Hungarian TV of the Transition Years

Drót (Wire) was aired between February and August 1994, and its sister program Drótháló (Network) was aired April to June the same year. Produced in a small borrowed studio and delivered by motorbike on VHS cassettes to local television channels, these new programs were produced by Rexfilm and edited by György Baló, and functioned very much like samizdat publications. Launched specifically for the 1994 election campaign season to counterbalance government-dominated media, the materials contain reports on the election campaigns run by various contesting parties, showing the young Viktor Orbán, along with a set of politicians since largely forgotten, as well as important topics of the post-1989 years, such as compensation vouchers and their illegal trade, the thriving black market in music tapes and video films, and everyday difficulties experienced by small entrepreneurs and the unemployed.

Part of the Judit Kóthy Collection on Hungarian Television during the Transition Period, the series includes 20 Drót programs and all the Drótháló programs, plus interview transcripts and program schedules.