The analysis of the case studies will be conducted through four different methodological approaches, covering as many areas of investigation.
ATLas bases its research in the history of television, framed from a textual, narrative and aesthetic point of view, but also from a perspective related to production, distribution, critical and audience reception. This line of analysis will be supported by: 1. in-depth interviews with professionals and creatives involved in the sampled local networks; 2. data collection through semi-public documents and industry materials; 3. constant triangulation between oral and written sources to ensure completeness in the reconstruction the field. ATLas researchers, thus, will have access - where available - to the video archives of the selected networks, but also to the accounts of a vast number of informants (founders, employees, creatives), as well as to additional original sources preserved in informal collections.
The project develops along an inter- and trans-disciplinary path in which the analysis of the processes enacted by other sectors of the cultural industries plays a key role. In particular, cinema holds a prominent position in the construction of the identity of local networks, in their competition with Rai and Mediaset as well as in the definition of their programming schedules. The music industry's use of private TV for promotion and synergy with local radio stations are other relevant objects of study, with attention directed also to advertising and print publishing. The final aim resides in the contextualization of the selected cases in their respective areas of regional influence, in order to focus on the intricate network of political, economic and regulatory connections that they maintained during their period of operation.
Several are the ways in which audiovisual media - and local broadcasting in particular - are profoundly linked to the development of civic cultures, fostering a sense of adherence to symbolic communities or other forms of collective belonging, confronting conflicting values, norms, and identities. The methodologies concerning local and urban history are thus essential resources of this research program, which will take into account the accounts both of insiders and spectators of the time. This core investigation will delve as much into cultural habits and the use of leisure time as into memories about network programming, starting also from appropriate audiovisual excerpts.
The notion of archival practice and its relationship to historiography are essential to reconstruct specific institutional contexts such as private TV. The archive works not only as a place for collecting and systematizing sources, but helps also to clarify the cultural practices related to the study of the past. ATLas attemps to develop a common research protocol examining the materiality of the television infrastructure between 1976 and 1990, focusing on video, innovations in image recording and remediation of (and with) other technologies. To enhance the dissemination of its scholarly outcomes, the project will employ the typical tools of digital humanities, with specific reference to cultural heritage management practices.