OpenLab Radio streams an eclectic run of beats, house, techno, jazz, hip-hop and soul from Ibiza, built around a simple idea, that independent artists deserve airtime free of adverts and filler talk. The station carries the name and mission of the producer who started it, and its own history includes two years of complete silence before anyone was sure it would come back at all.
Built by the Man Behind "Children"
OpenLab was founded in 2013 by Robert Miles, the Italian producer born Roberto Concina who had already made his name worldwide with the 1995 track Children, a dream house record that hit number one across a dozen countries according to DJ Mag's coverage of his career. Miles launched the station from a 500-year-old San Juan finca on the island before it later moved into the old Global Radio studios, giving an artist already famous for one genre-defining record a platform to champion music that had nothing to do with chart success.
A Station Built Around What It Refused to Do
From the start, OpenLab positioned itself as a home for independent labels and emerging producers rather than a commercial outlet, and much of its loyal following came from a strict policy of staying largely advertisement and talk free. That approach turned it into a genuine destination for listeners who wanted the music itself rather than a station padded out with promos, closer to a curated broadcast than a typical FM format.
Two Years of Silence After Miles' Death
Robert Miles died in 2017, and OpenLab went off the air soon after, leaving the station dark while its team decided what, if anything, came next. According to Ibiza Spotlight's account of the shutdown, the pause lasted roughly two years, long enough that a return was never guaranteed.
Coming Back to Recapture the Same Essence
OpenLab returned on May 1, 2019, with the explicit goal of recapturing the essence Miles had originally curated rather than rebuilding the station into something unrecognizable. The relaunch brought in DJ Seinfeld, B-Traits and Fink for regular shows, alongside programming slots handed to independent labels including Ninja Tune, BBE and Stones Throw, giving grassroots artists the same kind of platform Miles had built the station around in the first place.
A Sound That Changes With the Hour
The revived station structures its 24-hour schedule around the time of day, running indie electronica through the mornings, chill-tech at sunset, deeper electronic and experimental sounds after dark, and ambient frequencies toward dawn. That rhythm mirrors Ibiza's own day-to-night rave culture, built for a listener whose mood and setting change as much as the tracklist does, whether they are tuned in locally on 106.4FM or streaming from anywhere in the world.
OpenLab could easily have stayed dark after 2017, one more independent station that quietly disappeared when its founder was no longer around to run it. Instead it came back built on the same mission Robert Miles started with, still finding room for producers nobody else is playing, still refusing to fill the gaps between tracks with adverts.