Various radio stations can be received on radios in most vehicles in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. They are also available in the Audio menu, while the game is paused. The soundtrack has been released in a box set and seven separate CDs.
Most radio stations play a mixture of music, DJ chat, and spoof advertising. The stations each reflect one style of music intended to evoke the atmosphere of the time.
The player can listen to the following radio stations:
- Wildstyle - Hip Hop, Electro
- Flash FM - Pop, Rock
- KCHAT - Interviews
- Fever 105 - Soul, Disco, R&B
- V-Rock - Hard Rock, Metal
- VCPR - Political Talk Show
- Radio Espantoso - Latin Jazz
- Emotion 98.3 - Power Ballads
- Wave 103 - New Wave, Synthpop
- MP3 Player (PC only) - User-Defined Track Player
The songs are listed in the same order as they appear in the game.
Wildstyle Pirate Radio
Wildstyle Pirate Radio is hosted by famed DJ "Super Rocking" Mr. Magic, who was an actual rap DJ during the 1980s, when the game takes place. The station plays hip hop and period electro music. An album of the songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set.
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- Trouble Funk - "Pump Me Up"
- Davy DMX - "One for the Treble"
- Cybotron - "Clear"
- Hashim - "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)"
- Herbie Hancock - "Rockit"
- Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - "Looking for the Perfect Beat"
- 2 Live Crew - "Get It Girl"
- Run-D.M.C. - "Rock Box"
- Mantronix - "Bassline"
- Tyrone Brunson - "The Smurf"
- Whodini - "Magic's Wand"
- Zapp - "More Bounce to the Ounce"
- Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - "The Message"
- Kurtis Blow - "The Breaks"
- Man Parrish - "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop) (Techno Remix)"
Flash FM
Flash FM is Hosted by Toni (voiced by Maria Chambers, for the second time), and plays period pop music. Flash FM is also one of two preferred radio stations tuned in by both the Haitian gang and the Streetwannabes, heard after Tommy carjacks their gang vehicles. An album of songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set.
According to her chatter between songs, Toni is an excited, Valspeak-using party-girl who gets invited on tour buses and to backstage parties, notably to one with Love Fist. However, she expects to do something important with her life by the time she's 30 — an in-series joke, as she is still a radio DJ 15 years later, in Liberty City's Flashback 95.6. As further reference to GTA III, Toni mentions that "I was dancing with my lighter and my hair went up like a Christmas tree." on Flash FM, an incident she has since forgotten in GTA III when she claims, "Luckily I've never have been [on fire]... I've done a lot of crazy things, I can tell you that... but I've never been on fire... at least not to my knowledge.", and later on she mentions being asked by friends: "do you remember the 80s?"; to which she replies: 'well, I certainly don't remember anything else since then!" .
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- Hall & Oates - "Out of Touch"
- Wang Chung - "Dance Hall Days"
- Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean"
- Laura Branigan - "Self Control"
- Go West - "Call Me"
- INXS - "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)"
- Bryan Adams - "Run to You"
- Electric Light Orchestra - "Four Little Diamonds"
- Yes - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
- The Buggles - "Video Killed the Radio Star"
- Aneka - "Japanese Boy"
- Talk Talk - "Life's What You Make It"
- The Outfield - "Your Love"
- Joe Jackson - "Steppin' Out"
- The Fixx - "One Thing Leads to Another"
- Lionel Richie - "Running with the Night" (on the original PlayStation 2 version, removed from the Greatest Hits edition and the PC and Xbox versions.)
KCHAT
KCHAT is celebrity talk station hosted by Amy Sheckenhausen (voiced by Leyna Weber). Sheckenhausen is a ditzy girl with a cheery voice, who tends to gush over her famous guests while ignoring those she tends to find boring. She sometimes reads a book during interviews and forgets when there's a commercial playing. Of the nine radio stations in the game, KCHAT is one of the two stations not represented in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack.)
The following persons are interviewed:
- Jezz Torrent
- Michaela Carapadis
- Pat "Mr. Zoo" Flannerdy
- Gethsemanee Starhawk Moonmaker
- BJ Smith
- Claude Maginot
- Thor
Fever 105
Fever 105 is hosted by Oliver "Ladykiller" Biscuit (voiced by Julius Dyson) and plays disco, soul and R&B. Fever 105 is one of two preferred radio stations tuned in by the Haitian gang, which can be heard after the player carjacks their gang vehicles. The station is also the default radio station set when the player enters Lance Vance's white Infernus sports car. An album of songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set. By coincidence, Will Smith sampled The Whispers' song "And The Beat Goes On" in his hit song "Miami" and Vice City is modeled after Miami, Florida.
