Media Releases

Music 101 – A Dream Gig for Alex Behan

Released at 8:29 am on 5 July 2016

RNZ’s popular music show Music 101 has a new presenter – and for radio head Alex Behan the gig is a dream come true.

Music 101 gives voice to the best musical happenings in Aotearoa, as well as music events and issues taking place around the world. For Alex, it’ll put a new spin on a familiar world of music interviews, live performances, undiscovered acts, greatest hits and tall tales.

Alex Behan has a strong background in radio that began at high school in Christchurch when he built a low power station in his friend's garage.

Graduating from the New Zealand Broadcasting School in 1998 he interned at KCC FM in Whangarei before moving to Auckland to work for New Zealand on Air.

Promoting local acts in the early 2000s during a golden time in New Zealand music was a career highlight for Alex and led to further opportunities in music and media. He worked at both Channel Z and The Edge, presented music television for TV2 and C4 where he was able to interview a range of international musicians and hone presenting skills on a variety of formats.

Alex went travelling in 2004 and, despite having only what was in his backpack, managed to make a documentary in 2009 about the inner workings of the Mongolian capital Ulaan Baatar, and direct a music video for Mongolian alt rock group Altan Urag.

Since returning to New Zealand in 2013 he has been working at Radio Hauraki where his highly regarded TUNEiversity helped open audiences up to new and interesting music.

Alex says working at RNZ is the fulfilment a lifelong ambition.

"As a long-time radio head it is a dream come true to work for RNZ. I can't wait to meet and work with the professionals that put together such excellent radio day after day, especially the Music 101 team. I'm always up for a challenge and joining such a great show with such talented broadcasters is almost daunting, I look forward to making a contribution to what is already a world class programme".

Alex Behan will be joining the RNZ Music team in mid-August.

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