GTA Radio
The radio was half the game.
I built this independent GTA Radio project around one of the most memorable parts of the Grand Theft Auto experience: its radio.
This site documents the idea behind the project, the radio stations and different GTA eras, and the technology I use to recreate that listening experience online.
Why GTA radio?
In Grand Theft Auto, radio is more than background music. It creates atmosphere while you drive, introduces fictional personalities and makes each game world feel different.
Music, presenters, commercials, talk shows and station identities combine into something that feels closer to a real broadcast than an ordinary playlist.
That is the part of GTA radio I wanted to explore outside the games.
From idea to working radio
I started with a simple question: could I build a radio system that continuously plays local audio and feels more like an actual station than a playlist?
The project grew into a combination of audio organisation, Python development, HTTP streaming, browser playback, mobile compatibility and server infrastructure.
The technical decisions and lessons are documented throughout this website.
Explore the project
Start with the radio experience, explore the different GTA eras or read about how I built the system.
GTA Radio
The idea behind the online radio experience.
Vice City
The early focus of the project, where the journey began.
San Andreas
Another GTA era where radio became a defining part of the world.
GTA IV
A darker city, a different soundtrack and another evolution of GTA radio.
GTA V
A large-scale radio system showing how far the concept had evolved.
The Project
How the idea developed from an experiment into a working system.
Technology
The server, software, streaming and browser technology behind it.
Mobile
Making a browser-based radio player work reliably on phones.
Development history
From a car experiment to a self-hosted radio platform.
About Stayrich.nl
Stayrich.nl is the personal website I use to publish and document this project.
I originally bought the domain years ago with the intention of creating a webshop. That webshop was never launched. I kept the domain and eventually started using it for my own technical projects.
Stayrich is therefore not a separate company or organisation behind GTA Radio. The project is created, developed and maintained by me.