Bekah Berger ’07

Friday mornings on Rhode Island’s All New Hot Morning Show with Bekah & Mike D, it’s time for Weekend Vows. The co-hosts tell Hot 106 listeners what they’re promising themselves they’ll do—or not do—that weekend. The phones light up in response: one caller mightbe steeling herself not to text an ex after drinks with friends, for instance.

Three days later, it’s time for Monday Morning Confessions. The same listeners often call back with updates, hilarious, sad, and everything in between.

It feels like a club, and it’s savvy marketing from Bekah Berger ’07, a journalism major who did three internships in radio to land a job at what’s now Cumulus Media in East Providence after graduation. She’s worked her way up, including a turn as Buddy Cianci’s call screener, refining a brand built on friendly banter and encyclopedic knowledge of all things entertainment.

“My professors told me to prepare myself to do a lot of work for free, to work on holidays—and they were right,” she says. Her day starts at 4:15 a.m., and after the morning show ends at 10 a.m., there’s marketing and event planning and midday hosting on Q105 FM in New London, not to mention staying on top of pop culture. “Luckily that’s easier now than it ever has been,” she says, “thanks to social media.” As for her listeners: “I love how we are so filled with optimism going into a weekend,” says Berger. “And then, sometimes, regret coming out of it.”

By Pippa Jack