Alex Byrne is the Program Director of “Lazer 99.3 & 98.5” (WLZX) and “Rock 102” (WAQY) and the Midday host on Lazer in Springfield, MA. Like most dedicated PDs, Alex jumps in when needed, whether in promotions, production, sales, or engineering.
Radio has always been in his blood. “My grandfather used to host a weekend Jazz program at WFUV in New York (I still have some reel-to-reel tapes in my basement),” he explains. “I grew up in central Massachusetts during the Rock radio wars between WAAF & WBCN in the late ’80s & ’90s, and I always had the radio on at home or on my old Walkman, wherever I went. It was a medium I was always drawn to.”
Byrne got his first real taste of radio in college as an intern at the legendary WBCN in Boston, occasionally answering the studio lines and helping in the office with various tasks. “One of the tasks I remember most vividly centers around the New England Patriots first championship in 2002,” he explains. “BCN carried all the games, and I was tasked with calling all the Rock Radio Network station’s General Managers to tell them that they didn’t have broadcast rights to the Superbowl, and as you can imagine, those were not fun phone calls to make (based on the reactions I got, I’m not surprised it was assigned to an intern).”
That gig led to another internship at what was then the Citadel radio cluster in Worcester, MA, of WXLO, WWFX & WORC. He basically hung around and helped in any way possible while learning everything he could until they finally gave him a job.
He was promoted to Promotions Director of the Rock station, which was then called “100.1 The Fox” (WWFX), and ended up co-hosting mornings with the late Chris Engel, who was PD at the time. “I grew up listening to Chris on the ‘Hillman Morning Show’ on WAAF,” says Byrne. “He was a major influence and mentor to me, along with the great Zip Zipfel of ‘Bob & Zip’ fame.”
Byrne couldn’t get enough of radio, so in 2005, he took on a weekend on-air shift in the Springfield market at Saga’s “Lazer 99.3” (WLZX) in addition to his full-time gig in Worcester.
That role grew into a 14-year run as the Promotions Director for both Lazer and Classic Rock sister station Rock 102 (WAQY), as well as nights and, ultimately, middays on-air on “Lazer.” In 2021, Saga gave him the chance to transition from promotions to programming, and here we are!
According to Byrne, “Lazer” is Massachusetts’s last Active Rock commercial radio station. “Crazy, right?” he asks. “And because of that, we’ve got a real responsibility to the Rock fans here in Western Mass. We try to be thoughtful in what we play and provide a good balance of new music and Rock favorites from the last 20 to 30 years.”
“We’ve got two solid Rock stations here with ‘Rock 102’ and ‘Lazer 99.3 & 98.5’, and they co-exist and play well off each other. We know there is some audience sharing, but we work hard to strike a balance musically and make sure each station has its own unique sound and personality while serving the audience and community in similar & different ways.”
As for the staff on both stations, their main priority is connecting with their listeners. “We love hanging out with them at big station events like Bacon & Brews, The Wing Thing, Bourbon, BBQ & Blues, the Big Bonkin’ Smoke, the Free Music Friday outdoor concert series in the summer at MGM Springfield, as well as many other events.”
Another priority for the staff is shining a light on a lot of different local organizations throughout the year. “We participate in many charitable local events, including fundraisers for Shriner’s Children’s Hospital, the Miracle League of Western MA, the Spirit of Springfield, the TJ O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center, and ‘Rock 102’s‘ own Mayflower Marathon Food Drive which celebrated its 31st year in 2024 and raised over $239,000 in food and monetary donations for the Open Pantry of Springfield.”
“Community is a part of everything we do here,” insists Byrne. “Our stations strive to be the place where people in the area come to both share and hear about local news and events. If something is happening in our area, not only do we talk about it, but we try to be a part of it. One of the mantras we live by is ‘see a need, fill a need.’”
“If there is a need locally or if some kind of emergency or tragedy happens, streaming services & satellite radio are not going to come into the market to help. Local radio does that, and we will continue to serve our community day-in-day-out. For local radio stations to succeed, you need to live and breathe the ‘local’ part,” says Byrne.
“People can find music in many places, so it’s what we do in between the songs that truly sets us apart. We’ve got an excellent team of professionals here, both on the air and behind the scenes. We all get along well and have a lot of fun doing what we do.” The average tenure of the staff for both stations is greater than ten years, which is rare in radio and speaks to what a special group they have there.
And the good news for Byrne is that Rock music is on the verge of having another renaissance. “There seems to be a new generation of musicians coming up that are finding inspiration from artists of the past but paving their own way with fresh perspectives, styles, and energy,” he says.
“Whether it be collaborating across genres, experimenting with new sounds, or putting more focus on live performances, these artists are continuing to attract audiences. Rock has always been the music of expression for rebellious outsiders who strive to be heard, and as long as people have the desire to communicate through music, Rock will be just fine.”
Byrne agrees that artists like Mammoth WVH, Greta Van Fleet, Dirty Honey, Sleep Theory, Bad Omens, and many others have growing fanbases and will continue to carry the format forward along with long-established artists like Foo Fighters, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Linkin Park, Green Day, and more.
Some additional up-and-coming artists in the format include Nothing More, I Prevail, Sleep Token, Turnstile, Dorothy, Tim Montana, Ayron Jones… The list keeps growing, which is a good thing.
As far as good collabs go, Byrne recognizes a few big ones from this year. “Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Morrison, and Steve Stevens ‘Crack Cocaine,’ and Falling In Reverse & Jelly Roll ‘All My Life.’ “Some all-time favorites of mine are Anthrax & Public Enemy, Run DMC & Aerosmith, Queen & David Bowie, Black Crowes & Jimmy Page, I could keep going…Not sure about an ideal collab for the future because whatever I pick would likely be a trainwreck,” says Byrne.
As for 2025, Byrne’s goal is to grow and evolve both stations in Western Mass and beyond. “We continue to try and make ourselves more available to our audience wherever they are, whether it be on the radio, smart speakers, station apps, in the connected car, on social media, through unique personality-driven podcasts, or out in the community,” he says.
“For me personally, 2025 marks twenty years here at Lazer, which is wild to think about because I don’t feel like I’m that old. Hopefully, I’ve got another twenty or more years ahead of me!”
Follow Alex Byrne, Lazer 99.3 & 98.5, and Rock 102 on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
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