Anyone who has played a Grand Theft Auto game knows how much of an impact the radio has on the game, but the feature almost didn't make it into the original title. It is only thanks to the fight put up by the sound department at DMA Design, (Rockstar Games' predecessor and Grand Theft Auto's original developer), that players get to enjoy the radio stations and that GTA has become so famous for its sound design.
Whether players enjoy jamming to the tracks on any of Grand Theft Auto V's multiple radio stations, each with its own genre and tone of music, or if they just prefer to listen to the various advertisements and talk shows that build out the satirical world's lore, the radio adds a lot to the atmosphere and story of the series. Swerving to hit an innocent pedestrian wouldn't be the same without an ad for Ammu-Nation playing patriotically in the background, and tearing through road signs and post boxes while listening to the interviews by the famously birdbrained (and now departing) Lazlow really drives home the relatable absurdity of the sandbox franchise.
However, PC Gamer reports that at first DMA Design didn't like the idea of radio stations, and it took a lot of convincing from sound designer Colin Anderson to add them. In-game radio was still a small experiment when Anderson pitched the idea to Craig Conner, musician and fellow DMA member. Conner liked the idea, as it meant he didn't have to settle on one genre of music. However, the first Grand Theft Auto's soundtrack was planned to be MIDI-based to meet strict N64 storage limitations. When the N64 port was cancelled, though, DMA Design incorporated the radio stations feature and, using CD quality sound to better replicate real life radio stations. While the first GTA only had music stations, ads and talk show segments weren't introduced until the sequel. The first game also only used unlicensed music, but the studio began licensed popular music for their subsequent games, and it "changed everything," according to Anderson.
Of course, using real-world licensed music threw DMA's idea of the series being set in an alternate universe out of the window. Anderson was upset by this and said that it "essentially broke the purity of the creative vision", but it also helped shape Grand Theft Auto into the biting satire players know today. The setting of each of the games influenced the radio, using it as a world-building device. While Rockstar's co-founders, Sam Houser and Terry Donovan, wanted to put licensed music into their games to raise the status of the game, Anderson wanted to use new, localized music in an attempt at curbing the fall of the record industry in the late '90s. Anderson didn't get his wish, but Grand Theft Auto 2 saw his concepts for advertisements and talk shows realized, which remains a huge focus of Rockstar's audio development.
The radio in the Grand Theft Auto games is a tremendous influence in the games' over-the-top, parodical nature, which has only snowballed moving into the present. The talk shows take a look at some very real problems in their exaggerated tone, and there's enough popular music to satisfy virtually anyone's taste. The radio truly did change the game in a big way, and for the better.
Source: PC Gamer