In GTA, radio is not a soundtrack but the voice of the city. And in Vice City that voice has always been louder than anywhere else.
Radio as part of the world
In most games, music follows the action: quiet while exploring, loud in combat. GTA works the other way round. The music lives in cars, on radio stations with their own hosts, adverts and news, and the player simply picks a frequency.
The idea goes back to the first GTA, but it came into full bloom in the 2002 Vice City. Flash FM with eighties pop hits, hard rock on V-Rock, disco on Fever 105, ballads on Emotion 98.3 — every station was a character of its own. Many players still remember which frequency they drove along Ocean Beach to.
GTA V took the idea to scale: well over a dozen stations, from rock to hip-hop, plus later additions in GTA Online with their own curators. Radio also became a way to describe the world: what the hosts joke about and what the ads sell says as much about a city as its streets do.
What played in the trailers
Rockstar rarely sets a trailer to random music, and both songs read clearly as statements.
The first trailer ran to Tom Petty’s “Love Is a Long Road” from 1989 — a song about love demanding a long road and endurance. For the story of a couple who commit crimes together, it is almost an epigraph.
The second used the Pointer Sisters’ “Hot Together” from 1986: a light, deliberately retro-romantic pop song over shots of chases, parties and robberies. The contrast is the whole point.
Both songs come from the late eighties. They are a bridge between the 2002 Vice City and today’s Leonida: the series’ past playing over its present.
Whether these tracks will be on the radio has not been announced. But going by the series’ history, trailer music usually makes it into the game.
The licensing problem
GTA radio has a downside. Song licences are granted for a fixed term, and when they expire the tracks have to go. That is how well-known songs disappeared from re-releases of Vice City and San Andreas, and why the 2021 Definitive Edition shipped without part of the original soundtrack.
For GTA 6 this means two things. First, the song list at launch may change over time — especially if the game lives as long as GTA V has. Second, Rockstar will almost certainly commission some music specifically for the game again, as it did for GTA V: original compositions do not depend on someone else’s contract.
How Leonida might sound
What follows is our expectation, not a leak. Present-day Florida has a very distinctive sound, and Rockstar usually builds its radio out of what actually plays in a region.
- Miami bass and Florida hip-hop. The state has one of the most recognisable rap scenes in the US, and both the classics and the current generation would make sense.
- Latin music. Reggaeton, Latin pop and salsa are an inseparable part of Miami. With Lucia being Latina, it is also a matter of character.
- Country and southern rock. Northern and rural Florida sounds nothing like Miami. For Port Gellhorn and Ambrosia, a station like that would be natural.
- Electronic music. Miami is one of the world capitals of club music, and the beach parties in the trailers call for the matching sound.
- A retro station. All but obligatory as a bow to the 2002 Vice City — especially since both trailers already sound like one.
Ads and talk stations
A separate part of GTA radio is the adverts for made-up products and the talk shows. That is where a large share of the series’ trademark satire lives: get-rich-quick gurus, dubious medicines, politicians and hosts with conspiracy theories.
For GTA 6 the material is right there. The trailers already mock social media, viral clips and influencers, and characters such as the duo Real Dimez make their living from fame. Talk stations and ads are the most natural place for that satire to run constantly rather than only in cutscenes.
One last thing: if Rockstar keeps the tradition, you will still be able to switch the radio off in the car. But going by the series’ history, few people will.
