Archives, Sources And Memories For A History Of Early Italian TV Audiences

This chapter aims to refl ect the historical research on early Italian television, with a specifi c focus on the audience’s point of view.1 With the term ‘early’ we refer here to the fi rst decade following the beginning of regular programming, in January 1954 (Grasso 2004). This chapter stems from extensive research on Italian early audiences carried out independently by the two authors, who after- wards detected many intersections and common aspects. The issue of archives and audiences’ memories will be approached from two different perspectives: on the one hand, the social and historical trajectories of early TV domestication (Silverstone 1994); on the other hand, the political confi guration of the fi rst viewers, especially in the working and middle classes. Two main methodologies were used by the authors to investigate early Italian audiences and represent the framework of this chapter. Firstly, oral history and ethnography as crucial tools to collect private memories of the fi rst TV viewers. Secondly, the analysis of printed sources: both private accounts of viewers’ experiences during that fi rst stage (outlined in diaries and letters), and representations of spectatorship in the popular press and advertisements. With this methodology, the chapter dis- cusses images and practices of the early TV audience in Italy in the mid-1950s.