Most of our media are owned by a handful of tech billionaires, but there's one place that still operates like the internet was never invented.

On the new season of the divided dial from On the Media, we're exploring shortwave radio, where prayer and propaganda coexist with news and conspiracy theories, and where an existential battle for the public airwaves is playing out right now.

Listen to On the Media, wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back, Procopton. I'm glad you're here. It's the 4th of September, and as you are listening to this, I am in the Philippines. Why am I in the Philippines?

Well, that is the very thing I've been teasing you about for the last month or so. I'm getting married. I am not,

however, getting married to the longtime girlfriend you've heard me mention dating in the past,

sometimes even referring to her as my wifie. That is because about three months ago, I ended that

relationship, following the decision to end

that relationship, and very serendipitously, which is how things sometimes happen, I met someone

new. To get married to a person you've only known for a few months probably seems fast for

many of you, if not for all of you. But it seems less fast when you're

40, know what you want, and know how painful it can be not having it for many, many years

as you age and become less and less likely to find it, because the market of dating and relationships gets smaller and smaller

and smaller as you get older and older and older. Of course, this is all very personal, and I don't want to,

nor will I delve into the specifics of that ended relationship, but I will say the reasons I

ended that relationship were very

reasonable and importantly, in the end, mutually agreed upon. I'm sharing all this because really,

if it weren't for this podcast and all of you making it such a success, I would have never met

Kai. Now, hold on a minute. Kai's not my wife. If I never met Kai,

I would have never met Kai's very good friend, Ross, who, to be clear, is a woman, even though

our name is Ross, though we have laughed about how everyone who sees our names together as a couple

when we book hotel accommodations

...