The Medium and the Message: Reconciling Theaters and Radio in 1920s São Paulo, Brazil

Scholars of popular culture have often assumed radio's rapid, monolithic development as the primary medium of communication to a mass audience.  In its nascent stage, however, broadcasting technology's culturally democratizing potential was hardly taken for granted.  On the contrary, as demonstrated in legislative debates and press coverage in 1920s São Paulo, Brazil, radio was perceived by many to be a platform whose reach was significantly more limited than its physical counterpart, the theater.  This paper will examine the ways in which discourse surrounding issues of accessibility and cultural education in the city of São Paulo shifted as a result of the establishment of a radio station there in 1923. I will begin with an analysis of existing ideas about the role of theaters as socially transformative spaces, including assumptions about specific performance genres, intended audiences, the power of architecture, and the extent to which all three necessitated regulation.  The dichotomy of theater and radio will then be unpacked through the case study of the Theatro Municipal and the attempts to broadcast the opera house's performances in the second half of the 1920s.