Absolute Radio 80s live

Absolute Radio 80s is Bauer's national station for 1980s rock and pop, part of the Absolute Radio family of decade stations. Its promise is simple — non-stop 80s hits — but it leans further towards the decade's guitar music than most of its rivals, in keeping with the rock identity of Absolute Radio itself. It went on air at 7pm on 4 December 2009, replacing a station called Absolute Xtreme, and the first song it played was "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" by the Beastie Boys. Absolute has since built a family of decade stations around it, with channels for the 60s, 70s, 90s and 00s. Over the years it has had some famous voices from the decade itself: Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley presented a Saturday evening show until December 2019, and Matthew Rudd's Forgotten 80s, devoted to hits that time had overlooked, ran from 2013 to March 2026. The station has moved around the dial more than most. It launched nationally on the Digital One multiplex in May 2010, moved to Sound Digital in February 2016, and switched to stereo DAB+ in October 2023. In December 2023 it was taken off Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media. Absolute Radio 80s is on DAB+ across the UK, in the Rayo app and online, and on the live stream here.