Brad Byrd is a native of Lancing, Tennessee and is a 1981 graduate of Central High School in Wartburg. He is a 1982 graduate of the Professional Academy of Broadcasting in Knoxville.
Brad is on his second tour of duty at WECO, having worked from 1988 until 1997 and most recently from 2010 to present. He is host of the Early Byrd Morning Show on 101.3 FM WECO and is on the air from 6:30am until 10:30am weekdays. His real job begins after his air-shift as he serves as Operations Manager.
Brad got his start in radio at WORI AM 1550 in Oak Ridge and later moved up to WOKI FM 100.3 where he worked various on-air time slots and also worked as a mobile DJ for the WOKI Sound Machine. Brad has also worked multiple on-air slots at other Knoxville radio stations including the legendary WNOX, WNKX, and WTNZ. He has also had DJ stints at Knoxville area nightclubs including Nirt & Girty’s, Desperado and Cotton Eyed Joe.
A dirt racing enthusiast, Brad has had numerous announcing stints at area race tracks including Wartburg Speedway, Big South Fork Raceway, Scenic Raceway, Tennessee Motor Speedway, Atomic Speedway and is currently the Track Announcer at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee. He briefly raced a dirt late model in the late 90’s. Brad founded the former Tennessee Thunder DirtCar Series and has also worked as Series Director for the Southern All Stars Dirt Racing Series.
Brad and his wife, Buffy live in Clarkrange with their long-haired Miniature Dachshund, Sir Bentley. They have a son Zachary. Brad also has a son (deceased) Brad Byrd II who passed away tragically following a car accident that also claimed the lives of three other individuals in 2001.
