Radius map of Latin America and the Caribbean

A few days after the radio celebrates its first centenary since its first broadcast, on Saturday August 22, the book Map of radios of Latin America and the Caribbean was presented , which updates a first study carried out in 2012 on the number and characteristics of radio stations in Latin America. The 142-page work is edited by a joint initiative of the Colombian radio operator Tito Ballesteros López, of the blog Radios de América and of Santiago García Gago, of Radios Libres , and in which 19 radio operators have participated who have provided data on the reality of radio in their respective countries.

As highlighted by radio station José Ignacio López Vigil, in the foreword of the book, in 2012 when "the first study of the Radio Map of Latin America and the Caribbean was published, 25,000 stations were distributed throughout all corners of this Great Homeland. 2020, nine years after that first census of Abya Yala radios, there are already 35,334 stations. Some more modern and with better sound that transmit in FM, resisting the advance of streaming services and online stations. Others in AM, that continues to endure and does not lose audience in rural and remote areas ".

However, after these years, the radio map "continues to show a great imbalance between commercial stations, which use most of the radio and television frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum, and the other two sectors: the community and the public. But The most interesting thing is that the radio stations of the Latin American radio dial continue to increase, which shows the good health that the radio enjoys, "he adds.

The book is completed with a web version "where the studies of the different years can be observed in a graphic and interactive way. A detailed account of all the radios that fill Latin America and the Caribbean with radio waves. And a good contribution to know how many are we and where are we ", he concludes.

In this work, published by Ediciones del Jinete Insomne, from Argentina, several questions about the situation of radio in Latin America and the Caribbean are answered. In whose hands are the more than 35,000 stations spread in our towns? Who are its owners? Is the number of radios in a country sufficient? Are most of the stations in the region university, community or commercial? How is the evolution of the two main broadcasting bands, AM and FM?

Download the study here .