Nova Throwbacks streams non-stop 90s and 2000s hits from Brisbane, Australia, a DAB+ digital station built entirely around throwback pop, dance, and chart music from those two decades. Stream it live and free right now on Radio Shuffle, wherever you are in the world.
Born From a Nationwide Digital Rollout
Nova Throwbacks exists because of a broader shift in how Australians access radio. The country's major commercial networks began a staged rollout of DAB+ digital broadcasting in May 2009, launching in Perth on May 4, followed by Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Sydney over the following weeks, according to WorldDAB's history of the Australian rollout. That digital spectrum gave Australia's big radio groups room to launch stations built around a single format rather than trying to serve every listener from one FM signal, and Nova Entertainment used that space to build Nova Throwbacks as a Brisbane-based, 90s-and-00s-only station.
Part of a Murdoch-Owned Network
Nova Throwbacks operates under Nova Entertainment, the company behind Nova 96.9 in Sydney, Nova 100 in Melbourne, Nova 106.9 in Brisbane, Nova 93.7 in Perth, and Nova 919 in Adelaide, a network reaching more than four million Australians every week according to Wikipedia's overview of the company. The company began life in 1996 as DMG Radio Australia under founding chairman Charlie Cox and CEO Paul Thompson, before Lachlan Murdoch's investment vehicle Illyria Pty Ltd bought out the remaining stake from Daily Mail and General Trust in September 2012. The rebrand to Nova Entertainment followed in February 2014, formalizing a name that better matched a company that had grown well beyond its original FM stations.
One Station Among Several Digital Siblings
Nova Throwbacks is not Nova Entertainment's only DAB+-only property. The company also runs Nova Nation, a dedicated dance music station, and Nova Fresh Country, giving the network a spread of niche formats that would be difficult to justify on a single crowded FM dial. Throwbacks fills its own specific lane in that lineup, running commercial-grade playlists built entirely from the pop, dance, and chart hits that defined the 1990s and 2000s rather than mixing eras the way a typical classic hits station might.
Four Million Home and Car Radios
The infrastructure behind stations like Nova Throwbacks grew fast once DAB+ launched. More than 4.73 million DAB+ radios had been sold across Australia's five major capital cities since the 2009 rollout, split between roughly 2.56 million home and portable receivers and 2.17 million units built into new cars, according to WorldDAB's figures. That installed base gave digital-only formats like Nova Throwbacks a real audience from day one rather than requiring listeners to seek out a niche internet stream.
Tune In
Nova Throwbacks offers exactly what its name promises: a continuous run of 90s and 2000s hits without the news breaks or talk segments that come with a full-service FM station. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle for a straight shot of nostalgia from one of Australia's biggest commercial radio groups.