Virgin Radio Italia streams rock, punk rock, rockabilly, and rock and roll across Italy, Monaco, San Marino, Croatia, and Slovenia, operated by the Finelco Group under license from Richard Branson's Virgin brand. You can stream it live and free right now on Radio Shuffle, wherever you are in the world.
A Deal Signed In London
Virgin Radio Italia exists because of a handshake between two very different broadcasting empires. Finelco Group, the Italian company behind Radio 105 and Radio Monte Carlo, struck a licensing agreement with the Virgin Group on June 8, 2007, signed in London by Finelco president Alberto Hazan and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, according to Italian Wikipedia's account of the deal. Virgin Radio Italia went on air just over a month later, launching nationwide at midnight on July 12, 2007, with an intentionally ironic first song: Joey Ramone's cover of "What a Wonderful World."
Frequencies With Their Own Dance Music Pedigree
The frequencies Virgin Radio inherited did not come from nowhere. The station launched on the signal previously used by Play Radio, which had itself been Italia Network before that, a station originally founded on July 12, 1982, in Udine by Mario Pinosa and Leo Barbarino, according to Wikipedia's history of Radio Italia Network. Virgin Radio Italia's launch date landed on the exact 25th anniversary of that founding, a coincidence in the timing of two very different Italian broadcasting eras meeting on the same calendar date.
The Station That Once Shaped Italian Dance Music
Before it became rock radio's home in Italy, that frequency carried real weight in the country's house and techno scene. Italia Network built its 1990s identity around dance music programming, running shows like Suburbia, an underground chart hosted by Mr. Marvin, and Master Quick, a techno program hosted by Einstein D.R., alongside Los Cuarenta, a chart show successful enough that its compilation albums sold 200,000 copies at their peak.
Now Part of a Three-Network Group
Virgin Radio became Finelco's third national network alongside Radio 105 and Radio Monte Carlo, with Mediaset later acquiring a 19 percent stake in the group. The rock format has stuck for nearly two decades since the 2007 launch, with the brand later expanding into Virgin Radio TV, a music television channel that launched on November 30, 2010, before ending its digital terrestrial broadcast in 2012 while continuing on satellite.
Tune In
Launched exactly 25 years after the dance station that once occupied its frequency, Virgin Radio Italia turned a legendary house and techno signal into one of the country's biggest rock stations. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle to hear it live.