*note this episode is built for radio broadcasting and includes breaks filled with music for podcast purposes.

Welcome to Yonder Radio. Rural conversations with national reach. This week, we’re kicking off the hour with a story about what happens when corporations like Meta and Amazon build data centers in a rural community. These data centers are powering cloud computing and the AI boom, and supporters say they bring much needed economic development. But others are concerned about a lack of transparency, and that the centers will drain community resources. In the pop culture world, we’ll also hear how rural films fared at this year’s Academy Awards. Plus a conversation on some of the wonders of roadside America…. We’ll step back in time to learn a ...