About Us

Uniquely Latin American Stories

Our podcasts

For a decade, Radio Ambulante has told stories from all around Latin America. With over 200 episodes produced from more than 20 countries, Radio Ambulante is Latin America’s most ambitious narrative journalism podcast, offering a sonic portrait of the region and everywhere Spanish is spoken. 

Distributed by NPR, we work with a talented community of radio producers, journalists and illustrators to tell stories that go unreported by other outlets. Radio Ambulante covers Latin American life with stories of love and migration, youth and politics, environment and families in extraordinary circumstances. 

We have worked with dozens of media outlets across the United States and Latin America, including The New York Times, Radiolab, This American Life, Planet Money, All Things Considered, Reply All, ESPN 30 x 30, PopUp Magazine, California Sunday Magazine, Latino USA, Rough Translation, Univision, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo de Puerto Rico, Las Raras Podcast and 070, among others. 

Radio Ambulante has been recognized with several journalism awards:

Ondas World Podcast Awards for Most Outstanding Contribution to the industry and the consolidation of the podcast in Spain and Latin America (2023)

↠ National Journalism Award of Mexico, in the Science and culture dissemination category for the episode The taste of words (2022)

↠ Jorge Mantilla Ortega Prize in radio for the episode Mónica, the first (2022)

↠ iHeartRadio: Best Spanish Language Podcast (2022)

↠ iHeartRadio: Best Spanish Language Podcast (2020)

↠ Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize for Best Reporting in Radio for the episode 13 lunas [Parte 1 y 2] (2020)

↠ Simón Bolívar National Journalism Jury Prize for the episode Leonela quiere ser tu amiga (2020)

↠ Roche Journalism Award for Health. Category Radio Reporting for the episode Doctor: ¿Esto es normal? [Parte 1 y 2] (2018) 

↠ Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize for Investigative Reporting in Radio for the episode Doctor: ¿Esto es normal? [Parte 1 y 2] (2017)

↠ Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Best Foreign Language Documentary Award for the episode Los Cassettes del Exilio (2017)

↠ Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize for Investigative Reporting in Radio for the episode N.N. (2014)

↠ Gabriel García Márquez Prize in Innovation (2014)

In 2020, Radio Ambulante evolved into a podcast production company called Radio Ambulante Studios, and launched the weekly show El hilo, a news podcast, providing context and depth to the most important news stories from Latin America. 

On Twitter and other social networks, when someone says “abro hilo”, it means they’re going to dive deep. Buckle in for a thread with analysis, context, history, and more. For us, El hilo is all those things, an invitation to a deeper conversation and understanding of the news from Latin America. Every Friday morning, our hosts speak to local journalists, Vice News reporters, Radio Ambulante contributors, and some of the most trusted voices from the region. Since its launching, El hilo has produced over 115 episodes and in 2020 was recognized by WAN-IFRA’s LATAM Digital Media Awards as Best Digital Audio Project in the Small and Local News category.

In 2024, we launched Central , a project that brings together the experience and narrative potential of Radio Ambulante with the analysis and journalistic urgency of El Hilo, to delve into local stories that speak to an entire region, helping us understand the present and think about the future of America.

Our first serialized project “Bukele: el señor de Los sueños” is a documentary series of six episodes that tells the origin and construction of an emblematic figure of our time: a publicist who rose to the presidency and managed to convince a society that the only way to solve their problems was to give him unlimited power.

Radio Ambulante Studios

Radio Ambulante Studios not only reports and produces great stories; we have worked just as hard to build a community around our journalism, creating innovative opportunities for our audience to connect with our work and with one another. A good example of this is our successful Clubes de Escucha initiative, which brings listeners from dozens of cities around the world together to listen to our episodes in person, sparking conversations around the stories. Another is Lupa, our language learning app, which helps intermediate Spanish learners push their skills to the next level, transforming our journalism into an effective tool to acquire vocabulary, grammar and sharpen listening. 

Furthermore, Radio Ambulante Studios is a 501 (c) 3, non-profit media organization. During the last decade our work has been supported by The Ford Foundation, The MacArthur Foundation, Panta Rhea Foundation, Arnold Ventures, Sara and Evan Williams Foundation, Facebook Journalism Project, News Integrity Initiative, The Lenfest Foundation, The Miami Foundation, NewsMatch funders, Tinker Foundation, Flora Family Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and Open Societies Foundations. 

Our podcasts, Radio Ambulante, El hilo and Central, are supported by listeners throughout its membership program, Deambulantes. Launched in 2019, this program has become part of our sustainability efforts and has helped us strengthen our relationship with our community.

How To Listen

A podcast is an audio file that you can listen to or download to your computer, tablet or phone whenever you want to. When you subscribe to a podcast, its episodes will automatically be available on your device when they’re published, prompting a notification from your chosen app (in our case, that’s every Tuesday of the season). Radio Ambulante is completely free.

You can listen to our episodes directly from this website or from NPR’s.

Find us on applications like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or NPR One.

Subscribe to our newsletter, and our episodes will arrive directly to your inbox.

