Radio One programme manager Olivier Jutel said it was ''amazing'' the station had survived so long in its independent form - especially given it was under threat of closure in 2011.
Since the station was founded in 1984 it had fostered the Dunedin music scene, exposed students to ''alternative culture'' and offered something different from the commercial stations, Mr Jutel said.
It is continuing in this spirit during O-Week, offering a schedule of ''countercultural'' events, which includes bringing Gore graffiti artist Sean Duffell on to campus, where he is spray-painting a mural to mark the station's 30th anniversary.
The station's events were about ''complementing'' mainstream events.
''The student experience, going back to the early 2000s, has become a lot more commercial as our culture has become a lot more commercial.
''We want to take it back to `cool youth counterculture' and just kind of showcase that.''
The events so far have included a Street Fighter II competition, live DJ sets and a game of street basketball.
The week will finish with a gig by ethnomusicologist Brian Shimkovitz, who plays as Awesome Tapes From Africa, at ReFuel tonight.
''This thing, Awesome Tapes From Africa, is as offbeat as it comes and amazing. The guy is an ethnomusicologist and he does a DJ set of tapes, because tapes are what is going on musically in Africa.
''For those of us who are music nerds, this is on our top-three wish list,'' he said.
