets over the years and personifies his stage name, moved to Atlanta from Nashville, where his wife is chief meteorologist at an ABC TV station. He briefly worked in Atlanta in the early 2010s with Groove 105.7, then Wild 105.7, two short-lived stations.
DK Kramer, who came from Las Vegas and has been in radio for nearly 20 years, is single and discussed what type of man she is seeking. (She loves Keanu Reeves, the Harvey Specter character from “Suits” and boxer Anthony Joshua.)
Cort Freeman, who came from a rock station in Detroit, is the self-deprecating jokester who loves food and sounds like Josh Gad.
The Q Morning Crew takes over for the Bert Show, which became a Q99.7 mainstay for a quarter century and landed its creator, Bert Weiss, into the Friends of Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.
Q99.7 management took its time finding a replacement show, playing only music for the past since the Bert Show ended last October. Weiss last year decided to retire at age 57 and has since gotten remarried.
Brian Philips, chief content officer at Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, which owns Q99.7, hired Weiss in 2000. He is hoping to recapture that magic with this handpicked trio of radio professionals.
Kramer said early Monday the radio station immediately felt like a family.
Freeman joked: “Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, right?”
Breezy took a call from his wife, Danielle, who complained he spent too much paying for drinks for fans at the Atlanta Braves game Saturday, based on his credit card statement.
The show played a clip of Freeman interviewing people at The Battery Atlanta at Truist Park on Saturday night, asking, “Why do women find me unattractive?”
“Your ear hair,” one person answered.
Kramer presented celebrity news under “Headline Hit List” during the 6 a.m. hour, with items about Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift and Kim Zolciak.
About 7:20 a.m., she did a segment focused on Atlanta news called “In the A,” with stories about school bus cameras, new MARTA entry cards, Tyler Perry helping TSA workers and a man who said “bomb” on a plane. (Both segments were rerun two hours later.)
Kramer also told a funny story about how she recently entered her home and saw blood. She was worried her dog, Conan O’Brien, was hurt, but when she found him, she said he had half a squirrel in his mouth.
The Q Morning Crew faces a very different media environment than Weiss did in 2000. They are not only competing with other morning shows on stations like B98.5 and Star 94.1 but also have to battle for listeners who are increasingly opting for streaming services and podcasts.
Even in 2000, it took the Bert Show more than two years to begin finding genuine audience traction. Patrick Davis, the Q99.7 program director, promises he will give the Morning Crew plenty of time to build a fan base.
The trio said they felt like the first morning went well.
“The callers were so welcoming,” Kramer said. “Wish we could have aired more. Felt like Southern hospitality. We will keep working on getting better every day, but for Day One, it felt great.”
Freeman compared Day One to a first date, hoping he didn’t embarrass himself. “I’m excited for the future with this amazing team,” he texted.
Breezy said he was thrilled by the positive feedback: “There’s always room for improvement and over time, we feel confident we’ll get there.”
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
