Among the Eastern European piazzettas, Piazzetta Riga was the one that showed the most broadcasts. The program was strongly influenced by the fact that Latvia had declared its independence from the Soviet Union a year earlier and became a nation of its own. Thus, there were programs about the media scene and minorities in Latvia, travel tips for the country, and performances and appearances by Latvian artists and musicians. The economic difficulties the country was facing at the time were also addressed in some of the broadcasts. For technical reasons, most of the programs could only be broadcast by videophone using slow-scan, which could only transmit black and white still images. Only one broadcast featured moving images via a satellite link.

Video clips of Piazzetta Riga

Documents

Press