Our Team

Daniel Alarcón

Host and Executive Producer

Daniel Alarcón, host of Radio Ambulante, covers Latin America for The New Yorker. He’s the author of four fiction books, including “The King is Always Above the People,” 2017 finalist for the National Book Award. He teaches at the Columbia University School of Journalism, in New York. In 2022 Daniel was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot prize, and in 2021 with the MacArthur Fellowship.

Camila Segura

Editorial Director

Camila has a PhD from Columbia University, since 2012 she has overseen the production of every season. She lives in Bogotá.

Luis Fernando Vargas

Senior Editor

Costa Rican. He worked in printed media, covering culture in his country. He had his start on audio journalism with Radio Ambulante. He has two cats, or they have him. He is not sure.

Natalia Sánchez Loayza

Editor

Writer, editor, and journalist. She holds an MFA in creative writing in Spanish (NYU) and is a master’s candidate in bilingual journalism (CUNY). She grew up in the South of Lima and lives in Brooklyn.

Ana Pais

Senior Digital Editor

As a child she wanted to be a naturalist like Charles Darwin, but she ended up exploring the world through journalism. Uruguayan, mate ambassador.

David Trujillo

Senior Producer

He feared radio, but eventually allowed himself to be captivated by it. He’s a journalist because he loves asking questions and listening to answers. He lives in Bogota.

Lisette Arévalo

Senior Producer

Ecuadorian journalist. She studied investigative journalism at Columbia University in the city of New York. She has written about gender violence, feminism and human rights.

ANERIS CASASSUS

Producer

She’s a journalist and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has published in newspapers and magazines and has produced news on TV. She started doing radio with Radio Ambulante.

Pablo Argüelles

Producer

Born in Mexico City, Pablo studied history and has a lousy memory. He prefers to listen than to speak, and he’s not uncomfortable with silences.

Emilia Erbetta

Producer

Born in Bahia Blanca, she now lives in Buenos Aires. She grew up in a radio studio keeping company and listening to her dad, but she got her start in audio journalism through a different path.

Bruno Scelza

Fact-checker

Uruguayan journalist, fact-checker and podcaster. Member of RedLATAM of young journalists 6th generation.

Andrés López Azpiri

Composer and Director of Sound Design

Guitarist since age 17, audio nerd since age 21, composer and sound designer at Radio Ambulante since 2016.

Ana Tuirán

Composer and Sound Designer

Mexican composer living in Mexico City. She studied Songwriting and has written music for documentary films, podcasts, and other digital mediums.

Rémy Lozano

Composer and Sound Designer

Composer and sound designer. Rémy has written music for advertising and audiovisual media. Movie enthusiast, he’s dedicated his career to creating music that helps to tell stories.

Diego Corzo

Graphic Designer

Graphic designer, non-professional drawer, and videogame lover. He has worked in exhibitions, theater, and art montages. He was a designer at the Museo de Memoria in Colombia and at Cain Press.

Melisa Rabanales

Digital Journalist

Guatemalan journalist. She has reported audio stories about gender and migration. Currently completing a master’s program in Narrative Journalism and, even though she lives in Buenos Aires, she misses the Central American tropics.

Selene Mazón

Production Assistant

Journalist. She was born and raised in the outskirts of Mexico City. She reports, writes, experiments, and likes thoughtful stories that make people stop, look around and talk with each other.

El hilo

Silvia Viñas

Executive Producer & Co-Host

Silvia is a journalist and has been editing and producing stories in Radio Ambulante since 2013. She lives in London with her husband and her kids, Elisa and Santiago.

ELIEZER BUDASOFF

Co-host & Editor // Head of Podcast Development

Daniela Cruzat

Senior Producer

Chilean journalist, documentary filmmaker and journalism professor. She got her master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School and has worked on television, digital media and podcasting.

Mariana Zúñiga

Producer

Mariana is a journalist and lives in Caracas, Venezuela. She studied journalism in Paris and has covered migration, human rights and economy. She has four dogs.

Nausícaa Palomeque

Producer

Journalist and instructor who specializes in radio and print journalism covering society, culture and gender. She holds a master’s degree in Latin America Studies. She has developed several projects about migration and human trafficking.

Desirée Yépez

Reporter and Digital Journalist

Journalist, fact checker and Ecuadorean author. Previous recipient of the JSK fellowship at Stanford, in California. Faithfully believes that good journalism can help to improve the world.

ELÍAS GONZÁLEZ

Composer and Sound Designer

Musician and sound designer. Caracas-born, living in Berlin. Avid cinephile and lover of electronic music. You can find him on Spotify under the moniker Elayas.

Analía Llorente

Digital Editor

Analía is a journalist and English teacher. She was a multimedia reporter at BBC Mundo in Miami and Los Angeles. In Buenos Aires, she worked at El Cronista and Infobae and was a radio and TV producer. Her passion: telling stories in different formats.

Samantha Proaño

Digital Producer

Samy lives in Ecuador and has a degree in Social Communication. She has worked as a creative and as a copywriter and enjoys making videos. She likes to listen to stories and later share them.