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- The Whispers - "And the Beat Goes On"
- Fat Larry's Band - "Act Like You Know"
- Oliver Cheatham - "Get Down Saturday Night"
- Pointer Sisters - "Automatic"
- René & Angela - "I'll Be Good"
- Mary Jane Girls - "All Night Long"
- Rick James - "Ghetto Life"
- Michael Jackson - "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
- Evelyn King - "Shame"
- Teena Marie - "Behind the Groove"
- Mtume - "Juicy Fruit"
- Kool & the Gang - "Summer Madness"
- Indeep - "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life"
V-Rock
V-Rock is Hosted by Lazlow, who also scripted and produced many of the radio stations and commercials in the game, V-Rock features heavy metal music and hard rock. The station is preferred by Vice City's Biker gang, which is tuned in by default after the player hijacks their gang motorcycles. An album of the songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set.
It is interesting to note that on Grand Theft Auto III's Chatterbox FM chat show, which is set circa 2001, Lazlow claims that he hosts Chatterbox because he "got kicked off the rock station." A hidden track on the V-Rock CD hints at how Lazlow got fired. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which takes place in 1992, Lazlow interviews celebrities on a radio show called "Entertaining America" on the public talk radio station WCTR. He mentions that he is still getting over the 1980s and is having trouble adjusting to the 1990s. In Vice City Stories, Lazlow, who is at that time the co-host of V-Rock, is constantly belittled by the DJ Couzin Ed, and at one point retorts "Well I'm going to broadcasting school next year. Then I'm gonna come back to Vice City and be a V-Rock DJ." It is said by Lazlow that the V-Rock transmitter is located in Red Dick, Florida .
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- Twisted Sister - "I Wanna Rock"
- Mötley Crüe - "Too Young to Fall in Love"
- Quiet Riot - "Cum on Feel the Noize"
- The Cult - "She Sells Sanctuary"
- Ozzy Osbourne - "Bark at the Moon"
- Love Fist - "Dangerous Bastard"1
- Iron Maiden - "2 Minutes to Midnight"
- Loverboy - "Working for the Weekend"
- Alcatrazz - "God Blessed Video"
- Tesla - "Cumin' Atcha Live"
- Autograph - "Turn Up the Radio"
- Megadeth - "Peace Sells"
- Anthrax - "Madhouse"
- Slayer - "Raining Blood"
- Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"
- Love Fist - "Fist Fury"1
- David Lee Roth - "Yankee Rose"
V-Rock was also the branding of WSTB, a radio station serving Streetsboro High School in Streetsboro, Ohio. Like it's virtual successor, V-Rock played heavy metal music; indeed, given the time period V-Rock was on the air (1991-1999), it's likely the on-air station played many of the same songs as the station in the video game. V-Rock signed off the air in the wake of the Columbine tragedy, and resumed that fall with a new brand and new format. (See also WSTB for additional information.)
Radio Espantoso
Radio Espantoso is hosted by DJ Pepe (voiced by Tony Chiroldes) and plays Caribbean-themed music, and Latin jazz. Espantoso, a radio station spoken entirely in Spanish, is the preferred station of the Cuban gang, as evidenced by the fact that Tommy often finds himself listening to it after carjacking cars that belong to them. It is also popular among taxi cab drivers. An album of the songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set. On a trivial note, the radio station's name translates literally as "Terrifying Radius" or "Horrible Radius".
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- Cachao - "A Gozar Con Mi Combo"
- Alpha Banditos - "The Bull is Wrong"1
- Tres Apenas como eso - "Yo Te Miré"1
- Eumir Deodato - "Latin Flute"
- Mongo Santamaría - "Mama Papa Tu"
- Mongo Santamaría - "Me and You Baby (Picao y Tostao)"
- Machito and his Afro-Cubans - "Mambo Mucho Mambo"
- Unaesta - "La Vida es Una Lenteja"1
- Lonnie Liston Smith - "Expansions"
- Irakere - "Anunga Nunga"
- Eumir Deodato - "Super Strut"
- Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra - "Jamay"
- Benny Moré - "Maracaïbo Oriental"
- Tito Puente - "Mambo Gozón"
Emotion 98.3
Emotion 98.3 is hosted by Fernando Martinez (voiced by Frank Chavez) and features power ballads. An album of the songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set, and is the only radio station with all of its songs on the official CD.
An exaggerated stereotype of a Latin Lothario, Martinez believes he has a gift with the ladies and as a match-maker. With his first appearance, in Grand Theft Auto III, he is exposed as a Caucasian pimp from upstate New York during a radio interview in Chatterbox FM.
As a note, Crockett's Theme by Jan Hammer is a direct reference to Miami Vice since it is the theme for character James "Sonny" Crockett.
