Definitely scarier with it on. It creates a lot more tension.

With!

I had the radio off last night, I thought it was creepy, but I had that situation late in the game.

For me it's somewhat scarier with the radio on. The anticipation of hearing the radio and knowing a monster's nearby that I may or may not be able to see makes me more scared than a monster just suddently bumping into me.

Agreed with the "On" count. It's a lot like the visual static, it's extra noise. The fact that it's purely indistinct garble helps create unease.

Without the radio it's just "Oh hey a mannequin just standing there peacefully minding its own business."

With the radio on it becomes "OH SHIT A MANNEQUIN LURKING IN THE DARK WTF IS THAT NOISE IN MY EAR I'M SO CONFUSED!?"

And then you run into a wall in blind panic.

The radio sounded much freakier in the first game.

Hehe, to me it didn't even sound like a radio in the first game.

Agreed. It sounded like an alarm clock that would ring in Harry's pocket when enemies are near.

H+

It's definately more exciting and scary with the radio on

It's a lot scarier with the radio off.

Really? Why, in your view, is that so?

H+

Either way, I'm freaked out.

With the radio, the static just drives me insane and makes me nervous that something is near me.

Without the radio, sometimes something will just pop out of nowhere and then I get a little jumpy D:

Once, in Silent Hill, my radio just started working, and it was Weird Al. I was frightened.

I never played any of the games with the Radio off, but I guess that I wouldn't want to try it out.

I'm not really scared by creature horror, so the radio on or off has zero effect on how scary the monsters are. I'm simply not scared of them either way. There are two exceptions in Silent Hill 2 though: 1) the mannequins, how they just stand still waiting for you is rather disturbing, which is more effective when the radio is off since you won't be expecting it, and 2) the cockroaches, because they make that sound like some kind of demon toy being wound up.

While it wouldn't be much of a video game, I'd be much more scared if the town was abandoned entirely. As in no monsters, no other characters, just the protagonist and an empty town. That would terrify the poop out of me.

I prefer the game w/ radio on and music off.

I play with the radio on, partially 'cause I dislike jump scares. I'd say that I'm jumpier when I play without the radio, but more creeped out when I'm playing with it on.

Hmmm it never occurred to me to turn the music off...that certainly sounds interesting.

In my opinion, I think the radio is an important thing in Silent Hill. I have played other horror video games and I have to say, in silent hill, the radio make me feel nervous and sometimes scared (specially if it's my first time and I don't know what's going to happen). Because, something that silent hill have that I love a lot is the "you hear but you don't see" thing. And the radio helps in that. I remember when I played for the first time SH2 and I really listen to the radio and didn't saw any monsters around me, but I knew they were there... but where? It's amazing lol.

I tried leaving it on, but it didn't really add anything for me.
When I did turn it on, I set it to a very low volume.

Turning the music off worked for me, but just for SH3, and not always.