Operator RadioOperator Radio

Operator broadcasts from a blue shipping container on Schiestraat, in the middle of Rotterdam and a few minutes' walk from the central station, and has done so around the clock since 2017. It calls itself a cultural platform rather than simply a radio station, with a stated focus on alternative sounds and the stories that usually get left out, and it runs on a short list of values that the station publishes openly and enforces as house rules: warmth, equality, safety, openness and inclusivity.

The schedule mixes local and visiting DJs with talk — science and sport among the subjects — and the station puts as much weight on events and workshops as on the stream itself. Its aim, in its own phrase, is to make invisible networks visible: to connect alternative scenes that already exist internationally, and to give room to artists who are only just starting out.