the rockstar team wanted to synergise the game world's depiction of california with the radio stations by licensing tracks that imparted an appropriate "cali feel". pavlovich noted that los angeles' cultural saturation of pop music necessitated the non-stop-pop fm station; he said that "the first time you get off an airplane in l.a. and you hear the radio and the pop just seeps out ... we wanted that. it really connects you to the world". he felt that greater discernment was required for licensed music choices than in "grand theft auto iv" because "grand theft auto v"s music plays a pivotal role in generating californian atmosphere. music "reflects the environment in which the game is set", he said. initially, the team planned to license over 900 tracks for the radio, but they refined the number to 241. the tracks are shared between fifteen stations, with an additional two talk-back stations and a radio station for custom audio files on the pc version. some tracks were written specifically for the game, such as rapper and producer flying lotus' original work composed for the flylo fm station he hosts. pavlovich noted how the team would first develop an idea of what each station would sound like, and then select a dj to match the station's genre, such as kenny loggins who hosts the classic rock station los santos rock radio. he felt that to strike a balance between the radio and the score was a meticulous process, and cited a scenario where players would drive to a mission objective while listening to the radio, with the score taking over once players left the vehicle and proceeded to the mission's next stage.