RTP Açores is a Portuguese free-to-air regional television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. It began broadcasting on 10 August 1975 from its studios in Ponta Delgada.
History
Buildup
In 1975, during the transformative phase of Portugal's transition from Estado Novo regime to Third Portuguese Republic, Ramalho Eanes, then president of the administrative council at RTP solicited a dossier already published by João Paz on the future of regional broadcasting, then referred to as RTP-Açores. After studying the process, its implications and conditions, Ramalho Eanes informed António Borges Coutinho that this project would be implemented swiftly.
Along with Sousa Gomes and Sidónio Paes, the administrative council saw the public station in the Azores: "...as to contribute to the eradication of illiteracy...an instrument for education and culture...an instrument to promote cultural democracy...a vehicle that contributed to a better knowledge for all citizens...a means to appeal to unity and social responsibility for all...and a contribution that [served] positive collaboration in the transition and institutionalization of democracy".
Instability at the national/regional levels and the move towards more autonomy and independence meant that RTP's motives were met with anxiety and distrust, the national broadcaster at that time being a tool of the Armed Forces Movement (MFA). In the streets of Ponta Delgada, for example, local cultural brigades were already trying to mould values and guide the transformation towards democracy.
Following the Carnation Revolution, the move towards a decentralized constitution, with an autonomous status for regional authorities, the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, was chosen for the broadcasting centre. Local news and entertainment was broadcast from its first studios in a building in the outskirts of the urban area of Ponta Delgada, in the locality of Sao Gonçalo.
First broadcast
Following some adaptations of the spaces, the first broadcast was aired on 10 August 1975, and lasted six hours. The first broadcast began at 3:30 in the afternoon, with a speech by President of the Board of Governors, General Altino Pinto de Magalhães, and lasted until 9:30, at the end of a newscast. This first transmission was marked by several gaffes, firstly by General Pinto (who was thrust into the position of regional leader only months earlier), then in the transmission of the programming, that included General à Força. After this film, Telejournal published local/regional and national news (already two days late) before a caption appearing to round out the schedule, stating "Silence...we are going to laugh". At the conclusion of this first broadcast, a technical flaw did not permit the playing of the national anthem, resulting in one viewer calling in to berate the studio, stating "...this here is still Portugal".Correio (2005), p.11-12
One of the programs shown on launch day, the Polish series Chłopi (The Peasants), caused controversy among the viewing audience, ostensibly due to the behavior portrayed. The channel employed a staff of about 20 people, and broadcast Tuesdays to Sundays from 19:00 to 22:00, with the employees taking a day off on Monday.
During these early broadcasts, the regional operator produced three hours of daily broadcasts per day for two months. In the successive years, the Azoreans began to trust the local broadcasters, with improvements made to the functioning of the service, including the operation of the Estação Terrena de Satélites da Marconi, which allowed signals from the continent to reach the Azores directly (rather than time-delay broadcasts). But, coverage was not even, as many of the islands were not covered, and many of the programming was stilled delivered from the continent and the content was censored, due to concerns for "public morality".