Liberty City Free Radio

The LCFR logo used on GTA Liberty City Stories' promotional websites.
The LCFR logo as seen in GTA Liberty City Stories' game options.

Liberty City Free Radio, abbreviated as LCFR, is a talk radio station in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. It is similar to WCTR from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in that it is comprised of several programs. All LCFR programs except Chatterbox are assumed to have not survived to reappear in Grand Theft Auto III. Although never appearing in-game, the Martin Serious Show once aired on LCFR, indicating this channel existed in GTA III canon but was cancel, leading Martin Serious to move his show to WKTT Radio. In GTA Liberty City Stories, the station's headquarters is located in Bedford Point.

Programs

Electron Zone Radio

Electron Zone Radio logo.

Electron Zone Radio is a talk show discussing technology related topics. Hosted by Bill (Michael Urichek) and Steve (Ptolemy Slocum). Bill represents the "Fruit OS" users, an obvious parody of Apple's Mac OS. Steve represents "TOS" users which stands for Technical Operating System and is a parody of Microsoft's DOS. The talk show hosts are also apparently caricatures of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The show's callers are largely a pack of internet nerds or internet haters - a sly reference to The Matrix is also made when a woman calls in asking about a virtual reality movie called The Mainframe.

In one segment, Richard Burns from WCTR in GTA San Andreas calls in, mentioning that he was fired shortly after the 1992 Los Santos riots. In another segment, a caller calls from Carcer City and says that the FBI tries to arrest him whenever he downloads child pornography pictures from the internet.

Some fans of the series think that the caller from Carcer City 'Ken', who talks about how the FBI is after him because of looking up pictures (implied to be child pornography) from the Internet, is Ken Rosenberg, former lawyer and Caligula's Palace manager from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. During the call, no surname is given, and the person calling sounds close to nothing like Ken Rosenberg, implying that it's a totally different Ken.

The Electron Zone no longer exists in 2001.

Chatterbox

The radio program made famous in GTA III returns with Lazlow as host. By 2001, the show will be given its own full-time frequency. An announcer on the radio station says that he was kicked out of both Vice City and San Andreas, since he was a disc jockey at both places. Lazlow's callers are diverse but generally offensive, including an internet freak who wants to knock down the Liberty City Cathedral, a foul-mouthed cannibal, a man obsessed with shaving and an innocent-sounding seven-year-old boy who knows an awful lot of swearwords for someone so young. The mother (Ma Cipriani) of the game's main character also calls in, but gets angry with Lazlow, calling him Lazarus and threatening him with a Mafia assassination. This is likely a homage to Grand Theft Auto III when Toni calls Lazlow explaining how much his mother controls his life.

Heartland Values with Nurse Bob

This program is a talk show parodying The Dr. Phil Show (though Dr. Phil's show started in 2003, five years after the year LCS takes place). It has a live in-studio audience and is hosted by a southern hillbilly named Nurse Bob (Chuck Montgomery). The name "Nurse Bob" is itself a reference to talk show host Dr. Phil, as evidenced by similar or near-direct Dr. Phil quotes made by Nurse Bob. (e.g. "My patented definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, and expecting different results." which can be heard a number of times on The Dr. Phil Show, minus the word 'Patented' which Nurse Bob added). Nurse Bob also appears to be a devout Christian--as many stereotypical hillbillies are--and threatens many of his callers that if they don't shape up, they will be burning for eternity in the fiery pits of Hell. He also hints at having been molested by his father when he was young.

The show no longer exists in 2001.

Breathing World

A spiritual enlightment talk show hosted by a new wave hippie by the name of Melissa Chowder (Ashley Albert). Throughout the show, Melissa interviews Crow (Gregg Martin). Crow is on the show to promote Crowfest '98, a concert tour. The name Crowfest '98 may have been taken from Ozzfest '98, a series of concerts for Ozzy Osbourne. Crow talks on the show and says that after quitting the band, he has since seen spiritual enlightenment through the fact that he has joined a religious cult. Crow was previously referenced in GTA San Andreas. Crow is an immense egomaniac who offends Melissa greatly with his constant talk of Amazonian drugs, fleecing native tribes and "having five hours worth of Tantric Sex", a possible reference to the rock star Sting.

The show no longer exists in 2001.

Coq O Vin

French chef Richard Goblin (Mike Shapiro), referenced in GTA San Andreas during Entertaining America, hosts this show where he mutilates live animals and insults the American values when it comes to cooking by saying "I would rather eat the contents of my toilet bowl after a fatman with hemerods, who ate curry, then eat the shit most Americans eat". He also takes calls from fans of the show, most of whom he alienates by slaughtering animals in their general direction, viciously insulting them or actually attacking them. Over the course of the show, Richard forces a cow to give birth directly into his pan and then butchers her, stuffs a live goose and chops up the eyeballs and perineum of a large mammal and makes them into a calzone. At the end of the show, the LCFR announcer makes a sarcastic comment about the show being "popular" among animal rights activists, which may show that the program is a sly reference to the controversy surrounding the airing of the cooking show "Out of the Frying Pan" in 1977, when animal rights campaigners protested against the butchering of a pig live on air.

The show no longer exists in 2001.

See also

  • WCTR in GTA San Andreas, and WKTT and PLR in GTA IV for similarly formatted radio stations.

Trivia

  • In GTA Liberty City Stories, one of LCFR's radio imaging touts the station as one that will not sell out to corporations. Although the station itself is not indicated to be bought over by or tied in with any corporation following events in GTA Liberty City Stories, Love Media, a major media conglomerate, is implied in a GTA III Liberty Tree article to have assumed control of Chatterbox and its host, and given Chatterbox a dedicated radio station.
  • The shows abbreviation of LCFR is made to sound like "Lucifer" when sounded out.