ABSTRACT
Watching it in a more theoretical mode, I can see why. Essentially, the minimalist weather channel gives us the ‘weatherband’ frequency from the radio spectrum. But, since it makes a claim to being television, it must also give us a visual representation, a little bit of spectacle. This takes the form of a brightly colored ‘radar map’ of the tri-state region, the perfect semiotic object. I know that this vivid picture with its minimalist whirl of radar representation bears no real correspondence to that which gets my feet wet. Nevertheless, I am willing to accept the map as the signifier of ‘the weather’. When I watched the channel as a theorist, I realized I did not even know how to ‘read’ the map. I was amazed at how little this bothered me. A willing subject, I accept the map as a form of science and as a signifier whose message is ‘This is the weather on television’.
