Liz Warner — known to late-night Detroit audiences as Liz Copeland — is an award-winning multimedia journalist specializing in audio. She started in Detroit as a nightly live radio producer and host on NPR affiliate WDET in 1995. On a continual quest to get closer to the meaning behind the music, Liz has been credited as a music writer and editor, television host, event and exhibition curator, DJ, and event presenter and host. Warner’s recent radio shows have been broadcast on artist-centric Los Angeles broadcaster dublab. Currently, Liz’s radio show, Alternate Take, is heard on Detroit Public Radio station WDET.
Liz has viewed the world through the lens of sound from an early age. Whether tuning in to the FM airwaves on her older sister’s clock radio, singing in the choir, playing in the orchestra, or buying records to play on the family record player as a teenager, it was music that helped Liz find her voice. That voice continued to develop as she took to the radio airwaves.
As the daughter of an aluminum radio tower designer and manufacturer, Liz has always had a deep connection to the airwaves. Over 12 years and 15,000 hours on WDET, she built a community around the notion that the airwaves are not just a place on the dial, but a state of mind. Each show offered an opportunity for meaningful music and art explorations and a space for celebrations, discussions, collaborations, and sharing of ideas.
Los Angeles was Liz’s home base before her recent return to Detroit. In addition to serving as a resident DJ for dublab starting in 2016, Liz formalized her dedication to the arts by earning a Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism degree from the University of Southern California (2018). She hosted Border Blaster, an original world music video series broadcast from KCET TV in Los Angeles. Liz also uses her voice as a narrator and voice actor.
Liz has a long history of interviewing established and emerging artists of many forms — including musicians, performance and visual artists, authors, filmmakers, and more — for radio and print as well as for panels and public forums. She has contributed globally to cultural outlets including The Wire, Impulse Records, MTV Amp, Detroit Metro Times, Coachella’s CAMP, ele-king, Ghostly Knowledge Share, Laine Magazine, Red Bull Radio, University Musical Society, and Goldenvoice’s Arroyo Seco Weekend Podcast. Liz served as a music editor for alternative indie Orbit Magazine.
Liz’s radio program in Detroit topped several readers’ and editors’ best-of lists during its tenure. In Los Angeles, Liz’s work has been honored by the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, the Southern California Journalism Awards, and the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She has been profiled several times, including for HOUR Magazine, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Metro Times, and Urb Magazine. Liz has been interviewed for features published for the Red Bull Music Academy and the Detroit Punks video series.
Foundational Detroit-area DJ residencies for Liz include Lush and Motor Lounge in Hamtramck, as well as Buddha Lounge in Detroit (from the late 1990s to the early 2000s). She has provided opening DJ sets for French musician St Germain and Parisian/Argentinian duo Gotan Project, and has curated stages for Comerica’s CityFest and Marshall Field’s Day of Music at The Max. In Los Angeles, she has mixed from the rooftop of The Ace Hotel DTLA, The Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs, The Skirball Cultural Center, and Zebulon. Liz currently holds a DJ residency on the Third Friday of each month with partner Clark Warner at Northern Lights Lounge.
Liz’s dedication to Detroit has remained a constant throughout her career. On air and on-site in DJ sets, she has often featured local musicians and artists. In the early 2000s, Liz was a Board Member for the revived Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), originally founded in 1978 by a group of Detroit artists including Charles McGee. Through CAID, she curated music and art events, including a symposium of authors held at Wayne State University who wrote books featuring music forms that have significantly impacted the city, including jazz, Motown, and techno. In 2004, Liz co-curated the sound-only exhibition Sacred and Profane at Detroit Artists Market with Clark Warner, exploring the medium of original sound compositions isolated in the gallery setting. The exhibition later traveled to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Explorations in music and sound are still at the heart of Liz’s message. When not DJing or presenting at special events, she can be found making weekly radio excursions with Alternate Take on WDET-FM Detroit Public Radio.
Top image of Liz by Doug Coombe. An abbreviated catalog of his work is found on flickr.