KZSM–Where you will hear from national, local celebrities

As your true community radio station, KZSM.org is committed to bringing you a full range of voices from our community and the world.

This column continues a series recalling some of the memorable guests who have spoken or performed on our many shows that offer live music and interviews.

“Friday Night with Care” (Fridays 8-10 p.m.) features interviews as well as live and recorded music. Host Carole Coburn goes to great lengths to secure guests and brings strong interpersonal skills to her conversations. When Wynona Judd appeared at a Central Texas venue, Coburn arranged an interview, exploring Judd’s relationship to her music and her fans.

“She is very relatable,” Coburn recalls. “My conversation with her was like we were just catching up over coffee at the kitchen table.”

Coburn also secured an interview with Henry Winkler, finding him even more relatable than Judd.

After seeing Winkler on “Jimmy Fallon” and “Good Morning America” in the week before the interview, “it was so surreal to know I was going to be talking to him in the morning and almost not feeling worthy. I also remember thinking, what in the world can I share with our listeners from him that he hasn’t covered in all these interviews over the past five decades?”

She decided to make the conversation personal by asking about his dyslexia. Winkler reflected on the challenges of reading and memorizing scripts, in an impressive interview.

Nationally-known personalities like Judd and Winkler call in, but local celebrities visit our downtown studio at 216 North Guadalupe for face-to-face conversations.

Marianne Reese, host of “SeniorCentric” (2 p.m. first and third Thursday of the month), feels “impressed and thankful” for all her guests.

Some seem especially memorable for the “length and depth of their dedication to their cause” and their impact on the community. She names Dr. Mario Garza and Maria Rocha, founders of the Indigenous Cultures Institute; Dr. Jason Kwak, Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Coordinator for Texas State University and co- founder of the week-long International Piano Festival; and Rev. Dr. Helen Boursier, immigration activist, writer, and public theologian.

As we expand onto the airwaves, we will be bringing you familiar and new voices from San Marcos and the world.

As I write, we are renovating our beloved downtown storefront into an even more welcoming space for our KZSM family and our guests.