«It's not necessary but It's nice»? Reflections on the role of media produced by and for lifestyle migrants

This paper explores an under-researched case in the media and minorities field: initiatives concerning relatively privileged populations. After outlining the findings of a self-produced mapping of minority radio initiatives in Portugal, the paper explores the role of a local station founded by, and largely catering to, self-designated “expatriates” residing in the country’s touristic southern region of the Algarve. In dialogue with literature on minority media, it problematizes the issues of inclusion and exclusion, voice, transnational connectivity and cultural reproduction that are central to mediated self-representation in migratory contexts. It argues that media pertaining to relatively privileged populations should be included in the field of minority media.
Drawing on an ethnographic approach it further discusses the specificities of a station catering to a population for whom integration is not always a goal provided international relocation is driven by the search of amenities and “a better quality of life”. By exploring how Bright FM contributes to expressing and (re)constructing the cultural identity of the (mostly British) “expatriate” population, the paper suggests the usefulness of considering lifestyle migrants’ media as a particular category to conceptualize initiatives produced by and for people whose mobilities are best understood through the framework of lifestyle migration.