Word: molchanov
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...suave young man in a red tie and gray pinstripe suit is seen walking through a grove of trees outside Moscow's Ostankino television center. Vladimir Molchanov, 37, host of the late-night television show Before and After Midnight, is opening his monthly broadcast with an elegiac monologue on the passing of summer. By the time Molchanov has entered the studio, oak branch in hand, Soviet viewers have been treated to brisk, taped reports on an Australian stork breeder, a Japanese horseback-riding robot and the world's largest egg. The 90-minute show also features videos from rock stars...
...once staid standards of Soviet television, Western music videos and a smooth transition from the great outdoors to the broadcast studio seem revolution enough on the airwaves. But the millions of Soviets who watch Molchanov's show find it spellbinding for other reasons. They tune in for a glimpse of Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost: a prominent Soviet writer denouncing the "monstrous slavery" of Stalinism, scenes of rusting railway cars in an abandoned stretch of the Gulag, even rare film footage of Czar Nicholas II and the royal family...
...rough and macho" look. They wear T shirts and blue jeans. At times they may seem a bit cocky, inviting viewers to send in such oddities as leaden macaroni mixes or bread loaves containing glass chips for their "museum of shoddy goods." But they are as earnest as Molchanov in exploring the boundaries of glasnost...
...anchormen" have had merely to pick up a TASS wire and read it, few were prepared for the challenge of improvising on live television. The View crew, for example, was drafted from the World Service of Radio Moscow, where commentators had more freedom in preparing shows for foreign listeners. Molchanov, who began his career as a print journalist, recalls that "at the beginning, I had to take a gulp and realize that everything was possible when I went on live...
...Maybe so, but the baby has taken a first giant step. Says Molchanov: "Who would ever have thought three years ago that we would even have live broadcasts where tough and pointed questions could be asked...