Electron-cyclotron maser emission is investigated in the regime where wave growth in the electrostatic Bernstein modes dominates (ωp/Ωe>1.5). A semirelativistic growth rate is derived assuming that the wave dispersion is dominated by a cool background electron distribution and the instability is driven by a low-density hot loss-cone-like electron distribution. The properties of Bernstein wave growth are most strongly dependent on the relative temperatures of the hot and cool electron distributions. For Thot/Tcool[gsim]10, the fastest growing Bernstein waves are produced at frequencies just below each cyclotron harmonic in Bernstein modes lying below the upper-hybrid frequency. For Thot/Tcool[lsim]10, additional Bernstein modes above the upper-hybrid frequency are excited, with wave frequencies in each excited mode lying significantly above the corresponding cyclotron harmonic. The dependence of Bernstein wave growth on the relative hot and cool electron number densities and emission angle is also discussed.