Dublin Digital Radio is throwing a street party launch event to celebrate its new studio space in the city centre.

The beloved independent community radio station will officially launch in its new studio in Flux at 4 Chatham Row on Saturday, 1st February, otherwise known as the Gaelic traditional festival of Imbolc. From 12 PM to 8 PM, the ddr. studio will be open to the public and broadcasting onto the courtyard, while hosting a discussion on radio’s role as a community cultural space and a food-pop up, as well as a tattoo artist on hand.

“The location, in the heart of the city centre, and the accessibility it offers the alternative cultural scenes that ddr. platform and champions to the public is something that hasn’t really been on offer in Dublin city in recent memory”, the ddr. team wrote in a press release. “So often these communities can only exist on the edges. Due to the housing and space crisis in Ireland, it is almost unfathomable that a listener-funded, volunteer-run organisation like ddr. could have such a central home. We are incredibly grateful to Flux for providing this space to us, and for the cultural space they are trying to establish on Chatham Row, with love and care for the city around it.”

They continued: “We want this space to become a social hub for the network of communities that make up ddr.’s broadcasters and listeners. We intend to continue these events throughout the year to share both the rich cultural offering of ddr. residents and broadcasters with the wider public, as well the values and ethos of the station and its community. Importantly, we want it to be a space in the middle of the city where you don’t have to spend money to exist.”

Dublin Digital Radio was founded in 2016 and hosts more than 100 residents throughout Ireland. It is entirely run by volunteers and funded by members. The station also hosts an annual multi-disciplinary festival called Alternating Current. 

For more on ddr.’s community work, especially during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and vital role in the Irish independent, experimental music scene revisit Kelly Doherty’s in-depth feature from 2021.

See ddr.’s post about the new studio and event below.