The 8Radio philosophy is simple – we play the music we like. Everything Alternative from 80s synth pop to brand new Irish and international gems to 70s post-punk. If the song is good, we will play it. The core of our musical output is the very best new and classic Alternative music both international and Irish.
To contact 8Radio you can email studio@8Radio.com, find us on Social @8RadioIreland, telephone/whatsapp/text us on 0838 888 888 or send us a letter or some sweets to 8Radio, Suite 3202, 39 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
8Radio.com is operated by 8Radio Vision Ltd, registered in Dublin in 2013. It is managed by Simon Maher who was previously a founder presenter and General Manager of Phantom 105.2 from its early days as a pirate station through to its days as a fully licenced operation.
Following his departure from Phantom in 2011, Simon began working on putting together a group of like-minded individuals with a love of music and radio.
“I had been asking people what they listen and so many people tell me they have deserted traditional radio altogether which is a great shame. People still love music though so they have replaced their terrestrial radio listening with online radio/spotify/deezer and their own playlists which are by their nature a bit less structured than traditional radio. So, when we started putting the music for 8Radio together, we have gone for a much more random selection of high quality tunes. Think The National followed by Lucius followed by The Blades at lunchtime!”
In 2013 the 8Radio.com group was formed and a formal structure for 8Radio.com was born. Apart from its online presence, which is 8Radio.com’s main broadcast platform, 8Radio has applied for, and been granted, temporary FM licences to broadcast to the cities of Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick at weekends. The next FM broadcasts are scheduled for weekends in April 2023. These FM broadcasts are intended to act as further proof of concept for the 8Radio.com format and provide an avenue for disenfranchised radio listeners to find their way back to Irish radio. 8Radio.com has targeted 9000 app downloads as well as 12000 Facebook likes, 3300 Instagram and 10000 Twitter followers by the end of 2022. In 2022, 8Radio was listened to for more than 900,000 hours (verified by AudioMetrix and TuneIn Amplifier) with almost 75% of those hours being Irish based.
The operating company for 8Radio.com, 8Radio Vision Ltd has made submissions to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland setting out it’s views on the future of Alternative Music Radio in a changing radio environment and looks forward to the BAI progressing licencing both Digital and Analogue.
8Radio.com believes strongly that there is a market for an Alternative Music service in Ireland operating on a business model which matches it’s niche appeal while providing a high-quality valuable outlet for music that would not normally be available on daytime terrestrial radio in this country.