OZ Urban Radio streams R&B, soul, and hip-hop from Canning Vale in Perth, Western Australia, broadcasting on 87.8 FM and online worldwide. You can listen free right now on Radio Shuffle, no sign-up required, wherever you happen to be.
A Network Built by Absorbing a Neighbor
OZ Urban Radio's current footprint on the Perth dial is partly the result of another station's ending. UKWA launched in July 2014 on 88FM in Yanchep and 87.8FM in Burns Beach and Kinross, built specifically to serve the UK expatriate community scattered across Perth's northern suburbs. It expanded to 87.6FM and rebranded as UK Radio in 2018, then in April 2023 its frequencies were folded into the OZ Urban Radio network, ending its run as an independent station and widening OZ Urban's reach across Perth's north.
Real Shows, Real Presenters
The station's own pitch is blunt about what separates it from an algorithm-driven playlist: "Urban music with a difference. Real shows, real presenters," as the station puts it on its listener profile. That commitment to live, hosted programming over automation runs through its flagship show, The Urban Meltdown, hosted by Brett Costello every Sunday night. The show does not stay confined to Perth either. It is internationally syndicated, reaching well over 200 stations across the globe according to its own listings, which makes a Sunday night slot on a Canning Vale frequency also a broadcast heard far outside Western Australia.
A Host Who Built Perth's Underage Hip-Hop Scene
Costello's presence behind the mic carries more history than a typical late-night DJ slot. Long before OZ Urban Radio existed, he ran and promoted the Ghetto Jam series, an all-ages hip-hop night that gave underage fans in Perth somewhere to hear the genre live for eight years, from 1995 to 2003. He also built residencies and guest sets at venues across the city including Polygons, Mangoes, Orsinis, Buzz Bar, Bar Rumba, and Margeaux, the kind of club circuit work that shapes a DJ's ear long before a microphone and a frequency get involved.
Part of a Growing WA Scene
OZ Urban Radio operates inside a Perth hip-hop and R&B scene that has been building its own infrastructure in recent years rather than pushing artists to head east for a shot at wider Australian audiences. Local acts such as Drapht, Downsyde, and Koi Child have helped establish a homegrown identity for the city's urban music, and the arrival of dedicated urban stations and local studios has given that scene room to develop without leaving Western Australia. A station spinning R&B and hip-hop around the clock, anchored by a host who has been part of that scene since the 1990s, fits naturally into that picture.
Tune In
Whether you catch The Urban Meltdown live on Sunday night or drop in for the regular daytime rotation, OZ Urban Radio offers a station built on soul, R&B, and hip-hop with a presenter lineage that runs back through Perth's own club scene. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle and hear what a Perth frequency sounds like when it is carried by real hosts rather than a shuffled playlist.