Q100’s Bert Show gets goal of 400,000 letters for military
Mount Vernon Presbyterian School in Atlanta sent out thank-you letters earlier this month for the Bert Show campaign.
Four years ago, Q100’s Bert Show listeners wrote 375,000 hand-written letters, one for every military personnel overseas for Thanksgiving.
The show this year did it again with a goal of 400,000. A week ago, the show said it had received only 40,000 letters. “We were all in a panic,” host Bert Weiss said in a phone interview Tuesday.
But a flood came in this past week and they pulled in 405,925 letters, the show announced Monday morning.
They had 200 volunteers, solicited through Facebook and Twitter, counting letters over the weekend on the fourth floor of their building.
Six weeks ago, he had seen a story about veterans coming home and feeling disconnected from civilians. “It felt like the right thing to do at the right time again. The military wasn’t on the front page anymore,” Weiss said.
The process was more stressful than 2007, he added, because the letters came in later.
Weiss has said even if the letters are generic, military personnel appreciate the sentiments, especially since they are written by hand, something people hardly do anymore.
Kristin Klingshirn, the newest member of the morning show, has a Marine brother overseas.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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56 comments Add your comment
Calling It Like It Is
November 2nd, 2011
9:23 am
I’m not going to call out individual posters on this, I’m just going to make a blanket statement:
Why is it that when someone, or in this case, the radio station, takes an idea that involves the community, and asks for help from the community, that people bash them? I, myself, have no family members, or close friends, in the military, but think that what they are doing is a great idea. Remember, these soldiers volunteered for service and were not drafted. They made a decision to go into the military and serve our country and protect our freedoms (including the haters that have posted above).
These individuals are far away from their kids, their parents, their spouses and do not get to see them every day, like those of us who are here. Some have not seen their kids since they were born. Many of them have only return to U.S. soil in a coffin. They will never see their loved ones again. The fact that you couldn’t take 5 minutes out of your busy life to tell someone that you don’t know and probably will never know to thank them for protecting your freedom is simply pathetic. It only cost involved in the process was maybe the price of a stamp, but that’s a far cry from what these soldiers are putting on the line to protect OUR freedoms. If you were stationed overseas and you received a Thank You letter from someone that you had never met or probably never will, wouldn’t that mean something to you?
You should keep your condescending comments of this promotion to yourself. At least they are doing something good for the community. How many other stations in Atlanta can say that? I don’t think Star, Dave, B98, The Bull, Regular Guys, WSB, WGST, V103 are doing anything remotely close. Have any of these stations taken terminally ill kids to Disney World so that the families can be “normal” for a week with nothing to worry about? I don’t think so.
No, I don’t work for the station, have a member of my family in the military, or have a child that is terminally ill. I just have a gread deal of respect for someone or group of people that want to want to do something good for the community. If all the negative comments and hatred were put into constructive means, there would have been alot more letters received or maybe you could even volunteer for something – you might find that you actually might feel better.
DC24
November 2nd, 2011
11:19 am
It’s not bashing them for what they did; it’s bashing them because they are more about creating drama, where there is none to be had. Like I said before, The Bert Show claims to of had 40,000 letters a few days before their deadline and then all of a sudden 300,000+ letters appear out of nowhere?
What they did was a great civic duty, congrats to them on that, but as a whole The Bert Show is a group of self-absorbed, drama queens. They make dating and relationships sound like a game to be played, they suck up to celebrities as if they are some sort of super hero, and on the rare occasion they talk about sports, not one person (including the males) have a clue what they are talking about.
So, my ‘bash’ on The Bert Show is less about doing something great for troops, and more about my distain for their show and what they prop up as being important .
KenneMa
November 2nd, 2011
12:55 pm
DC24 – totally understand your distain for the show and that is fine. also, if they created drama to get more letters in, so be it. However, in the end, they did something that no other media outlet has accomplished. I think that needs to be acknowledged and commended. By the virtue of these men and women volunteering for the military, we are all able to post our crazy comments. God bless them, one and all.
Phyllis
November 2nd, 2011
2:02 pm
Yes, I agree that our Soldiers deserve to come home, but until then, I’m more than sure that they appreciate getting letters to help pass the time until they can see their friends and family. If Bert got fame for doing the letters, oh well, it was well deserved. My granddaugher class took the time to write and my co-workers helped by writing some letters. The letters may not touch the hearts of every single Soldier, but if one letter touched one Soldier, then all 400,000 was worth it. Stop wasting so much time being bitter, just be glad regardless if they volunteered or not, be glad they are keeping us safe. All haters hate because they don’t know any other way, home training and respect is a foreign language. Just say “THANK YOU” and keep it moving. Way to go Bert Show
Calling It Like It Is
November 2nd, 2011
2:35 pm
Drama was created to get people to get there letters in. But as a whole, for a market the size that Atlanta is, radio here is horrible…no argument there. And the show is definitely geared more toward a female demographic. Being a guy, there isn’t really anything else worth listening to in the morning.
But when it comes to community involvement and getting people involved, they do a good job. You have to give credit where credit is due. People were saying that Delta flights were writing letters while in the air, they received letters from Spain, and countless school systems, including my daughter’s. They have the resources to get community involvement and being in 2 other cities other than Atlanta, that gives them a broader reach to get their message out and call on more individuals.
Yes, some more male oriented morning shows would be nice, but most guys can’t stomach The Regular Guys anymore and I don’t even know who is on Project in the mornings. Unitl then, you don’t have alot of options, but The Bert Show is the only palatable morning show in Atlanta. Sure you have Sirius/XM, but not alot of people want to pay for something that should be free.
There are not any other stations in this city that would even attempt to take on what they have…The Big Thank You, Bert’s Big Adventure, and the one they did for the guy who’s wife passed away from a stroke, leaving him to raise special needs kids. You can call them mindless, self-absorbed drama queens, but they know how to get the public involved in their causes.
I’m not in their target audience, but the fact of doing what they do outside of the radio show, you HAVE to give them credit!
Elvira
November 3rd, 2011
9:46 am
Hmmm — 3-4 of the last 6-7 posts are written with the exact same writing style. Anyway, letters for the soldiers is a fine idea. What I don’t like is that TBS thinks all listeners are dumb. I will never believe they got 500,000 letters in 3 days (after starting at 40,000 on Monday. They used hours of airtime crying, begging, getting so upset, etc. just to be sure they DID reach 400,000. (If they said, “We’re almost there!” people would’ve stopped writing.) That’s irritating. It’s just like when they tell a story early in the morning, then the person tells the same news item 3 hours later, and everyone gasps and shrieks and whatever — like they are hearing it for the first time. (No, it’s not one of the many repeat segments.) I’m in and out of my car all day, so I sometimes catch the beginning and the end.) It’s just funny how they think they’re fooling everybody, and they DO fool most. Go troops!!! (Just don’t browbeat people to do something.)