HISTORY's Moment in Media: Eurovision Song Contest Celebrates 65 Years

It39s the Eurovision Song Contest it has been described as quotthe Olympics meets American Idolquotamp160and it debuted May 24 1956Today it39s huge About 200 million people tune in to Eurovision every year Dozens of countries participate some from far beyond Europe including Australia and Israel It turned an obscure Swedish band called Abba into a global superact after a 1974 win and it introduced the world to quotVolarequot an original song performed by 195839s Italian entrant Domenico Modugno who did not win that went on to become the Dean Martin standard In 2016 Justin Timberlake performed at the finals as a featured performer not a competitor It39s a phenomenonBut when Eurovision premiered a production of the continentspanning European Broadcasting Union its goals were both more straightforward and more profound In the early days of television the multicountry live broadcast was a demonstration of the connective possibilities of the new medium And on a continent recently ravaged by world war it was a powerful symbol of cooperation and unitySeven countries participated in the first contest broadcast from Lugano Switzerland Belgium France Germany Italy Luxembourg the Netherlands and Switzerland Austria Denmark and the United Kingdom missed the deadline Singers performed with a 24piece orchestra and each sang in their own language Each participating country sent two jurors to Lugano to judge the competition Switzerland wonIn the intervening years the number of participants has exploded especially after the end of the Cold War when Eastern European countries began to integrate into the bloc the rules for performance have changed the voting structures have become more complicated and the style has become thoroughly gleefully cheesily popToday nearly everyone sings in English the costumes and special effects are goofily over the top and the competition takes place through multiple rounds First the national broadcaster of each participating country selects one performer to represent their nation generally chosen through a countrylevel televised competition Groups can have no more than six members and songs must be shorter than three minutes and not released beforeThen the performers move on to two Eurovision semifinals to see who makes the Grand Final Each year the host country39s entrant is guaranteed a spot in the finals as are performers from each of the socalled Big Five countries France Germany Italy Spain and the United Kingdom who fund most of the European Broadcasting Union39s budget Each of the semifinals yields 10 finalists for a total of 26 competitors in the Grand FinalThat39s the big event and if you39ve ever been in a European capital while the final is happening you39ve seen throngs pouring out of bars and pubs cheering on the proceedings You39d be forgiven for thinking it39s the World Cup The complicated judging system factors in the votes of quotexpertquot judges from each county plus a popular vote from each country called or texted in by phone Voters from a country cannot vote for their own performer but voting blocs have developed The Eastern European countries tend to vote for each other as do the Scandinavians For some reason Malta tends to vote for the BritsSixtyfive years later Eurovision has more than fulfilled its broadcasting goals if not necessarily its political ones As authoritarianism has risen in parts of the continent this year39s entry from Belarus was rejected because the broadcasting union said it quotputs the nonpolitical nature of the context in questionquot Each year the Eurovision Song Contest shows off the magic of television to hundreds of millions of people across Europe and the worldClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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HISTORY's Moment in Media: Eurovision Song Contest Celebrates 65 Years

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HISTORY's Moment in Media: Eurovision Song Contest Celebrates 65 Years

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