Toasted

Suppose you’ve listened to and loved the mellow voice of Lady Marmalade and the eclectic tunes she plays on BayFM every Wednesday. You may be wondering why her DJ name is Lady Marmalade. (And no, it’s not after the Patti Labelle song from 1990).

In the 1990’s Lady Marmalade (then known as Liz) was living in Butler St next to The Shack. You might remember BayFM’s temporary home (for 4 years!) Robbie O’Grady presented his breakfast show, Musical Kaleidoscope, on Saturday mornings from 6-10 am. He never had time for breakfast with 5 am starts, so when he finished, Liz made him tea and toast with her homemade marmalade. He and Liz got to know each other by regularly chatting and chewing the fat on the back steps of The Shack after his show.

Gradually she got to know more of the presenters. The regular Saturday morning breakfast became lunchtime drinks at the Rails with the BayFM gang.

Liz then became more involved with BayFM by helping Carrie Dee with the annual Radiothon and organising show bags to be given away as prizes to subscribers.

After completing a radio presenter’s course at TAFE, Liz started her radio career by filling in for various presenters on BayFM. It led to her own breakfast show on Sunday morning called ‘Toasted’. Liz became well-known for giving away jars of her delicious marmalade to listeners on her show who subscribed to BayFM.

Her reputation as a marmaldeer grew. When considering a fitting DJ name, someone suggested the tangy sounding ‘Lady Marmalade’. It was a natural complement to a show name ‘Toasted’, of course.

Since then, Lady Marmalade has become one of the most loved and respected presenters on the BayFM airwaves. And yes, she is still making her tasty brand of the orange stuff.

You can listen to her eclectic, original sounds every Wednesday from 12-2 pm on BayFM 99.9.