Rockstar Games has pulled back the curtain on the tunes you'll get to listen to in Grand Theft Auto VI and the real news isn't the radio but how you will use it. A new Newswire post revealed six of the game's stations and confirmed on-demand podcasts as well as the option to keep listening on foot through headphones and earbuds, so you'll be able to keep listening to your favorite podcast no matter what you're doing in the city.
For more than two decades, the Grand Theft Auto radio lived in your car and stepping out meant silence. In GTA 6, Jason and Lucia carry the audio with them, with radio and podcasts routed through earbuds connected to their phones whether they are driving or walking. The podcasts are new to the series entirely, an on-demand layer sitting beside the usual live stations. It is a small-sounding feature with a big effect on how the world will feel to move through.
As for the stations, Rockstar promises the biggest and widest-ranging lineup the series has had.
The six GTA 6 stations Rockstar revealed
Station | Genre | Hosts |
|---|---|---|
Cocoteo FM | Modern Latin, from bachata to reggaeton | El Martillo and La Gata |
Back Country Radio | Renegade country | MW and Delta Dawne |
AfroBank FM | African, from classics to amapiano | Burna and Palmsy |
The Chamber 106.6 | Metal | DJ Kerry and DJ Tom |
Flash FM | Pop, returning from Vice City | Robyn and Alex |
Dirty South Classics | Southern rap and hip-hop | Trick and Trina |
Rockstar calls it the biggest and widest-ranging radio lineup in the series yet.
The headline name for longtime fans is Flash FM. The pop station was an institution in the original Grand Theft Auto: Vice City back in 2002 and its return, now hosted by Robyn and Alex, is the kind of callback players who have been here since the beginning will feel immediately.
The host list is where it gets interesting, because some of the names are nods to real artists. Dirty South Classics is fronted by Trick and Trina, an ode to the city's own Trick Daddy and Trina, while AfroBank FM's Burna invites an obvious guess of its own. Rockstar has not spelled out who is behind the mics, but the resemblance certainly looks like an intentional reference.
As for the genres, alongside the expected pop, metal and country, there is a modern Latin station, an African station reaching for current sounds like amapiano and 3-step, as well as a Southern rap channel, a mix that reflects the fictional city's cultural makeup rather than a single era or scene, much like its real-life counterpart.
This is also only part of the picture. Rockstar says more is coming, including details on the game's dynamic score and more singles from Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the 34-track official record that already pulled 41 million streams in a day.
Between the album, the Spotify billboard campaign and now the station reveals, music is shaping up to be one of GTA 6's loudest selling points when it arrives on November 19.