Who is Radio Labe?

sex.changes: I think we’re more of a collective than a radio, because each of us does their own thing within Labe, but yeah, we broadcast too, just sayin’. We’re a crew originally from Kolín, except Karolína, but she’s definitely earned her Kolín badge. What brought us together was a similar music taste, Bar Podhodinama, Kolín itself, and parties at Honza’s place, aka Dr. Overdose (also part of Labe).

Nevinnost: We threw our first party 3 years ago. Initially we wanted to organize parties in Kolín, which is where most of us come from. But then it became so much more, Kolín turned out to be a really dead town lol and Radio Labe got a life of its own. Now it is almost a real radio station with a broadcast every week, occasional label and a platform for emerging artists across genres. I met guys through my boyfriend (Dr. Overdose) and I became a part of the friend group, so I’m the only one who’s not from Kolín originally.

Høll: Most of us are connected to that city in one way or another, which is pretty much why we ended up coming together as Radio Labe.

I’ve met quite a few people who feel a strong connection to the river they grew up near. What’s your relationship to the Labe?

Nevinnost: Such a shame Honza [Dr. Overdose] is not here, he would love this question. I think it’s kinda a Czech thing, a lot of cities here have a river that makes the landscapes really unique and photogenic. I grew up in a different city (that also has a river), but I really learned to like Labe. Also because we have this collective connected to it, I started noticing it much more. We go on walks along its banks almost every day, so it’s definitely a part of my life now and I will forever associate it with these guys. And Honza is into fishing, so that’s kinda self-explaining.

Høll: I’d actually love to hear Honza’s take on this too. I hope I don’t sound too cheesy haha, but I’d say it’s a really important artery, whatever that means, for everyone living around a big river. It definitely has the power to connect people, not only in terms of transport but also brings people together creatively.

sex.changes: I don’t want to get sentimental, but the first thing that came to mind were walks with my dog Kelt and my dad when I was a kid. It’s not a specific relationship though, I used to cross the Labe every day and spent a lot of time doing events on Kmochův Ostrov in Kolín. Then came Radio Labe, and we didn’t really move too far, our very first event was at Kolinea (if you know, you know). Our secret ceremonies were always on Kmochův Ostrov too, and last year we joined the Bukolika festival, also on Labe. Seems like Labe is following us forever!

Is that something you had in mind when choosing the name for your collective? When I came to your event at Planeta a few years back, I definitely had a feeling that “these people really know how to pull others in”.

Nevinnost: Oh definitely! At first we really didn’t focus on Prague, because we felt like there’s so many collectives already and there might not be space for us. So we wanted to develop the scene around Kolín, that’s why we chose the name, because the river connects Kolín to all those other smaller towns around it. Then our focus shifted a little, but the concept still stands – bringing people and ideas together. And it definitely makes for cool visuals and copy.

sex.changes: I think it mainly came because we used to hang out in a neighborhood called Zálabí [literally “behind the Labe river”]. I lived close to Honza, and honestly, being from Zálabí is just a thing. We thought it would be funny to call ourselves that, plus we needed a new name anyway, since we merged together – me, Saprlit (Honza and Marek aka Blissvision97), and Stromlinien (David and Dex). We wanted to do something as a crew, but there was no name.

Høll: As far as I remember, the name just sort of came out of nowhere. Pretty sure it popped up after a few beers in conversation. Part of the idea was to show we’re not taking ourselves too seriously haha. And funny enough, if I’m not mistaken, we actually came up with it by the Vltava, hanging out on Štvanice island.

So why did you leave the idea of developing a scene around Kolín behind? Do you think it’s even possible to do such a thing – in a way that doesn’t suck all life energy from you – in a small city?

Nevinnost: No one really came to the events. It was always just us and a few of our friends. So for smaller gatherings it made sense, and we still do them for the inner circle only from time to time. But other than that it was just too exhausting financially.
Kolín is also kinda specific. There’s no university, so young people usually move to Prague anyway.

Høll: Honestly, I don’t really see a future in that, especially in smaller places like Kolín. At one point we kicked off the “Secret Ceremony”, which was basically a more sustainable model with voluntary entry (meaning free) and built purely on community. But in Kolín, if just a few people from that core community don’t show up, it pretty much means an empty venue haha. Maybe it’ll change one day as more people slowly move out of Prague into the smaller towns around it.

sex.changes: We started experimenting with different event formats and after about a year we decided to expand to Prague, both because most of us were already living here and because it made much more sense organisation-wise. In Kolín, we often hit limitations as lack of spaces, like-minded people, and the absence of a university meant the local youth community was constantly shifting. Our first party, which was a success by small-town standards, started our passion, but it was a big risk and each next party became an even bigger risk. Lots of them were financially fatal and there was no hope for better times and building some continuous community unfortunately.

What does radio mean to you, and what do you think it means in 2025 in a wider sense? What role does it have in the music culture?

sex.changes: I should probably mention that our very first party was called “Radio Labe Release Party”, but the funny part is, there was no radio yet. We just took the name, but all we did was throw parties. Then we thought we should start acting like radio since it is in our name. We didn’t feel like changing the name and at the same time it felt like a cool way to stay connected with the community throughout the year. We started with one weekly mix and two shows: Soutok [confluence], where we invited people from outside the crew, and Spodní Proud [undercurrent], which was just for us. This year we added a proper broadcasting day (about four shows every week) and we are still experimenting with what we will do next. At the same time, we are really trying to use the fact we operate online, which means people can send us sets from anywhere. That’s just to explain what we do and I think it shows what radio means for us today. We are trying to give space to lesser known DJs, whose selections often feel fresh and unexpected, and to create a platform where hopefully not only we, but others too, can listen and discover these sets.

