how would I go about setting up an irc channel? using freenode or would I have to set up my own server too?
Keep the server the same. Just change the name in the string. If the channel doesn't exist on the server in question it will be created. Done. When all the clients leave the channel the IRC server will destroy the channel.
Just keep the IRC server the same. FreeNode would probably not appreciate bitcoin traffic. But I presume someone at some point asked the default IRC server admins if they could use it for bitcoin traffic.