RDU 98.5FM: live radio from Christchurch

Hooold...

Dusting off the needle…

Christchurch, New Zealand

RDU 98.5FM

The night shift runs this one.

Fifty years of Ōtautahi underground, loudest at night.

Radio U has been on air in Christchurch since the mid-1970s, long enough that most of Ōtautahi still calls it that rather than RDU98.5FM. It runs from 270 Saint Asaph Street on student and volunteer labour, with support from New Zealand On Air, and goes live-to-air from Saltbox Studios — the rehearsal and recording rooms on the same corner. It sits in the Student Radio Network, publishes its own local chart as the Te Ahi Top 10, and hands an hour a week to the MAINZ audio school.

Daytime is an alternative playlist broken up by interviews. Come the evening each host takes a single seam and says so: Liquid Exchange on drum and bass, I.C.U. on left-field bass, Gesture/Texture on noise, The Apocalypse on metal, Flammable Material on stoner rock and hardcore, Droppin' Jewels on golden-era hip hop, and Big Fresh Collective on 160 footwork.

More like this

United KingdomLondon

Flex FM

Went legal, kept the edge.

LithuaniaVilnius

Palanga Street Radio

Anyone can get an hour here.

AustraliaCanberra

Trust FM

Canberra after the offices close.

ItalyBologna

Jungle Planet Radio

The revival, one amen at a time.

electronic

RussiaSaint Petersburg

Arena Radio

Made outside the capitals.

electronic

ItalyTurin

Radio Blackout

Still nobody's client.

United StatesSan Francisco

program audio

Three days a week, doors open.

electronic

ThailandBangkok

Bangkok Community Radio

Homegrown, and staying that way.

United StatesSan Francisco

Dub Step Beyond

Chest first, ears second.

Hong KongHong Kong

FM BELOWGROUND

The luxury district's blind spot.

ColombiaBogotá

REC Radio Electrónica Colombiana

Nobody here is an import.

electronic

United StatesDenver

DNBRADIO

A nonprofit with a subwoofer.

electronic

IrelandDublin

Power FM

Never did get a licence.

electronic

BelgiumBrussels

Radio Panik

Militant since 1983, still is.

NetherlandsVeldhoven

jungletrain.net

Running since dial-up.

electronic

United KingdomLondon

Subtle Radio

Run on love and low end.

Czech RepublicZnojmo

Radio Bojler Room

Wine country, hard kicks.

electronic

United KingdomBristol

SWU.FM

Youth club with a transmitter.

electronic

United KingdomLondon

Rinse FM

Thirty years, zero drift.

FranceToulouse

Le Lounge Radio

Built in lockdown, stayed on.

Christchurch, New Zealand

RDU 98.5FM

The night shift runs this one.

Fifty years of Ōtautahi underground, loudest at night.

Radio U has been on air in Christchurch since the mid-1970s, long enough that most of Ōtautahi still calls it that rather than RDU98.5FM. It runs from 270 Saint Asaph Street on student and volunteer labour, with support from New Zealand On Air, and goes live-to-air from Saltbox Studios — the rehearsal and recording rooms on the same corner. It sits in the Student Radio Network, publishes its own local chart as the Te Ahi Top 10, and hands an hour a week to the MAINZ audio school.

Daytime is an alternative playlist broken up by interviews. Come the evening each host takes a single seam and says so: Liquid Exchange on drum and bass, I.C.U. on left-field bass, Gesture/Texture on noise, The Apocalypse on metal, Flammable Material on stoner rock and hardcore, Droppin' Jewels on golden-era hip hop, and Big Fresh Collective on 160 footwork.