Nevinnost: It’s definitely a difficult format to navigate nowadays. Part of the appeal for me is nostalgia. In a world where every media is within arms reach, just a few clicks away, where you can choose from infinite amount of music to stream anytime you want, I tend to be a little overwhelmed sometimes, and I actually really f*ck with the idea that someone will curate a program for me, and it will be in a shared time-zone so I can experience it in real time with others. But we launched the website pretty recently, it’s still mostly streams, and we only have enough content for 1 broadcast day a week. Not sure how it will develop further and what others think, but I would love for it to be a “real” radio with live shows etc.

Høll: For me the radio format is kind of timeless and just as important as a club, just the listener doesn’t need to be in a specific place. And as Karolína mentioned, we don’t really have a proper studio yet (hopefully one day in Zálabí haha), but we can still give space and amplify the voices of people who want to share something, whether musically or verbally, no matter what the platform looks like or how it’s built.

But then, did you already plan to start a radio from the beginning, or did you choose the word more for its, let’s say, philosophical meaning?

Høll: I’d say the word radio was more of a goal for the future. At first it was just meant to be in the name, and then over time it would eventually turn into an actual radio in whatever form. After three years of everyone’s work it kind of happened (shout out to Dan Bukač). Along the way we also started releasing music as a label, but that’s another story.

Nevinnost: I think we did? Or not a “plan” but maybe an optimistic wish. I remember when we were brainstorming at Štvanice about the name and everything we had really big and ambitious plans. I think we were talking about setting up a studio in Honza’s garage and opening it to the street so the streams would be happening from there. The neighbors would love it I’m sure haha. Then, as Šimon said, we mostly threw parties, but the long-term goal to have a radio one day was still there, or at least for me. So we kinda went full circle and now we are slowly building towards what we wanted to create at the beginning.

sex.changes: For me it meant that we would be doing more than just parties. From the start, we talked about broadcasting, but it took us a long time to figure out how and also to find the drive to actually do it. That drive came through other activities, and I think it all complements each other really nicely. We can say that calling ourselves a radio kind of forced us to make it happen, haha.

Nevinnost: Nomen omen.

I am usually a bit skeptical when it comes to new radio stations, because I feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them online. Endless list of sources of music. What would you say sets your radio apart? Or let me put it this way: why should musicians and DJs choose your platform for their work?

Nevinnost: I would say that it’s the open-mindedness. We don’t really dictate what genres the mixes should be. It’s like “do whatever feels right for you”, so there’s a lot of creative freedom. Also we try to not over-repeat ourselves, so it’s not just our mixes and a few of our friends over and over again. David and Šimon actively seek out new talent and even if you’re a newbie you have a chance with us, as long as you’re honest and have some vision. We are not afraid of marginal and experimental genres, so it’s everything from guilty-pleasures to experimental electronic avant-garde. No judgement!

Høll: On our radio you’ll definitely hear artists you might not have come across before, and you’ll be surprised how many people (not only here) are capable of putting out something extremely interesting.

sex.changes: We don’t define genres of our broadcast as much as we do when creating a lineup for a party. We do curate it, but we are open to different approaches – and we look for them. Of course, if someone wants to listen to a radio, they can turn on NTS. I like that too, but it’s not that personal for me. What I like most about our shows is that they are held by people I know. I always look forward to what they come up with. In addition, we manage to have a lot of shows with spoken word, which is not very common in Czechia, and some of them even discuss local topics, which probably wouldn’t happen on a foreign radio, imagine someone talking on NTS about Czechtekk in detail. S/O Bassweight Prague!

What other shows would you personally highlight?

Høll: I don’t really wanna shout out specific shows, honestly they’re all awesome and each one brings its own vibe. But the Bass Weight crew is something else, even for the Czech scene in general. More than one hour of a crazy deep-dive into bass music and more.

sex.changes: Before this interview, I listened to the latest episode of Girl bite dog by Mona aka muna khaled. Thanks to her background, interesting influences are reflected in her mixes and it fits my taste perfectly, big recommendation!

Nevinnost: I really like litterbin’s show, Future Forms, for me it’s the essence of our approach, because he tends to think about music in a really out-of-the-box sense. But all of them are amazing and unique.

You study the undercurrents, you’ve been to places. How do you feel about the currents currently running through the Czech music scene?

Høll: I’d say the scene is still super exciting. Sure, Prague’s club scene is the biggest, but the festivals and outdoor events outside the city keep getting better every year. Like our beloved Bukolika. What I really love is that smaller or less-known names are starting to break through, getting the chance to grow on the scene and keep the whole thing alive.

Nevinnost: I must admit that I haven’t been that invested in the scene lately so probably a lot of interesting new projects flew under my radar, but I’m definitely supportive of everyone wanting to start doing things, whether it’s releasing music, throwing parties or anything else. Maybe a trend that I’ve noticed with newly-emerged collectives is that they tend to be a lot more open to experimentation and less gatekeeping, which I definitely approve of and I think this was an OG idea of the rave culture that we should come back to.

sex.changes: I think when it comes to venues, festivals, collectives, and sounds, the Czech scene is super diverse and extremely active. I really appreciate the effort some people put into it, its incredible and something truly unique is being created. The sad part is I feel like people at my age are losing interest. That has a lot to do with how sustainable these activities are. Lately we have been talking and exploring how our approach should evolve to change that. But I believe its natural, just a period of searching! And I would like to say that the community is very open, which I like the most. If anyone wants to get involved in ways beyond making music, go for it! Its worth it!

Radio Labe crew and friends join Ankali ½ Weekender on September 19.