Radio Ambulante Studios’ Growth Team

Carolina Guerrero

CEO

Carolina Guerrero is a media entrepreneur. She was a JSK Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She lives in New York.

Natalia Ramirez J.

Director of Communication and Futures Design

Communication design expert, proud aunt, passionate about flavors (eating, cooking, researching), has a Master’s degree in Media Studies from the New School in New York and lives in Bogotá.

Juan David Naranjo Navarro

Community Leader

Colombian journalist with a Master in Political Studies. He received the Simon Bolivar Award and was recognized as a Young Leader for his work with vulnerable populations. He likes dancing and talking.

Paola Alean

Senior Project Coordinator

Data-analytics nerd and financial analyst. She’s a passionate hiker who is very proud of her garden — visited by the most intrepid hummingbirds of Mexico City (she has a cat).

ADRIANA BERNAL

Executive Assistant

Artist, pet photographer and digital illustrator with 20 years of experience as a producer and art director. Passionate about dogs, nature, and cycling.

ELSA LILIANA ULLOA

Administrative Assistant

She loves life, nature, and listening to good stories. Elsa lives with her two dogs, surrounded by plants, and volunteers in animal rescue. She studied Graphic Design.

Barbara Sawhill

Education Director

Barbara loves teaching Spanish and loves Radio Ambulante. She is eager to find teachers who feel the same way! When time allows, she writes about her teaching practice here.

FAQ

How did Radio Ambulante get started?

It’s a long story. But an entertaining one. We tell it in this episode.

How can I support Radio Ambulante?

Radio Ambulante is a non-profit organization and in part, it’s sustainable thanks to the donations of our listeners. For more information on how and where to donate, visit the donation part of our website here. However, if you’re unable to support us financially, you can also help us by reviewing us on iTunes or sharing the episodes you like with your friends and family.

I want to create my own podcast, do you organize workshops or have learning resources to get started?

Wanting to help others produce their own radio stories, we funded the Escuela Radio Ambulante, where we give you advice on how to make podcasts and other audio storytelling audio projects. It’s a free online tool meant to help journalists improve the quality of their audio content using innovative technological tools. Our online school is an open space of learning and collaboration that covers the principles of podcasting, from how to pitch a story to the basics of Hindenburg Pro, the software we use to edit our episodes.

I want to interview someone from Radio Ambulante, how can I reach you?

If you want to interview anyone on our team, please email [email protected] with more information about you and the news site where the interview will be posted. We read every email we get and we try to respond as promptly as we can.

How to listen to Radio Ambulante?

The best way to listen to our content is through one of the various applications for podcasts. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or on NPR’s app: NPR One. If you’re in the United States, you can find us on Spotify. You can also play our episodes straight from this website, or directly from NPR’s. If you want to read more about podcasts and how to listen to them visit the “How to listen” portion of our website. Don’t know where to start? Here you can find 10 of our most popular episodes from our 8th season.

Can we rebroadcast your content on our radio station?

We have an exclusive distribution deal with NPR. Therefore, we’re not distributing our content with other stations right now. However, we are interested in doing this going forward, so if you’re interested please email us your information at  [email protected] so we can contact you in the future.

Do you have an internship program?

We have job openings frequently, either to work with us full time, internships for students or for illustrators. Please be on the lookout on our social media and our newsletter to find out when we post opportunities. We don’t accept unsolicited portfolios or resumes. If you have a story idea that you want to pitch, please visit “How to pitch a story”.

Besides the podcast, where else can I follow your work?
  • Club de podcast Radio Ambulante – It’s like a virtual book club, but for podcasts. We discuss our episodes, current events and occasionally plan Listening Clubs around the world.

 

  • WhatsApp – Every week, we send a link to our episode so that you won’t miss it. It’s not a group, it’s a broadcast list on Whatsapp, so you won’t receive anything that isn’t coming from us. Plus, it’s not a robot, Jorge Caraballo, our engagement editor, answers every text we receive.

 

  • Blog – Find more information about our episodes: infographics, additional interviews, photo galleries and more.

 

  • Newsletter – Every Friday we send a newsletter in which our team recommends other podcasts, books, movies, and music that you can enjoy during the weekend. We also send additional content to accompany our stories and information about job openings, when we have one.

How to Pitch a Story

We’re always looking for Latin American stories that surprise and excite us. When you send us a pitch, the most important thing is that it be very specific: who are you planning to interview? What story are you going to tell? What is the regional context that makes your story interesting beyond the local aspect of it? Above anything, it has to be entertaining.

Don’t forget to highlight your journalistic experience (either in radio or print), and tell us what equipment you’ll be using to record. We accept audio in the following formats: .wav or .aiff (not mp3), and shot on 44.1 khz with 16-bit sampling.

Please don’t send any NGO profiles or vague pitches (ex. “I want to interview my grandfather”) and no advertisement requests. We can take up to a month to answer, but we read and consider all the pitches that we receive.

Download PDF [In Spanish]

Contact Us

EMAIL US

For general questions, email [email protected]

If you want to pitch a story, or you have any other questions for producers, email [email protected]