I frequently visit my wife's village outside of Sakon Nakhon. Small village with maybe a couple of hundred houses. The whole village is wired for sound and every morning at 5am the music and public announcements start. Is this common with all villages. Don't mind it all that much but I am curious if all villages are this way.

Not all by any stretch but it's pretty common.

I suppose we're lucky, we only get announcements when it's something really important (come and collect your 100 sandbags), at which point the loudspeaker truck comes out of mothballs.

OP, exactly the same in our village in Issan.

Loudspeakers start blaring at 5:30 in the morning.

But that's OK as the whole village wakes up at 5:00

The new thing now before they make announcements they got this new sound:

Ding.....Dong.........Avon calling

Got used to that by now......even know the sequence of the songs they will be playing.

all the villages in our amphur for sure. but as the roosters started even earlier, its no problem

this also happens in our village but usually about after 6 am not a problem but the speaker system is so old the out put is so garbled and intermittent it seems the content of the broadcast goes around by word of mouth

then the Chinese whispers effect kicks in having said that i am sure the talk about 1000 baht per rai only took a few minutes to circulate

About 45 days ago, the authorities mounted a boom box on a utility pole in front of our house.

They then pointed it directly at our bedroom window and turned the sound to "deafening".

When necessary, it usually starts around 0600 or so and runs for about an hour. I can't even hear my own TV when it is in operation.

Not a happy camper about that but I roll with the punches over here.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by chuckd

yes we also have a moron who like to hear himself speaking, but mostly in the evening.

If it is a village that takes every month money from you, stop paying it till they stop with it.

We didn't pay for a couple of years. Now there is a security guard so we decided to pay half of what everyone else pays, as we agree with the security guard.

I surely wouldn't pay for getting woken up at 5 AM.

Wifes village has loud speakers everywhere.

Puu yai baan cranks his spiel and the locals all know when he's been drinking. Not an everyday event but maybe 3 times a week(he talks, he drinks everyday)

Personally I like the speaker talks, reminds me I'm not back in Texas with Toto.

Luckily only get loud speakers for funerals and weddings in our vilage.

No point cutting the cables, that will lead only to temporary relief, but if it's wired in the typical Thai 'speaker cable' you can push a sewing pin through both cores and snip off the ends close to the cable.

It will be the devil to find and could be a permanent fix

Im only 10km out of chiang mai but theres public address speakers here, they start off with music then an announcement/news/ whatever

Usually at 8am and 4 or 5pm

All the local roosters usually start at about 5-6am

Those who were here in the early and mid 1980s might remember Chiang Khong, when the day would begin with Communist propaganda being blasted across the river from Ban Hoey Sai.

I'm sure similar things went on in other border villages, but Chiang Khong was the only one I went to in those days.

I live in the sticks a bit, none next to me at all but I can hear others from literally miles away.

If they ever stick em by my house ill sabotage em for sure

We live in Bangyai just outside of BKK, there is a speaker system in the village but thank god not as bad as what i read here. I hear it maybe once every 2 weeks and never before 9am. Guess they are a bit more civilized here as out in the sticks.

Does anyone know why this practise started. I had always assumed that as many farmers and country people cannot read or write well this was an effective way of communicating information, but may be wrong.

Does anyone know why this practise started. I had always assumed that as many farmers and country people cannot read or write well this was an effective way of communicating information, but may be wrong.

before farmers had radio and tv, it was how they got their local news

Does anyone know why this practise started. I had always assumed that as many farmers and country people cannot read or write well this was an effective way of communicating information, but may be wrong.

before farmers had radio and tv, it was how they got their local news

So why now do they keep installing new systems? seen one not far from here going up recently.

Does anyone know why this practise started. I had always assumed that as many farmers and country people cannot read or write well this was an effective way of communicating information, but may be wrong.

before farmers had radio and tv, it was how they got their local news

So why now do they keep installing new systems? seen one not far from here going up recently.

because it still gives the village news that tv and radio dont bother with. you dont seem to be too familiar with your surroundings

Yes and the same farmers have just got older, but no more literate.

I was so happy when I moved in my Moo Ban. No speakers. Then last Tuesday a morning 7.45- 8.30 am broadcast .. Wednesday same. Thursday was a holiday. Friday nothing .. now notice a humming noise coming from the speakers.. looks like someone else didn't like it either... joy!!

Our place in Bangkok suffers from this, although the headman appears to be not as keen as before 6am was his start time

Still have the security guard banging a pan on the hour through the night, when he remembers

before farmers had radio and tv, it was how they got their local news

So why now do they keep installing new systems? seen one not far from here going up recently.

because it still gives the village news that tv and radio dont bother with. you dont seem to be too familiar with your surroundings

That's probably it... local news.

I don't think loudspeakers predated radio here. I would guess that they came at about the same time.

About 45 days ago, the authorities mounted a boom box on a utility pole in front of our house.

They then pointed it directly at our bedroom window and turned the sound to "deafening".

When necessary, it usually starts around 0600 or so and runs for about an hour. I can't even hear my own TV when it is in operation.

Not a happy camper about that but I roll with the punches over here.

As a Thai citizen, I'll happily buy you a shot gun to blast it, accidentally of course.

Many Thais don't like this either... unless it's about money coming their way. They don't have internet you see. I did complain about the temple prayers everyday and they are now barely audible except on Buddha days. It doesn't really matter if they find out where the cable was cut, they will also 'get the message' if they have to fix it every week. The advice about driving a pin in between the two leads, thus shorting them, is good, much more difficult to find.

We get up at 5 am every day anyway, life is too short to waste daylight by sleeping.