Virgin Radio UK streams hot adult contemporary pop spanning the 1980s to today, live from London with a weekly audience of around 1.9 million. Press play on Radio Shuffle and it streams instantly, free, with no account or app download required.
Not the same station that became Absolute Radio
The Virgin Radio name has a split history worth untangling. The original Virgin Radio launched on April 30, 1993, with Richard Branson himself introducing the first song live from a Manchester Virgin Megastore, becoming one of the UK's first independent national stations alongside Classic FM and Talk Radio, according to Wikipedia's history of the station. That original station was rebranded as Absolute Radio in 2008 and still broadcasts today under that name. The station carrying the Virgin Radio name now is a second, separate incarnation that relaunched on March 30, 2016, under News Broadcasting, a subsidiary of News Corp.
Branson's Concorde pursuit of Chris Evans
The original Virgin Radio's defining moment came when Branson personally chased breakfast host Chris Evans, reportedly boarding a Concorde flight to help secure him for the station. Evans eventually found his way back to the Virgin Radio name decades later, launching a breakfast show on the relaunched station on January 21, 2019, after 13 years at BBC Radio 2, a full-circle moment for a name he had already helped define once before.
A current hits service built for a broad pop audience
The relaunched Virgin Radio UK plays a varied pop playlist spanning four decades rather than locking into one era, positioning it as a hot adult contemporary alternative to the UK's more tightly formatted stations. That breadth has helped it build a national presence since 2016, even while sharing its name and legacy with a rebranded sibling station most listeners have never directly connected it to.
Listen free on Radio Shuffle
Virgin Radio UK streams around the clock, and Radio Shuffle carries the feed live with nothing to install and no subscription required. Press play for four decades of pop hits from London.