Fernando claims he was eventually forced out of Vice City when he reappears in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a caller to and then impromptu host for the Lonely Hearts Show program on WCTR, before appearing as the owner of Fernando's New Beginnings (revealed to be a prostitution business, with Fernando as a pimp) in GTA III.
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- Foreigner - "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
- Kate Bush - "Wow"
- Squeeze - "Tempted"
- REO Speedwagon - "Keep on Loving You"
- Cutting Crew - "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"
- Roxy Music - "More Than This"
- Toto - "Africa"
- Mr. Mister - "Broken Wings"
- John Waite - "Missing You"
- Jan Hammer - "Crockett's Theme"
- Night Ranger - "Sister Christian"
- Luther Vandross - "Never Too Much"
Wave 103
Wave 103 is Hosted by Adam First, who is voiced by Jamie Canfield. Wave 103 features New Wave and Synthpop music. Wave 103 is one of two preferred radio stations tuned in by the Streetwannabes, the other station being Flash FM. Wave 103 can be heard after Tommy carjacks their gang vehicles. An album of the songs from the station is available separately or as part of the Vice City soundtrack box set. Customers received this volume when they placed a pre-order down payment of $10 on the PC version of the game at Best Buy. The name of the station apes that of an actual local radio station Wave 102 in Dundee, Scotland, the original birthplace of the game's design company Rockstar North. The name may also allude to the New Wave music on the station's playlist.
Flash FM's "Japanese Boy" also appears on the European version of the Wave 103 CD album.
Like most DJs in Vice City, Adam believes that his kind of music is the best, and fancies himself a music connoisseur. He also mentions that he likes money, is a big fan of hang gliding, despises music videos because they show that the artists' looks are more important than actual talent, and insists that his mother had "nothing to do" with his "personal choice" of going into radio.
Adam makes a cameo appearance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a caller to the conspiracy theory show Area 53 on WCTR. He says that while hang-gliding in the San Andreas desert (Bone County), he saw a man at a trailer compound performing strange rituals with a Domestabot. The show host Marvin Trill (who is later revealed to be the man that Adam saw) tells him to get a real hobby and hangs up.
The following songs can be heard on the station:
- New Order - "Blue Monday"
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Two Tribes"
- Sigue Sigue Sputnik - "Love Missile F1-11"
- Gary Numan - "Cars"
- The Human League - "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"
- Blondie - "Atomic"
- Nena - "99 Luftballons"
- Kim Wilde - "Kids in America"
- Tears for Fears - "Pale Shelter"
- Corey Hart - "Sunglasses At Night"
- ABC - "Poison Arrow"
- A Flock of Seagulls - "I Ran (So Far Away)"
- The Psychedelic Furs - "Love My Way"
- Animotion - "Obsession"
- Spandau Ballet - "Gold"
- Thomas Dolby - "Hyperactive!"
- Romeo Void - "Never Say Never"
VCPR
Vice City Public Radio, abbreviated as VCPR, is hosted by Maurice Chavez (voiced by Philip Anthony Rodriguez), with supervisors Jonathan Freeloader (Patrick Olsen) and Michelle Montanius (Kelly Guest).
On VCPR are the frequent donation drives by Michelle Montanius and Jonathan Freeloader, who between shows beg for support money (as VCPR is a public show, it relies on donations) and try to make the listener feel as guilty as possible about listening yet not supporting Public Radio.
Pressing Issues
Much like KCHAT, VCPR features live interviews; unlike the celebrity interviews on KCHAT, however, the show broadcast on VCPR within the game is called Pressing Issues, and focuses on exactly that—particular issues are chosen, and Maurice Chavez mediates an informal debate between selected guests. Three such issues are broadcast within the game.
Morality
The first issue deals with issues of general morality. The three guests for this debate are firebrand Pastor Richards (David Green), harried activist, mother and wife Jan Brown (Maureen Silliman), and naturist Barry Stark (Renaud Sebbane). Pastor Richards is a corrupt and wholly insane televangelist, who promises salvation (in the form of a radiation proof giant living space/effigy of Richards) to all those who pay him very large donations (he later reveals that he was actually planning on using the money to build himself a palace mansion in Hawaii). Jan Brown is an overstressed, overattentive mother who is cheated on (constantly) by her husband. Barry Stark is a naturist and a liar, with sexuality issues (he gets erections several times during the debate). By the end of this segment, Pastor Richards snaps, and, disgusted by Stark's nudism, pulls a gun on him and shoots him in the genitals, while Brown passes out. Pastor Richards also ends up claiming the station as his own for a short while.
Barry Stark also appeared as a caller on Chatterbox FM in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto III, where he makes similar comments about nudity.
