Eurovision Song Contest 1976
The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 1975 contest with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the contest was held at the Nederlands Congrescentrum on 3 April 1976 and was hosted by 1957 Dutch Eurovision winner Corry Brokken.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1976 | |
|---|---|
| Dates | |
| Final | 3 April 1976 |
| Host | |
| Venue | Nederlands Congresgebouw The Hague, Netherlands |
| Presenter(s) |
|
| Musical director | Jan Stulen |
| Directed by | Theo Ordeman |
| Executive supervisor | Clifford Brown |
| Executive producer | Fred Oster |
| Host broadcaster | Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) |
| Website | eurovision |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 18 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries | |
| Non-returning countries | |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song | United Kingdom "Save Your Kisses for Me" |
| 1975 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1977 | |
Eighteen countries took part in the contest with Sweden, Malta and Turkey opting not to return to the contest after participating the previous year. Malta would not return to the contest again until 1991. On the other hand, Austria and Greece returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.
United Kingdom won the contest this year with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man.[1] The song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score and an average of 9.65 of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.[2]
Location Edit
The Hague is the seat of government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the capital city of the province of South Holland. It is also the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The contest took place at the Congresgebouw (presently known as the World Forum). The venue was constructed in 1969.
Participating countries Edit
Sweden, Malta and Turkey all decided not to participate this year, while Austria and Greece returned to the contest, making for eighteen participating countries.[1]
Sweden did not enter the contest as broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) did not have enough money to host another contest if Sweden should win again. A new rule was therefore introduced that in the future each participating broadcaster would have to pay a part of the cost of staging the contest. As the author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in his book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, there had been public demonstrations in Sweden against the contest, which also played a part in SR's decision not to take part.[3][4]
Returning artists Edit
| Artist | Country | Previous year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Fredi (Along with "The Friends") | Finland | 1967 |
| Anneli Koivisto (As part of "The Friends") | Finland | 1971 (as part of Koivistolaiset) |
| Peter, Sue and Marc | Switzerland | 1971 |
| Sandra Reemer | Netherlands | 1972 |
| Anne-Karine Strøm | Norway | 1973 (as part of Bendik Singers) 1974 (Along with Bendik Singers) |
Format Edit
As with the Dutch hosted contest of 1970, each song was introduced by a pre-recorded film of the performing artist on location in their home nation. Unlike the 1970 films, the Dutch broadcaster made all of the films themselves, sending a crew to each nation to capture the footage. Both the artists from Monaco and Luxembourg were filmed in their respective nations, despite again not being from the country they were representing. Each film was preceded by an animated insert featuring the flags of the eighteen participating nations and ended with a profile shot of the artists.
The interval act was The Dutch Swing College Band led by Peter Schilperoort, who performed live on the stage, intercut with brief interviews with the artists from France, Israel, Austria, Belgium and Spain backstage in the green room conducted by Hans van Willigenburg. Willigenburg asked each of the five artists which song they thought would win, but only French singer Catherine Ferry was willing to give a definite answer; correctly predicting the United Kingdom.
The scoring system introduced in the previous year's competition returned in 1976. Each jury voted internally and awarded 12 points to the highest scoring song, 10 to the second highest, then 8 to the third, and then 7 to 1 (from fourth to tenth best song, according to the jury). Unlike today, the points were not given in order (from 1 up to 12), but in the order the songs were performed. The current procedure was not established until 1980 (also held in The Hague).
Contest overview Edit
The following tables reflect the officially verified scores given by each jury, adjusted after the transmission. During the live broadcast, France failed to announce the 4 points they awarded to Yugoslavia, an error overlooked by the scrutineer, Clifford Brown. Thus in the live show, Norway were placed 17th and Yugoslavia 18th. After the broadcast, the scores were adjusted and the two nations swapped places, with Yugoslavia's score being adjusted from 6 to 10 points, moving Norway down to last place.
