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About Us

Uniquely Latin American Stories

Our podcasts

For a decade, Radio Ambulante has told stories from all around Latin America. With over 270 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. 

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. Our podcasts are produced and mixed using Hindenburg Pro.

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)

Individual team members have been awarded a Poynter Institute and ONA Women’s Leadership Fellowship, a Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program fellowship at Columbia University, a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and, in 2024, Daniel Alarcón was elected as a new member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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 social media, 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, and some of the most trusted voices from the region. Since its launching, El hilo has produced over 250 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.

In our second season, we partnered with Noticias Telemundo to produce “El Péndulo“, a podcast series about the Latino vote in the 2024 U.S. presidential elections. Alongside journalist Julio Vaqueiro, we explored the lives and aspirations of Latinos in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina. Through expert insights, community stories, archival audio, and impactful sound design, we aimed to understand and explain the unique dynamics of Latino communities in these key states that could shape the electoral map.

Radio Ambulante Studios

Radio Ambulante Studios is a 501 (c) 3, non-profit media organization. Our mission is to bring a greater understanding of Latin America and US Latinos to the American conversation through well-told, rigorously reported, and expertly produced audio journalism, offering audiences a nuanced portrait of a complex and vitally important region. Since 2012, we’ve produced more than 520 episodes about love and families, immigration and youth culture, politics, and history.

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 Jiveworld, 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. 

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.

Find us on applications like Apple Podcasts or Spotify

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

Our Team

Daniel Alarcón

Host and Executive Producer

Daniel Alarcón is the host of Radio Ambulante and a contributing writer for The New Yorker, where he covers Latin America. He is the author of four works of fiction, including The King is Always Above the People, a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award. In recognition of his work, he was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 2021 and the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in 2022. In 2024, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Alarcón currently teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

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 journalist. He worked in print media in his country covering art and culture, until he joined Radio Ambulante in 2016. Since then, his goal is to do something beautiful.

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.

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.

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.

Laura Rojas Aponte

Producer

Laura enjoys all aspects of podcasting. Since launching her first show in 2014, she’s helped grow Spanish-language audio in different roles. Laura is based in New York (and loves it there).

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.

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.

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

Producer and journalist at El hilo. She has been working at Radio Ambulante Studios (RAS) for almost five years. Before that, she covered Venezuela for four years for various international media outlets. She has published in media such as The Washington Post, BBC, and The Guardian.

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.

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. Sulzberger Fellow 2024 at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Holds an M.A. in Media Studies from The New School in New York. Lives in Bogotá.

Camilo Jiménez Santofimio

Executive Advisor, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships

Journalist, editor and media manager with experience in Europe, the U.S., and Latin America. He was a fellow at Süddeutsche Zeitung. Lives in Cologne, Germany.

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.

ADRIANA BERNAL

Project Coordinator

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

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.

General 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, and Spotify. Also you can play our episodes straight from this website, or directly from Iheart Radio. 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 Iheart Radio. 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.

 

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

 

  • WhatsApp Channel Telling stories of Latin America |We are Radio Ambulante Studios, El hilo y Central | Teaching Spanish with Jiveworld App. 816 followers

 

  • 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.

Here’s how to pitch your story to us.

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]