During the interview, Pastor Richards complains that "American newspapers are owned by Canadians with an agenda". This could be a reference to the mockumentary The Canadian Conspiracy, which details how the Canadian government is subverting the United States by taking over its media, and came out in 1985, one year before the setting of the game.
There is a perception amongst some gamers that Pastor Richards is a caricature either of former televangelist Jim Bakker or Pat Robertson. Rockstar Games has set up a toll-free telephone line that, when called, plays a recording of Pastor Richards discussing his "Salvation Statue." The number can be reached by calling 1-866-9-SAVE-ME (972-8363).
The interview goes awry when Pastor Richards pulls a gun on Barry Stark for being immoral and shoots him in the groin. Barry survives and "is in need of a proctologist". The show then cuts away to Jonathan and Michelle.
Perception and Positive Thinking
The second issue is that of perception and attitude. The three guests for this debate are exaggerated gothic artist Konstantinos Smith (voice artist credited as Konstantinos.com), positive thinker, motivational speaker and shyster Jeremy Robard (Peter Silvestro), who claims that his 3 step program called "Think Your Way To Success" has changed people's lives and made him very rich, and Jenny Louise Crab (Mary Birdsong), a woman driven crazy by the murder of her foster parents, but seemingly addicted to high strength mood elevators in an effort to block the memory (as such, she is insanely hyperactive and scarily cheerful).
During the show, Robard persistently tries to sell his motivational tape series. This series is advertised elsewhere on Vice City radio, and it's worth noting that the initials for each program spells out the name of a popular illegal drug: "Motivate, Demonstrate, then Motivate Again" spells out "MDMA", the scientific abbreviation for Ecstasy; "Learn, Start, Doing" spells out "LSD", the abbreviation for lysergic acid diethylamide; "Think, Hold that thought, Complete" spells out "THC" the abbreviation for Tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary chemical in marijuana. Later in his dialogue he mentions, "And if you want to think *really* fast, try my crank-it-out program" (Crank is slang for Methamphetamine).
Near the end of the show Maurice eventually sees that Jeremy Robard's program is worth nothing, that it hasn't got him anywhere, that he is not a rich successful business man, that he hasn't changed anyone's lives, and that he is nothing but a poor desperate fraud. Maurice and Jeremy breaks his nose with a 'heavy paperweight' on the air.
Public Safety
The third "debate" on the station concerns public safety, particularly in the context of the rising tide of crime promoted in no small part by Tommy Vercetti, the game's protagonist. The three guests during this segment are Congressman Alex Shrub (voiced by Chris Lucas), an extremely right-wing, cocksure politician who is also the youngest congressman elected by the city. He believes that America needs to accept it's okay to be rich and forget the poor, and during the course of the debate he also reveals past facts about host Maurice Chavez (how he used to work as clown, his failed attempts to be an actor, suffering from anxiety, attending group therapy, wanting to get a sex change etc). Social activist and extreme liberal Callum Crayshaw (Sean Modica) is a stereotypical concerned rich boy who wants to "help the poor" in completely unfeasible ways with an organization he formed called "Speaking for the Underdog", and often talks about his trips to other continents (funded by his wealthy businessman Dad, who doesn't seem to care about the same issues at all). The last panel member is secessionist and last-minute panel replacement (The previous guest was carjacked and decided to stay at home arming himself to the teeth.) John F. Hickory (LJ Gansen), an extremely radical native Floridian (though it is revealed he only moved to Vice City recently) who believes that by digging a suitably large river Florida can break free of the American mainland, and finally put a stop to the people flooding in from the northern states.
Of note is the common (but unofficial) perception that Alex Shrub is a caricature of presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as Florida governor Jeb Bush. His last name Shrub would add to this, as a shrub is basically a bush.
Other "Hidden" Songs
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City includes a few songs present in the game, through various cutscenes, that are not featured on any radio station.
These include:
- Al Di Meola - "Ritmo De La Noche" (Featured during the "Bar Brawl" cutscene.)
- Big Country - "In a Big Country" (Featured during "The Driver" cutscene, only in earlier PS2 versions.)
- Whodini - "Freaks Come out at Night" (Featured during "The Job" cutscene. This song later appears on the soundtrack of GTA: Vice City Stories on Fresh 105 FM.)
- Blue Öyster Cult - "I'm Burnin' for You" (Featured during the "Boomshine Saigon" cutscene.)
Two unidentified songs in Café Robina, not played on Radio Espantoso, can be heard in the cutscenes to the missions Naval Engagement and Trojan Voodoo. Two other unidentified songs are played during the busted deal cutscene, and the game credits.
Notes
1 - Fictional artist, song was made for the game.