Posted Monday, January 8, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Brian Moote, after two years on Q100's syndicated Bert Show, is leaving to take a radio job in Los Angeles.
He will be part of top 40 station AMP 97.1 (KAMP-FM). He will be part of a new morning show there, replacing Carson Daly, who left in July.
The stand-up comic joined the show from Los Angeles in early 2016 after Jeff Dauler blindsided the team and left in November 2015. Dauler ultimately joined competing top 40 station Star 94.1 with former Bert Show colleague Jenn Hobby .
On air, Moote said he just wants to return to the West Coast where he lived for many years. His brother and actor Patrick resides in L.A. and his mom lives in Seattle. "That's where I need to be," Moote said. "As much as it hurts to leave this family, I realize I just can't leave the people who depend on me and love me on that side of the country."
He didn't say exactly what his final day will be yet though I heard it may be as early as Friday, January 12. He plans to start his new show in Los Angeles in February. [UPDATE on January 17. He is not on this week but Moote said he isn't finished yet.]
"It's bittersweet for me," Weiss said. " I feel the chemistry on this show has never been better."
For the show, Moote provided lighter, less cynical levels of humor to the show than his predecessor Dauler. While ratings skidded a bit in 2016, the Bert Show regained its footing in 2017, easily beating all the other top 40 morning shows in key demographics.
Moote's marriage fell apart while he lived in Atlanta. He married a former U.K. "X Factor" singer Katie Waissel in 2015, a few months before coming to Atlanta from Los Angeles. But the marriage was over by last year. She has since moved to New York.
His departure is a bit quixotic. Moote had just purchased a town home in Smyrna just seven months ago. He also had a regular residency at the Punchline Comedy Club, performing a show every Wednesday and providing the proceeds to different charities.
Moote's new station AMP is owned by Entercom, the same company that owns Q100 rival Star 94.1. He will be paired with Edgar "Shoboy" Sotelo , who was last on mornings on New York's pop rhythmic station Amp 92.3 but was taken off the air in November when the station became alternative rock Alt 92.3.
Weiss tied down his other key team member Kristin Klingshirn last month for five years. (She, by the way, also tearfully announced today that her 12-year-old dog Parker Jones passed away while she was on a week-long vacation in Tulum. It was January 2, she said. She cut short her vacation and rushed back to Atlanta as fast as she could to say goodbye. She said this was the first time she had ever seen her husband Bart sob so deeply. She felt massive guilt that she wasn't there when he died.)
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