What happens when an arts organisation leverages its 32 year long engagement in disability advocacy, its multiplicity of musical, technical and intellectual talents, an ethos on universal design and one amazing tech aficionado… and then places these in a creative furnace? You get the likes of Radio DADAA, the only all-ability-led arts focused radio station in Australia! 

I spoke to some founding colleagues and presenters of Radio DADAA to see how this established arts organisation has honed the often-difficult skill of collaboration, inviting a community of musicians, makers and emcees to a creative experience that seems to be having a ripple effect on the airwaves.  

Simon Order, the director of Radio DADAA, uses the term all-ability to describe the community radio station and DADAA in general. Really, the focus is on collaboration and mentorship, and it is all planned and executed with ideas of universal design that influence the station: not only the physical space in the Old Fremantle Boys’ School, but also the non-hierarchical nature of the team. Radio DADAA prides itself on a capacity-building model that emphasises learning. 

DADAA producers are not just folks with expertise – they are people across a range of age groups, professional backgrounds, abilities and interests. Programming comes from the organic curiosities of producers – from shows like Blank Canvas , which explores local arts and culture, to Unfiltered, which is a storytelling segment; Bits & Pieces, featuring local musicians; Any Sound Now, a flurry of new and old experimental sounds; Eco-Tone, focusing on the environment; and It’s All Good With The Definitives, which is sharp talk with an alternative band hailing from Midland. 

Eduardo Cossio, Music Producer, comments on how open the station has been to new forms: “I think the content and the format have been quite experimental, and we are still trying to be as open as we can.” 

Radio DADAA formed off the back of a podcasting project in 2024. The initial program was yielding such rich content that the producing team thought there was plenty more to be explored and felt inspired to push the content creation to another level. Connla Kerr spoke with enthusiasm about the inception of Radio DADAA. 

 “DADAA has a long history of digital projects,” says Connla Kerr, the Talks Producer at the radio station. This pre–Radio DADAA phase involved “getting together a group of people already involved in DADAA who were interested in learning podcasting skills and developing their own podcast. We sort of mentored them to learn all the podcasting skills and then to develop their own individual podcasts. I guess that was the seed that planted Radio DADAA. So then … the sky became the limit … how can we go bigger and better?”  

The frequency of shows is not strict and works with the capacity of the producer or host. Some shows are on air weekly, while others are fortnightly or monthly. This flexibility allows for different paces and strides in the realm of content creation and output. 

For content producer Raf Gonzalez, being involved from the early days of Radio DADAA and its previous format has been empowering. Raf hosts several programs, including Click Snap, a poetry show, and Blank Canvas, an events and access program, and he told me, “For years I used to have a speech problem as a kid. So being able to be told, oh, you have a really good voice … well, that’s because I’ve had a lot of practice and a lot of experiences along the way … and people are just saying, oh, Raf’s really good … some people say it’s soothing!” This kind of experience has been invaluable to presenters across the range of programs and forms. Having exposure to new skills and experiences seems to be alchemy for many presenters, building confidence and proficiency. 

The Radio DADAA launch, held in February 2026, proved to be a kaleidoscope of experiences, projects and opportunities for connection in the Western Australian arts community. On the night there was a panel discussion, a space for live DJs, as well as a separate space where people were doing live audio description and commentary about the event. What was brilliant was that the launch was not only an in-person event, but one that reached many more people tuning in from around the city and state. Simon Order says, “If you’d have tuned into that event to listen, you’d have been moved around these three different places and the three different sound designs that happened in those places. So that in itself was a kind of culmination of all the skills … things we built over 18 months”. With a turnout of over 150 people, the event launched Radio DADAA in the minds of its audience, but also in the hearts of the collective of content producers who had toiled for over a year to bring about the radio station. 

And in case you were wondering whether you have a face for radio – the invitation is open! Radio DADAA is about cultivating non-exclusive spaces in community, and anyone already in or new to the DADAA orbit is free to contact the team. Simon Order says,

“It becomes a two-way experience between the current community and reaching out to the community. We try and collaborate with other organisations, either people that produce podcasts or … music. So it’s an open invitation for anybody … to come and have a chat. We may collaborate on a show, we may collaborate on a show segment, we may be able to put their music in our playlists. So there’s a whole range of ways we’re trying to build our community. We’re trying to build the capacity of people that work on the station, but also the community outside the station.” 

Radio DADAA can be streamed at www.dadaa.org.au/radiodadaa