R2 AltpopR2 Altpop

Raadio 2 started the R2 Extra web channels in spring 2021, and Altpop was among the first additions: a list of alternative pop for listeners who wanted out of the chart rotation. In October 2023 it became something rarer, the broadcaster's first DAB+ test channel and a second Raadio 2 signal in its own right, carrying no news, no speech and no mainstream music. It runs on the web alongside the digital transmission, and there is nothing at all between the records to tell you so.

The rotation is wider than the name suggests. Grunge-era guitars turn up in the same window as sample-built art rock, hushed modern soul and brooding indie, which puts nineties alternative rock, art pop and neo-soul on one playlist alongside the Estonian and international indie the parent station breaks in its evening blocks. No chart hits, and no voice to tell you what just played.