GTA Radio/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Lazlow really The Last DJ like he claims to be, or just a deluded, unlikable has-been who deserves to fail at his endeavors?
  • Crosses the Line Twice: "Dios mío, you shot him! There's blood!... and pubic hair!... all over the studio!!" And more.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Obviously, seeing as they are radio stations. Rockstar usually goes through pains to appropriately pick contemporary and appropriate music for each station.
    • Special mention goes to K-ROSE in San Andreas. It's country, but somehow it works when you're driving through the woods.
    • This troper would absolutely like to add Vladivostok FM. EVERYTHING THAT PLAYS ON IT.
      • Indeed; It seems as though Rockstar Games went out of their way to get some of the best in Russian (and in Ruslana's case, Ukrainian) music. However, special mention mustgo to Massive B Sound System 96.9 (simply some of the BEST dancehall out there!), Liberty Rock Radio 97.8, and Radio Broker. Also in San Andreas mention must go to Radio X.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Princess Robot Bubblegum from her Show Within a Show in IV has a lot of fans. Not all that surprising given that she's a parody of Japanese Media Tropes.
  • "Grand Theft Auto" Effect: Trope Namer and arguable Trope Maker. Lampshaded in IV when the rap station DJ says you'd better like "Flashing Lights" because they are gonna play it again, and again, and again.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: San Andreas has a radio ad for the American Bank of Los Santos saying that borrowing money for lifestyle is "only a risk if you get into money troubles or the economy changes, which doesn't seem likely!". The game was released in 2004.
    • This could also be Harsher in Hindsight depending on what you think.
    • This was probably intentional. Even in the early 2000's, there were signs that the economy was going south.
    • One of the reality-challenged guests on Vice City's talk radio is a Straw Feminist who has written a book about spending a year disguised as a man, disgustedly recounting the (rather mundane) things men do when women aren't around. Four years later, journalist Norah Vincent published a (much more reasoned and sane) book named Self-Made Man: My Year Disguised As A Man.
  • Older Than They Think: You'll be very enlightened if you listen to contemporary hip-hop, then listen to the other radio stations in the games. In addition to the obvious hits from the different time periods, they included a lot of songs that have been sampled for famous rap cuts, probably because those are the easiest to license. Examples include the Isley Brothers' "Between The Sheets" (which was turned into The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa") and David Mc Callum's "The Edge" (which was the basis for Dr. Dre's "The Next Episode").
  • Shallow Parody: The Take Thats in IV got a lot less subtle, and tended more towards mocking specific people and shows rather than genres. Still didn't prevent it from having its funny moments.
  • What the Hell, Casting Agency?: Karl Lagerfeld as the K109: The Studio DJ