In terms of points gained as a percentage of maximum available, the winning UK entry from Brotherhood of Man is statistically the most successful winning Eurovision entry since the introduction of the 'douze points' scoring system inaugurated in 1975.[b]
| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | Brotherhood of Man | "Save Your Kisses for Me" | 164 | 1 |
| 2 | Switzerland | Peter, Sue and Marc | "Djambo Djambo" | 91 | 4 |
| 3 | Germany | Les Humphries Singers | "Sing, Sang, Song" | 12 | 15 |
| 4 | Israel | Chocolate, Menta, Mastik | "Emor Shalom" | 77 | 6 |
| 5 | Luxembourg | Jürgen Marcus | "Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment" | 17 | 14 |
| 6 | Belgium | Pierre Rapsat | "Judy et Cie" | 68 | 8 |
| 7 | Ireland | Red Hurley | "When" | 54 | 10 |
| 8 | Netherlands | Sandra Reemer | "The Party Is Over Now" | 56 | 9 |
| 9 | Norway | Anne-Karine Strøm | "Mata Hari" | 7 | 18 |
| 10 | Greece | Mariza Koch | "Panaghia mou, panaghia mou" | 20 | 13 |
| 11 | Finland | Fredi and the Friends | "Pump-Pump" | 44 | 11 |
| 12 | Spain | Braulio | "Sobran las palabras" | 11 | 16 |
| 13 | Italy | Romina and Al Bano | "We'll Live It All Again" | 69 | 7 |
| 14 | Austria | Waterloo and Robinson | "My Little World" | 80 | 5 |
| 15 | Portugal | Carlos do Carmo | "Uma flor de verde pinho" | 24 | 12 |
| 16 | Monaco | Mary Christy | "Toi, la musique et moi" | 93 | 3 |
| 17 | France | Catherine Ferry | "Un, deux, trois" | 147 | 2 |
| 18 | Yugoslavia | Ambasadori | "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" | 10 | 17 |
Spokespersons Edit
Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1976 contest are listed below.
Detailed voting results Edit
| United Kingdom | 164 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 91 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | ||
| Germany | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Israel | 77 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |||
| Luxembourg | 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | |||||||||||||||
| Belgium | 68 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 5 | |||||||
| Ireland | 54 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
| Netherlands | 56 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| Norway | 7 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 20 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Finland | 44 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | |||||||||
| Spain | 11 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Italy | 69 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 6 | |||||||
| Austria | 80 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 2 | ||||
| Portugal | 24 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |||||||||||||
| Monaco | 93 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | |||
| France | 147 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 12 | |
| Yugoslavia | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
12 points Edit
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | United Kingdom | Belgium, Greece, Israel, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland |
| 5 | France | Austria, Germany, Monaco, Netherlands, Yugoslavia |
| 1 | Belgium | Finland |
| Italy | Ireland | |
| Ireland | Italy | |
| Monaco | Luxembourg | |
| Portugal | France | |
| Switzerland | United Kingdom |
Broadcasts Edit
Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers.[1][14]
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Hong Kong, Iceland, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.[6]
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF | FS2 | Ernst Grissemann | [15][16] |
| Belgium | RTB | RTB | Unknown | [17][18][19] |
| BRT | BRT | Unknown | [17][19] | |
| Finland | YLE | TV1 | Heikki Seppälä | [20][21] |
| Rinnakkaisohjelma | Erkki Melakoski | |||
| France | TF1 | Jean-Claude Massoulier | [18][22] | |
| Germany | ARD | Deutsches Fernsehen | Werner Veigel | [23][19][24] |
| Greece | ERT | ERT | Mako Georgiadou | [25] |
| Ireland | RTÉ | RTÉ | Mike Murphy | [26][27] |
| RTÉ Radio | Unknown | [28] | ||
| Israel | IBA | Israeli Television | Unknown | [29] |
| Italy | RAI | Rete Uno | Silvio Noto | [30] |
| Luxembourg | CLT | RTL Télé-Luxembourg | Unknown | [18] |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Unknown | [31] | |
| Netherlands | NOS | Nederland 2 | Willem Duys | [19] |
| Hilversum 3 | Unknown | |||
| Norway | NRK | NRK Fjernsynet | Jo Vestly | [32] |
| NRK | Erik Heyerdahl | |||
| Portugal | RTP | I Programa | Unknown | [33] |
| Spain | TVE | TVE 1 | José Luis Uribarri | [34] |
