Catalyst Radio a new 24 hours a day, seven days a week activist radio station was launched on Saturday 11th June at the Barncamp convergence in the Wye Valley, Wales.

Catalyst Radio was initially conceived in late 2010 during a Hacktionlab convergence in Bradford, UK, by a number of radical radio producers and independent media makers, including Dissident Island (London), Radio Interference (Bradford), Radio Kebele (Bristol), Redbricks Radio (Manchester) and other independent media producers, such as Radio Vague

Catalyst Radio a new 24 hours a day, seven days a week activist radio station was launched on Saturday 11th June at the Barncamp convergence in the Wye Valley, Wales.

Catalyst Radio was initially conceived in late 2010 during a Hacktionlab convergence in Bradford, UK, by a number of radical radio producers and independent media makers, including Dissident Island (London), Radio Interference (Bradford), Radio Kebele (Bristol), Redbricks Radio (Manchester) and other independent media producers, such as Radio Vague.

It was born from a desire to create a UK wide radical radio network that collectively uses a single Internet platform for the streaming of live and pre-recorded radio content presenting points of view generally diverging from those of the more established, and mainstream, media.

Given its political and techno-social foundations, Catalyst is designed to encourage and multiply independent, DIY (do-it-yourself) and DIT (do-it-together) media production, specifically radio, as well as connect and support radical radio makers and media enthusiasts.

http://www.catalystradio.org/

Moreover, it has been set up to be owned and operated by its community, namely those broadcasting on it, organising it, participating in it, and listening to it. As such it draws great inspiration from long term independent media projects such as Indymedia.

The ethos of DIY, or more accurately DIT, infuses every aspect of the Catalyst process. Because most of those already involved in the network work autonomously from corporate and state funding, relying on community fundraising, the resources available are relatively low-fi, low budget and sometimes self-made. Most of the radio producers are self-taught and learn from peers and through trial and error. Open source and free software features heavily for editing and streaming purposes, and the Linux based Airtime radio automation and scheduler will be used to organise and cohere content transmission. This ethos of trying things out, learning from mistakes, embracing sharing and mutual aid, reflects the political principles of free or inexpensive access to resources, community and peer to peer learning and teaching, and an experimental and supportive environment that Catalyst enacts and will continue to enact.