Up CLOSE with Jen HOBBY!

It's 3:45 a.m. and the alarm clock goes off in the Hobby home. The day has already begun here, and it's the middle of the night for most of Atlanta. No, it's not a freak occurrence; it's just the start of another workday for Q100's Bert Show co-host Jenn Hobby.

At her desk by 5 a.m. for prep work and on the air by 5:30, Hobby is ready for the next four and a half hours of nonstop talk and laughter – and four hours after that of prepping for the next day's show. The nonstop energy that emanates from Hobby is audible both on the air and on the phone, via which The Urbanite recently had a chance to discuss her career, The Bert Show and how college students can pursue a career like Hobby's.

Being a part of the on-air talent on Atlanta's most popular morning radio show, despite having the "schedule of a Kindergartner," as Hobby calls it, is a dream come true for the perky-yet-down-to-earth co-host of The Bert Show.

"There's so many things I like best [about working at Q100]," Hobby gushes. "It's pretty amazing to work for and with a staff of people that's so young and energetic. -There's an electricity about working at our station, and I think that it's real and I think that it motivates all of us."

Q100 is indeed the lovechild of hard work and youth (according to Hobby, almost every worker is under age 40). The Bert Show is Q100's shining star that continues to find new listeners and broach topics few other morning shows would touch. Combating other morning radio shows geared toward soccer moms or hustle-and-bustle businessmen, The Bert Show targets a niche demographic that, while at one time a possible risky venture, seems to work. Young women in their 20's fill much of the audience for the envelope-pushing, edgy show, and while not solely responsible for the show's massive success, judging from the on-air calls that get through every morning on the air, young women do tend to make up a large part of the listening audience.

"I think we work really, really hard to stay in touch with what young people - and young women, especially - are interested in," Hobby relates. "[We focus on] what's going on in their lives and what's entertaining to them."

Keeping this in mind, Hobby and her Bert Show co-hosts Melissa Carter, Jeff Dauler, and main host Bert Weiss try to discuss subjects of interest to their target demographic, even when it borders on the risque. While the hosts of the show have vowed to never discuss blatantly sexual or otherwise questionable topics before 8:30 a.m. (when mothers would be driving their kids to school), after 8:30 there are few holds barred. Boldly facing topics such as homosexuality, bedroom behavior and stories about the hosts' personal lives, The Bert Show approaches controversial topics in a strangely un-controversial but interesting way.

"Anytime you have a big audience, someone's going to disagree with what you say," Hobby says when asked about any complaints the show gets regarding its content. "But I don't think that we handle topics in a way that's that offensive. We talk about things that are edgy- [but] I don't think the way we approach them is in any way offensive."

Also creating topics for the show are, in large part, The Bert Show's faithful listeners. While the co-hosts' personal lives, Atlanta happenings and pop culture play into the show a great deal, Hobby speaks with conviction about the importance of The Bert Show's audience to the success of the show (which now, incidentally, reaches many more people than it once had with its heavily-plugged "bigger, more powerful, clearer signal").

"Our listeners are a huge, huge part of our show," Hobby says. "If they didn't write e-mails to us about the quirky things happening in their lives, if they didn't talk to us about the problems they're having and seeking out advice from us, most days, we wouldn't have a show."

Some of these topics in the past have included a lady who quit her day job to become a full-time singing telegram woman, who The Bert Show now sends out on various jobs to break strange news to people, and a man who was forbidden by his wife to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show with his buddies. (When allegedly convinced by The Bert Show to ignore his wife's complaints, the wife called the show the next day to complain about their advice.)

Discussing controversial issues on the air can have its problems in other forms as well. Because each co-host has his or her own opinion on various topics, touchy subjects can sometimes cause arguments both on and off the air. No matter what the cause of a disagreement, though, Hobby explains that everyone handles themselves professionally, regardless of how they feel toward any given person at a certain time.

"Even in arguments, even in disagreements on the air or off the air, I think there's always a respect for one another," Hobby says. "And in that respect we can have differing opinions and continue to work together. I don't think we have the expectation that we're all going to get along, because we're all very different adults. We wouldn't be being real with each other if we got along all the time."

Beyond host disagreements, morning shows in general can face ethical issues and sometimes even trust issues between them and their listeners. One problem with morning shows in recent years, according to a July 2005 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is the content of the conversations amongst the hosts on the air. Not only is edgy content a risk factor for morning shows (though it is one that has proved lucrative in the case of The Bert Show), but paid advertising placements within conversation have been the source of some controversy for other morning shows. Hobby, however, is quick to deny any involvement Q100 could have with such practices.

