How Iconic GTA Radio Stations Were Made, Lazlow Forever

Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has revealed how GTA’s iconic radio stations were created.

Each game in the GTA series has a very specific vibe, and it’s likely that how well you remember these games comes down to how well you remember the radio stations.

From GTA: Vice City featuring classic ‘80s bangers like 'Africa' and 'Billie Jean', to GTA V’s pop hits like 'Gimme More' and 'West End Girls', you likely associate certain songs with a specific GTA game.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has now revealed a little more about how the radio stations in the GTA games were made, and credits a lot of it to one of his Rockstar co-workers, Lazlow Jones.

"His job was to make sure it sounded funny"

Speaking on the Lex Fridman Podcast in October, Houser said he and Jones would “have these good writing sessions where we realised we got on well with each other and that we had a similar sense of humour and we could write the stuff and then he would do all of the real work producing it".

“So it was perfect for me because I got to outsource most of the real work and he's a brilliant radio producer," he continued.

Houser then goes on to say that Jones would help a lot with the voice direction for these stations, as he couldn’t “direct 80 people at once”.

“My job was to ensure the media content felt like it reflected the tone of the world and we would write it together,” Houser added. “Then his job was just to make sure it sounded funny like he would just produce in a really funny way.”

Lazlow Jones worked with Rockstar Games on every GTA game beginning with GTA III up to GTA V. In addition to writing and directing various aspects of the series, he also appeared as a fictionalised version of himself as a host on the in-game radio stations.

In GTA V he appeared in-person as his character, being featured in a couple of missions involving Michael and Trevor.

“The rule was when he was the character I would write the first pass of him,” Houser continued. “So I would get nastier and nastier over time. To the point where he's having his head shaved and you know being punished by everybody.

“Game after game he got worse, in GTA III he's a quite likable character and then you know over the next 12, 13 years it just got worse and worse so I think he's glad not to be doing that anymore but he did it with great grace.”

As well as the GTA series, Jones also worked as a writer and audio director on other Rockstar games like Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2. He left Rockstar Games in 2020, and it’s unknown whether he’ll make an appearance in GTA VI.