GTA 6 Radio Stations Revealed: Flash FM Is Back, Plus Cocoteo FM, The Chamber 106.6, AfroBank FM and the Series' First Podcasts
Rockstar has named the first six GTA 6 radio stations: Cocoteo FM, Back Country Radio, AfroBank FM, The Chamber 106.6, Dirty South Classics and a returning Flash FM. It also confirmed on-demand podcasts for the first time in the series, and headphones so Jason and Lucia can listen on foot. Here is every station, its hosts, its sound and how to hear the previews.
GTA radio is half the reason people take the long way home, and today Rockstar finally put names on the dial. In a Newswire post on October 8, Rockstar revealed the first six GTA 6 radio stations, from Latin party music and swamp-country to '80s metal and Southern rap, and confirmed that one Vice City favourite is coming back: Flash FM.
There is more than music, too. GTA 6 adds on-demand podcasts, a first for the series, and headphones and earbuds, so Jason and Lucia can listen on foot as well as in a car. Here is every station, who hosts it, what it plays and how to hear it now. All six are also on our new GTA 6 radio stations page, which we will keep updating as Rockstar names more.
What Rockstar announced
Rockstar's post, "The Music of Grand Theft Auto VI: In-Game Radio Stations", opens with the scale:
“Spanning stations dedicated to everything from Classic Rock to Talk Radio, Grand Theft Auto VI players will experience the biggest and widest-ranging selection of in-game radio yet.”
That sentence alone confirms two kinds of station that are not among the six: a classic rock station and talk radio. Rockstar calls these six "a look at six of the stations", so the full list is longer. For scale, GTA 5 launched with 18 stations, 16 of them music.
The six GTA 6 radio stations
Cocoteo FM: modern Latin
Rockstar calls Cocoteo FM "Leonida's home for the best of modern Latin music." Hosts El Martillo and La Gata play "everything from bachata and merengue to dembow and reggaeton", and the station's motto is "el party que nunca se apaga", the party that never shuts off. For a game set in a version of Miami, a Latin station leading the list makes sense.
Back Country Radio: renegade country
MW and Delta Dawne "blast renegade country music to the Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, and beyond." The best detail in the whole post is here: the station has a "roving reporter, swamp meteorologist, and Delta's not-so-secret lover", Mud Dog Mike, who checks in "from the driver's seat of his Grassrivers airboat." Rockstar's official Music page calls it "airboat-ready renegade country." If you have read our Grassrivers guide, you know exactly where this station will be playing.
AfroBank FM: African music, from classics to amapiano
"Turn up the gbedu with Burna and Palmsy," Rockstar writes. Burna and Palmsy are AfroBank FM's "dynamic duo curating the best in African music, from 20th-century classics and undiscovered gems to contemporary sounds like amapiano, 3-step, and more." Gbedu is Nigerian slang for a beat or a party groove, and the station's range runs from 20th-century records to some of the newest dance styles out of Africa.
The Chamber 106.6: '80s metal and beyond
"Crushing metal has landed in Leonida." DJ Kerry and DJ Tom play "classic metal from the '80s and beyond as they channel Leonida's deep metal roots." Those roots are real. Florida, and Tampa in particular, was one of the birthplaces of death metal in the 1980s, so a metal station is as Florida as an airboat. It is also the only one of the six with a frequency in its name.
Flash FM: the Vice City pop station returns
This is the one longtime fans will notice first. Flash FM was the pop station in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002 and again in Vice City Stories in 2006, and Rockstar now calls it "the Vice City institution that delivers the best in pop music." The new hosts are Robyn and Alex, and the station is "guaranteed to make you dance no matter where you find yourself in the Goodtime State." It is the first returning station Rockstar has confirmed for GTA 6. Our Vice City then and now piece covers what else carries over from 2002.
Dirty South Classics: Southern rap and hip-hop
"A little southern hospitality from Trick and Trina, blasting regional rap and hip-hop classics. From the beach to the block, nobody reps Leonida and the South like they do." Trick and Trina host the station, which focuses on regional rap from the South. Southern hip-hop and the Miami sound behind it are a big part of the real Florida the game is built on.
Who are the hosts?
Rockstar gives the hosts' first names or nicknames only, and the internet is already guessing which real artists might be behind some of them. Rockstar has not confirmed any of those guesses, and neither have the artists, so we are not repeating them. GTA has a long history of famous hosts, from Lazlow in the PS2 era to Kenny Loggins on GTA 5's Los Santos Rock Radio, and Rockstar may say more before launch.
Podcasts and headphones: two firsts
The other big news in the post is how you listen. Rockstar, in its own words:
“For the first time ever, Grand Theft Auto VI introduces a series of on-demand podcasts for Jason and Lucia to experience beyond Leonida's terrestrial radio, with both radio and podcasts available to listen to in vehicles and on foot through newly introduced headphones and earbuds connected to their smartphones.”
So GTA 6 has podcasts you choose when to play, rather than talk shows you happen to catch on air, and radio on foot. In earlier games the music mostly stopped when you got out of the car. With a map around twice the size of GTA 5's and the RydeMe ride-share app for longer trips, being able to keep a station playing on a hike or a walk through Vice City is a real quality-of-life change. It also fits Jason and Lucia's phones, which already run social media, texts and maps, as our GTA 6 phone guide explains.
How to listen to the GTA 6 radio previews
Rockstar has put a preview of each of the six stations on the Music section of the official GTA VI website. Each runs about two minutes and mixes host chatter with snippets of the station's sound. The previews don't list song titles, and Rockstar hasn't published a tracklist for any station yet.
The same page carries the six singles from Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the separate 34-track soundtrack album out on November 19, which we covered when it was announced in September.
What we still don't know
- The full station list. Six named, with classic rock and talk radio confirmed but not named.
- Tracklists. No station's songs have been listed. The only songs officially tied to GTA 6 so far come from the trailers, the Extended Look and The Album, all in our soundtrack guide.
- V-Rock. Jason wears a redesigned V-Rock shirt on Rockstar's site, but V-Rock is not one of today's six. A classic rock station is confirmed, though, so watch this space.
- The dynamic score. Rockstar says details of GTA 6's dynamic score are coming, alongside more singles from The Album.
FAQ
How many radio stations are in GTA 6?
Rockstar has named six so far, out of what it calls the biggest selection of in-game radio yet. It has also confirmed a classic rock station and talk radio, without naming them.
What are the GTA 6 radio stations?
The six announced are Cocoteo FM, Back Country Radio, AfroBank FM, The Chamber 106.6, Flash FM and Dirty South Classics.
Is Flash FM in GTA 6?
Yes. Flash FM, the pop station from GTA Vice City and Vice City Stories, returns, hosted by Robyn and Alex.
Does GTA 6 have podcasts?
Yes. GTA 6 introduces on-demand podcasts, a first for the series, alongside the regular radio stations.
Can you listen to the radio on foot in GTA 6?
Yes. Jason and Lucia can use headphones and earbuds connected to their phones to play radio and podcasts outside vehicles.
Where can I hear the GTA 6 radio stations?
Rockstar has posted a preview of each station on the Music section of the official GTA VI website.