Taken aback that other morning shows would even consider allowing paid ad placements to take place out of the context of an obvious advertisement or promotion, Hobby explains that not only do she and her co-hosts use or like all of the products they officially endorse, they would never take money for mentioning them within their conversations.

"There's nothing that's paid for in our conversations, within our 'talk' on the show," Hobby says firmly. "Anything we talk about within conversation is off-the-cuff."

Hobby further explains a contest in December called "The Bert Show's Favorite Things," in which the co-hosts, admittedly stealing the idea from Oprah Winfrey's giveaways, picked a few of their favorite things to offer to a lucky listener during the holidays.

"Nobody was compensated for [mentioning their favorite products]," Hobby says. "It's not like a product placement type of thing like they have in the movies, where somebody will be drinking a Coke or somebody will be drinking a Pepsi or whatever. - Our listeners trust us! That would be breaking that trust."

This is refreshing to hear, considering that some of The Bert Show's biggest competitors have openly admitted to accepting compensation for 90-second-or-so plugs for various products that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called "stealth advertising." The DJs who used it, however, claimed that listeners could tell when they were hearing an ad in conversations, and therefore the hosts saw no ethical dilemma with it.

The Bert Show, however, seems to face few ethical dilemmas because it is run truly by a love for what each host does and an appreciation for the audience it has.

"As far as the morning show goes, I feel like I work with the best in the business," Hobby says. "And every single person on that show is the best at what they do. And I'm just excited they want me there! I'm excited that I get to be a part of it."

Since Hobby has made being a host on a popular Atlanta morning show sound so fun and exciting, college students may wonder how they can get involved with the radio industry.

First, you have to realize that the schedule is not all it may at first seem. The Bert Show may end at 10 a.m., but the day is only half done at that point for its tireless cast, despite the general misconception that DJs only work while they are on the air.

"We pretty much immediately go into a post-show meeting every day, and that's where we talk about what went well and what didn't," Hobby explains. "Following that, everyone has production to do, which is all the commercials that we run on the air. - Most people think that we're done at ten, so that means we go home. And we all sort of laugh at that, usually, because that's not the case for our show. - It's still a long workday; it's just sort of shifted during the time. Most people are nine to five, and we are five to one [or] five to two."

If you're up for the exhausting schedule, the best way to get involved with radio in any form, Hobby says, is to intern at a station.

"We have a really cool internship program not just with our show but with the rest of the station," she urges. "I think every single person on the show started as an intern somewhere. - You've got to be able to get your feet wet, get your hands dirty, work for free. Use that time, get college credit for that time that you're working for free; and it absolutely pays off. You can't learn about it just by reading about it. You've got to do it."

Hobby is a major proponent of internship programs, especially the one at Q100, where, she says, interns play a pivotal role in the success of the show. Everyone contributes, including the listeners, in huge part, and interns have been a large part of The Bert Show's smooth sailing these past few years. This makes sense, too, as many of them are likely the same age and gender of the show's main demographic.

Interns like these not only further the success of The Bert Show but help their own careers down the road. Hobby speaks with a high appreciation for what learning outside the classroom truly offers.

"You've just got to [intern] in order to gain the experience, make mistakes, learn from others' mistakes, and get real-life experience," she says. "But you can't do it just sitting in the classroom. You've got to apply what you've learned in class and put it to use with an internship."

Hobby explains that it's an easy and great way to build bridges to the professional world if you intern somewhere, and in the end you could even be offered a job. It is important to keep in mind, however, that it is as easy to "build bridges with an internship but you can also burn them."

"I've had interns that didn't show up, always came late, whatever else, and they weren't going to get a job from me," Hobby admits.

As for The Bert Show, its hosts continue to plug away at the long days and fun chats on the air. A love and respect for their listeners, strong ethics and a love for what they do seem to be top priorities for the hosts of the show, which makes Q100 a great company for which to vie for an internship or job. The friendly Jenn Hobby is no exception to this rule: any intern under her, it seems, would be a lucky and happy one.

Catch The Bert Show every weekday morning from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Q100 (100.5 FM). Whether you're sitting in traffic or dragging yourself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, The Bert Show is sure to wake you up with a startling factoid, kind-of-weird listener or generally hilarious show. It truly gives you a reason to look forward to your morning rush.