AM Radio In Rural Argentina

Jose Simon Molina, 82, listening to AM radio

I often check The New Yorker site on Monday morning for the cartoons from the latest issue.  Yesterday the cartoons from the new issue weren't up yet though.  So I scrolled back and noticed this article:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/10/19/the-first-social-network

It was a really interesting article.  For one thing they had an audio version READ BY A REAL PERSON !!  AI voiced audio narration is good but it pales compared to a reading by a good actor / announcer.  Anyway, I thought the article itself was really interesting.  Folks in rural Argentina "off the grid" will listen to AM stations they can catch - at certain times the stations will have the announcers read messages from these folks, for lost animals, sickness in the family, birthday greetings - those kinds of things.  People like to listen even though they aren't expecting a message for themselves.  Something like this isn't strictly legal in the US.  Ham radio in the US can carry some of this traffic on the nets but no "pecuniary interest" messages - we wouldn't want to trample on the interests commercial carriers of messages  :)

Now with the advent of Starlink coupled with solar panels, even folks 50 miles away from their nearest neighbors can get on the internet.  Of course they have to be able to pay - the AM radio messages are carried for the most part at no charge.

The future of these messages is in some doubt due to various factors.  Some of this same kind of thing even happens here on the island - I've heard that Frontier will be discontinuing local landline phone service in the near future - so if I hadn't gotten rid of my landline this year I probably would have been shoved out :)

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm