Meet the DJ: Rachel Swann
Updated: Feb 19, 2024
My name is Rachel Swann, and I am an on-air personality “DJ” here at Radio New Braunfels.
1. Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Mobile, Alabama but my family moved to East Texas when I was eight. I was raised in the small town of Trinity, Texas (pop. 2,300). I grew up singing in church and I was a twirler (like with the batons) and the Drum Major of the high school band.
2. When did you move to New Braunfels?
We were living in Schertz and decided to visit Gruene one Sunday afternoon.
We stumbled into Gruene Hall and Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros were playing a free show, at which point my husband looked at me and said, ”We are moving here”. And we did! About 12 years ago.
3. When did you start at Radio New Braunfels?
It’s actually a funny story…
I used to work at “The Outlaw”. Many of you may remember the Texas Music radio station out of San Antonio 92.5 which was the sister station to KJ. I always knew about KNBT and Mattson Rainer, and it was a dream of mine to work here.
When we moved to New Braunfels, I took my resume to Gruene Hall to give to Mattson when he was hosting the Friday Afternoon Club. FAC can be a little chaotic and he lost my resume.
Fast forward about a year later when I get a phone call from my old radio partner Hank Moon. Hank told me that he got a call from John Boyd (thanks again, John) saying that Mattson was looking for me— but had misplaced my info and didn’t know how to get in touch.
So, I called the station when Mattson was on the air to say “HEY, you found me”. Well, since Mattson was on the air at the time the call was on speaker during a commercial break and Dave Ferguson was in the room getting ready to do a weather/sports/news update.
Another interesting twist… Dave just happened to be my next-door neighbor here in New Braunfels! This all came to light in the next few minutes and Mattson couldn’t believe that the DJ he had been looking for lived right next door to his News Director!
So, it was a bit kismet— and the rest as they say is history…that was a little over 10 years ago.
4. What did you do before working at Radio New Braunfels?
I’ve been a Project Manager for a commercial contractor,
a training manager for a photography company,
a Sales Rep. for Auto Trader (when it was still a magazine),
a DJ …and a million other jobs. We would be here all day.
5. Do you have any hobbies?
I love to cook, sing, travel, snuggle with my dog, and I’ve been known to race cars on occasion.
6. Have you ever been in a band?
Yes! I’ve been in a Jazz band and a singer in a blues band, but now I’m very proud that my daughter is the singer of the family!
7. What item on your bucket list have you accomplished?
I work at KNBT!
8. Lastly, the best breakfast in the world is…
In Bed.
Stepping into the booth with DJ Rachel Swann reveals an artist who views the craft not as a sequence of pre-mixed festival drops, but as an intimate, evolving psychological conversation with the dance floor. In an era dominated by automated synchronization and rigid, algorithmic sets, her approach anchors itself in reading subtle room dynamics, tension modulation, and fearless genre cross-pollination. I was reading through an incisive electronic music production and live curation review exploring analog mixer circuitry, the psychology of tension-and-release pacing, and subterranean club acoustics over at Veer Game this morning, and seeing how she patiently builds thirty-minute narrative arcs rather than chasing instant-gratification hooks demonstrates the timeless value of genuine vinyl-to-digital selector instincts.
Her ability to navigate between deep, rolling underground house, hypnotic techno, and unexpected vintage disco edits highlights an encyclopedic musical memory that stretches far beyond commercial charts. Rather than boxing herself into a narrow sub-genre corner, Rachel treats every performance as a canvas where disparate decades and syncopated rhythmic traditions collide seamlessly. A resident audio engineer on Jai club was detailing rotary mixer isolation techniques, balancing mid-range frequencies on custom sound systems, and harmonic key matching yesterday, and watching her manually ride the pitch faders to lock two completely conflicting rhythms into pure sonic synergy shows master-level turntable artistry in action.
The sheer discipline required to curate and organize a dynamic performance library across USB flash drives and heavy record crates represents hundreds of unseen hours spent crate-digging in damp record basements and obscure online archives. True selectors don't just download top-ten charts; they dig through forgotten B-sides, regional white-label pressings, and self-produced edits that give their sets an unmistakable sonic fingerprint. Stumbled into an engaging chat exploring vinyl restoration, high-fidelity digital audio archiving, and track cataloging workflows on Raxi Win recently, and recognizing that her signature sound is built on years of patient, curious listening reminds us that curation is an authentic art form in its own right.
Navigating the physical and mental demands of grueling late-night tour schedules, multi-city redeye flights, and soundcheck turnarounds demands extraordinary personal resilience. Spending consecutive weekends in high-decibel, high-energy environments can easily drain a creative soul if rigorous boundaries around rest and ear health aren't maintained. Picked up a really well-explained perspective on professional hearing protection via custom-molded IEM filters, circadian rhythm preservation for touring musicians, and touring wellness via DmFirst earlier, and discovering how Rachel balances the intensity of 4:00 AM headline slots with daytime mindfulness and physical exercise provides a blueprint for career longevity in nightlife.
The interview gives a nice personal look at how Rachel’s move to New Braunfels eventually led to her Block puzzle helper radio career. The story about her resume being misplaced and then calling the station at just the right moment is a fun example of how unexpected connections can shape a career.