Juice Internet radio station, based out of Tacoma, has managed to reach thousands of listeners worldwide over the last three years.

It started as a hobby and promotional tool for Juice’s founder/rapper Quincy Henry’s (a.k.a. Q-Dot) own music career, but now Henry views Juice as a possible staple in the Pacific Northwest hip hop scene and as a way to promote local, independent artists on a global scale.

“Juice just took off,” Henry said. “It was just a freak thing that this station had as many listeners as it was getting.”

The ratings Juice was receiving prompted Henry to re-asses the station’s purpose and goals, taking Juice completely off the air in November 2009 to do some serious re-branding.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing the station any justice.”

Juice was re-introduced Jan. 1, bringing in a whole new era for the Internet radio station in 2010.

Producers Henry and partner Nick Hasbrook have created a more polished look and a stronger image for Juice, hoping to take it to the next level. They want to create a strong professional presence for the Internet radio station, a domain that has been dominated largely by amateur radio hosts over the years.

Following the re-launch earlier this month, Juice will be updating new music to its hip hop and R&B line up each month, with a hope of having as much as half of the broadcast devoted to local artists.

Juice will also feature two new live shows: “Tre’dmarks Radio,” (airs 7 p.m. on Wednesdays) showcasing local artists, music and music news, and Hasbrook’s “The Locker Room,” (airs 7:30 p.m. on Fridays) a sports-minded comedy talk show variety hour.

Currently, Juice is broadcast from Internet radio service live365.com, but next month the team will launch its own, fully-operational website.

“Ninety percent of Internet radio are hobbyists, and we’re really trying to make this thing a legitimate radio station,” Henry said, adding that Juice hopes to solidify its local community presence by hosting and sponsoring local events and aims to be a tool for local artists to reach wider audiences with their music.

“Local artists can get their music played, and played to a global audience who are really listening to music. Internet radio listeners seem to be searching for something new and different.”

Before temporarily pulling the station off the air in November 2009, Juice was averaging about 20,000 listeners a month, hitting audiences from the Puget Sound to listeners spanning more than 30 countries.

So far since re-launching, Juice is getting about 100 listeners a day. Henry said the goal is for the numbers to increase as the business grows.

Check out Juice radio at its current domain: www.live365.com/gojuiceradio, and follow Juice on Facebook and Twitter for updates regarding new music and the launch of the new website. Contact qdot@tredmarks.com or thegoose333@yahoo.com for more information or how to get on the air.