Galaxy News Radio

The Galaxy News Radio (GNR) is a radio station that airs in the Galaxy News Radio building plaza, a pre-war structure (built prior to the nuclear war of 2077 that devastated the United States) in the Capital Wasteland setting of Washington, D.C in the 2008 action role-playing game Fallout 3, developed by Bethesda Game Studios as part of the Fallout franchise. Galaxy News Radio was a subsidiary of the Galaxy News Network, itself the largest media corporation prior to the 2077 war that issued pro-government and pro-corporation news stories. The radio station was co-revived in 2272 by a militant faction called the Brotherhood of Steel and an independent individual named Three Dog, the former of which guards the area as a military base and the latter of whom serves as the radio station's DJ and host. The Brotherhood of Steel had also repurposed the Washington Monument to serve as a radio broadcasting tower for the Galaxy News Radio station. Three Dog was voiced by Erik Todd Dellums, who had not been confirmed for future Fallout entries but had repeatedly expressed interest in playing similar roles to that of the Fallout 3 DJ. Upon exiting Vault 101 early game as part of the main quest for the Lone Wanderer (the player character) to find their father James in 2277, they can use their arm-strapped Pip-Boy to immediately access outside radio frequency transmissions like that of GNR. However, GNR's signal starts off as weak. Upon approaching the area, the player character can choose to defend the radio station's area with the guarding Brotherhood of Steel members from a hostile Super Mutant Behemoth. In return for information regarding James from Three Dog, the radio host tasks the Lone Wanderer with boosting the GNR radio signal. The Lone Wanderer has to complete the task by retrieving the Virgo II Moon Lander's satellite dish, located in The Mall's Museum of Technology, and then installing it on top of the Washington Monument to serve as a high-level radio tower. Alternatively, the player character can bypass Three Dog's quest and obtain information about their father using a dialogue check from a high-enough speech stat. However, they can still choose to perform an enhancement to the GNR's signal. Should the player character decide to take on Three Dog's radio signal quest after having visited Rivet City and/or finding their father in Vault 112, he will offer an alternative reward for the Lone Wanderer upon completion. Three Dog's philosophy while airing the radio is fighting the "good fight". His affiliation with the Brotherhood of Steel was only loose as his commentary was of his own opinions. The Galaxy News Radio station also airs big band music dating from the 1930s to the 1950s, such as the 1938 pop song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", the 1947 traditional pop song "Civilization", and the 1949 song "Butcher Pete, Pt. 1". 20 songs are played from GNR total, although specific details of some of the songs like the performer and the year the song was composed are unknown and therefore are not listed in the game's credits. Of note is that many of the songs featured by GNR were originally created by black musicians. The music choices are strongly contrasted with the American patriotic hymns played by the Enclave Radio and the violin repertoires and improvisions from Agatha's Station. == Reception ==

The Galaxy News Radio station and its DJ Three Dog have both been positively received by critics as some of the top features of the Fallout series. TheGamer writer Zackary Wiggs said that Three Dog appealed to many players as "the only voice of comfort in the Capital Wasteland" because of his "often calming voice and music repertoire" and the fact that players could meet him in-person. Similarly, Issy van der Velde of NME ranked GNR as the best radio station in the Fallout game series, praising it for serving as the wasteland's "bastion" and Three Dog for his wit and being a "loveable, righteous, charismatic presenter". William Cheng, the music professor of Dartmouth College, highlighted Fallout 3 as a good example to how the player has enough agency to determine whether certain music stations will air or not, such as if they do not help to replace the faulty satellite dish on top of the Washington Monument to strengthen the radio signals. He argued that the music aired by GNR could have reminded the wasteland survivors of a golden age long past, back when a time where the world was set on fire (referencing "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by the Ink Spots) was hardly imaginable and therefore served as contradictory and nostalgic tunes in relation to the game's setting. Furthermore, Cheng suggested that the songs from both GNR and the Enclave Radio invoked the sense that the hyperviolence plaguing the American wasteland was there to stay. Furthermore, he noted that the lyrics of several songs from GNR like "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" serve as double entendres in which they could be interpreted by audiences as tying into the game's desolate ruins themes. The GNR in Fallout 3 has also been the subject of an urban legend as discussed by GamesRadar author Justin Towell in 2010, who questioned why someone would write "such a detailed and elaborate hoax". He said that forum posts on Snopes wrote of a rumor in which Fallout 3 was rarely able to predict future events based on certain conditions from a numbers station that occasionally replaces the airings of GNR under certain conditions. One post alleged that a WikiForums user interpreted the threads' Morse code that read "one-two-five-five-two-eight-two-zero-one-zero. What you talkin' 'bout? You'll be missed" and connected the line to the time and death of American actor Gary Coleman (who died on May 28, 2010) based on the numbers' order. The user then continued through the forum's messages, enlisted the help of others, and reacted in shock to the next message he read and interpreted, which said, "nine-four-five-four-two-zero-two-zero-one-zero. Accident in the gulf, several dead. Oil spill apparently averted." His shock was due to his realization that the code predicted the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April 20 of 2010. Towell said that the hoax sounded believable at first but had no evidence of such existence online and was disproven by an email from Bethesda, who said that it sounded like a "cool theory". == See also ==