Liz Schweiger

What is your name? What is the name of your show? 

My name is Liz Schweiger and my show is Food Talk With Liz, 12-1 on Saturdays.

What is the format of your show?

It’s cooking-related, anything that’s going on with cooking. Food. 

What drew you to participate in KMRD?

Well… I had a friend named Stella and she was starting a radio station, and we were always joking about it, I used to come up to [her] and say, “if you ever get that radio station on the air, I want to do your food hour.” I had never done radio before – this is totally something new for me – so I remember we were in the Mine Shaft Tavern and [Stella] approached me and said that the radio was up and running, and I was like, “Oh, okay, I guess I’m going to have to do my show!”

What’s the appeal of doing a radio show? How does it fit into the rest of your life?

For me, it’s something different. I’m a relatively quiet person, and I’ve never done radio before, but I thought why not? You always hear about these cooking shows that are on TV, and I don’t know of that many that are on the radio – there are a few out there – so I thought this would be interesting, to reach a different audience. My format is always trying to talk to people in Santa Fe and Madrid about their food experience, and what they’re doing. There’s a lot going on out there, so that’s kind of the interest that I had. Just something different for me, it was a step out of my comfort zone too.

I always want to interview anybody, becuase my question to them is always,  “Do you eat?” and their response is always “Yes” so I’m like, “You’re an expert on food, then.” I’ve always been interested in food. I grew up on the East Coast in a very ethnic family, and food was always a big part of my life, whether it was Sunday brunch or birthday, or baptism, Christmas. I had some really good talented cooks in my family, so I sort of followed in that line.

What difference has being a DJ made in your life?

It’s taken me out of my comfort zone, because I’m a quiet person. It’s so funny, I’ve been coming to Madrid about fifteen years and people look at me sometimes and say, “Oh, are you new to Madrid?” So I’m a really quiet person, but being a DJ, I can do something. Because when you’re on the air people don’t necessarily see you – they might hear your voice, but they don’t see you, so you can still be anonymous and walk around town. But then every once in a while, somebody at the Mine Shaft will say, “I’ve heard your voice before” – and I just sit there and wait and they always narrow it down: “Are you on KMRD?” And I’ve had that happen a couple of times to me. It’s kind of interesting.

What are your hopes for your show?

I want to see where KMRD goes; I think there’s probably some exciting things that are going to happen with KMRD. I don’t know, just wait and see which way the wind blows, whatever new restaurant comes open!

What are your hopes for KMRD?

I think it’s a great concept, I think it was a really interesting idea to develop a radio station in this little town. And this is such a unique little town that has a lot going on all the time, and a lot of interesting people in this town. I hope KMRD grows, not just in this little area but I hope it gets more expansion as far as their wavelength to make it out to other communities out there. Because people do listen to it, I hear it all the time that people listen to it, I just wish it would expand a little bit further.