Dan Houser Talks About Creating GTA 3’s Radio Stations

Rockstar co‑founder Dan Houser said in an interview how the in‑game radio system for Grand Theft Auto III came to be. According to him, its development took two years.

The first year was handled by a team in Scotland led by Leslie Benzies, who tackled the technical groundwork.

“I believe GTA 3’s development cycle lasted about two years. The initial year was completed by the Scotland team under Leslie, who prepared the technical backbone of the project. After that, when we could finally drive around for more than a minute, we asked ourselves: how do we fill all this space when we have virtually no budget?”

“Fill it with content and talk radio? Laz and I thought we could do that inexpensively. Then someone suggested having in‑game characters call into the talk shows. At that moment we realised: ‘It’s simply magical how all these elements connect.'”

That idea gave rise to Chatterbox FM. The game was developed before the studio could afford to license hit songs, so using real music wasn’t an option. They considered both similar-sounding and original tracks, but the radio concept soon proved more ambitious — it became a thread that wove the story into the world.

Laszlo (Laz) Jones played a key role — he later joined Houser at Absurd Ventures. He not only voiced the show host but also brought in notable guests. The choice to have characters call in added emotional layers: for example, Maria discussed her relationship with Claude, the player’s protagonist, live on air.

That decision transformed GTA’s radio stations from mere atmosphere into an integral storytelling device.

Source: iXBT.games