After Television in the Azores: Broadcasting an Archipelago

This article draws on a situated perspective to address the creation of the television broadcast service in the Azores (through the RTP- Açores channel) and its role in constructing a political narrative grounded in territory, society and culture. Through discussion of the insularity of the Azores, media architectural apparatus and the concrete effect of mediated interventions, the proposal is that the Azores exist socially and politically through audiovisual mediation. With the arrival of television, the nine islands began ‘to turn towards each other,’ constituting a mediated space – a new public arena – which gave rise to a new, modern, archipelagic interiority. Simply put, it can be contended that the Azorean archipelago is only possible through media agency, and it consists of a territory that was formed through its representation. As media and territory are contingent, I contend that it is less interesting to think about the relationship between the Azorean territory and the media as it is to think about the Azorean territory as media.