Originally posted Monday, September 9, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
On his daily Upside podcast with his wife Callie, Jeff Dauler last week opened up about his feelings toward his former Bert Show/Star 94.1 morning colleague and close friend Jenn Hobby, expressing the pain he felt when he felt like she "turned her back on me."
Indeed, four months ago, a few days after Dauler got canned, Hobby went on her revamped morning show Jenn and Friends and did what was supposed to be an “inspiration” talk. It was not technically directed at any particular person, but Dauler knew it was really about him.
Among her remarks included the following:
"I promise you, you will get results. You will change. You will improve. But not until you stop playing the victim at every turn. There are some people in life who spend most of their their time improving themselves and there are others who spend time improving their carefully crafted insults at others and making their situation a woe-is-me scenario and playing a perfect victim at every turn. Beware those people and you don't have to be those people."
Dauler felt betrayed and resentful because they have known each other for more than 15 years, mostly on the Bert Show.
He told his podcast listeners that when he was given the job at Star 94.1, he lobbied aggressively for her to join him even while management was considering others. She was a major player at his wedding with Callie and even hosted the reception, he said.
“This is somebody that I truly loved and supported and championed every second I could,” he said. “She was one of my best friends and in the early part of this year, I was having a really tough time personally. Callie and I had a miscarriage. I spent part of 2018 figuring out how to come to terms with my mom being sick and making emergency trips to New York. I was in the hospital for my own heart thing. I totaled a car. All this stuff was going on. I really could have used her as a friend and I feel like she turned her back on me.”
Dauler, who has known Hobby since she joined the Bert Show in 2002, said he was angry how “imbalanced” the friendship ultimately was.
And he is angry that Hobby portrayed him as a victim on the radio to not just the Star listeners but his future prospective employers.
“I am not a victim,” he said.
Dauler said they have not talked since she spoke about him on the air May 13.
When I reached out to Hobby by text, she said she was not aware what he had said about her but “I wish Jeff nothing but the best. I’ve heard the podcast is all about positivity and I think that’s an awesome mission.” Even after I informed her the gist of what he felt, she wrote, “I wish him all the best in his mission of sharing positivity with the rest of the world. I hope he’s really good at that.”
Dauler, who joined Star in 2016 after leaving the Bert Show, said he has nothing against Entercom, owner of Star 94.1. They made a business decision and he gets that.
“I have no issue with being fired for not hitting my ratings goals,” Dauler said. “That was my job. I was unable to do it. I had a conversation with them in December where we reviewed exactly where we needed to be six months later. When we weren’t there, I was let go. It’s how radio works. It’s the greatest job in the world but stuff like that happens, it sucks.”
You can listen to his thoughts on the podcast at about the 30-minute mark.
Callie said she hated seeing Jeff in so much pain and showing so much self doubt. She feels he’s got a big heart and a champion of women.
“You have proven yourself to be her friend over and over and over again,” she said. “You rallied and championed her to others because that’s who you are. I do think women do have it harder than me in a lot of ways but I have seen her give up a lot to make sure she was treated as an equal. You busted your butt to do it.”
Dauler said he was there to support Hobby when she was dealing with her daughter’s cancer scare. “That is who I am by nature,” he said. “And I don’t know where that got lost. I don’t know that I will ever be able to come to terms with the fact that after I was fired and out of the building that she used her platform to try to harm me.”
“What did I do to deserve that?” he asked.
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