| Switzerland | SRG SSR | TV DRS | Theodor Haller | [22][23][35][36] |
| TSR | Georges Hardy | |||
| TSI | Unknown | |||
| RSI 1 | Unknown | |||
| United Kingdom | BBC | BBC1 | Michael Aspel | [37] |
| BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 | Terry Wogan | [6][38][39] | ||
| BFBS | BFBS Radio | Andrew Pastouna | [6] | |
| Yugoslavia | JRT | TV Koper-Capodistria | Unknown | [30][40][41] |
| TV Ljubljana 1 | Unknown | |||
| TV Zagreb 1 | Unknown | |||
See also Edit
Notes Edit
- ^ On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[9]
- ^ As noted on a TOTP2 Eurovision special, the 1997 Katrina and the Waves entry Love Shine a light ranks third in the rankings of points achieved as a percentage of maximum available with 227 out of 288 or 78.81%, behind Nicole's "Ein bißchen Frieden" in 1982 (161 out of 204 or 78.92%) and Brotherhood of Man's "Save Your Kisses for Me" in 1976 (164 out of 204 or 80.39%). For comparison, Elena Paparizou's 2005 win took 230 points out of a possible 456, or only 50.04% while Portugal's dominant 2017 win from Salvador Sobral took 758 points from a possible 984 available, equating to 77.04%.
- ^ Delayed broadcast on 25 April 1976 at 20:35 WET (20:35 UTC)[43]
References Edit
- ^ a b c "The Hague 1976 - Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
- ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- ^ a b Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 120–121. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
- ^ "Participants of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 227–243. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
- ^ "1976 – 21st edition". diggiloo.net. from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ "Detailed overview: conductors in 1976". And the conductor is... Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
- ^ "Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ Tobin, Robert (2023). "Queer Camp against Franco: Iván Zulueta's Eurovision Song Contest parody Un Dos Tres". In Dubin, Adam; Vuletic, Dean; Obregón, Antonio (eds.). The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon : from concert halls to the halls of academia. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 180. doi:10.4324/9781003188933-15. ISBN 978-1-03-203774-5.
- ^ "Results of the Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ . European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
- ^ "Fernsehen – Samstag". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 3 April 1976. p. 44. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
- ^ Halbhuber, Axel (22 May 2015). "Ein virtueller Disput der ESC-Kommentatoren". Kurier (in German). from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ a b "T.V. Programma's". De Voorpost (in Dutch). Aalst, Belgium. 2 April 1976. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ a b c "Télé-programmes – samedi 3 avril". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 2 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Radio en televisie dit weekend". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). Heerlen, Netherlands. 3 April 1976. p. 7. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Delpher.
- ^ a b "Radio ja TV". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 3 April 1976. p. 27. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ "Fredi ja Friends ja Pump Euroviisuissa tänä iltana". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 3 April 1976. p. 27. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ a b "TV – samedi 3 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 1 April 1976. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Fernsehen und Radio". Thuner Tagblatt (in German). Thun, Switzerland. 2 April 1976. p. 14. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
- ^ Rudorf, Reginald. "Waterloo für Les Humphries". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ "Eurovision 2020: Giorgos Kapoutzidis -Maria Kozakou ston scholiasmo tou diagonismou gia tin ERT" Eurovision 2020: Γιώργος Καπουτζίδης -Μαρία Κοζάκου στον σχολιασμό του διαγωνισμού για την ΕΡΤ (in Greek). Matrix24. 12 February 2020. from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Television Today". The Irish Times. 3 April 1976. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Celebrities and public figures launch Irish campaign to boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel". Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. 30 July 2018. from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Radio Today". The Irish Times. 3 April 1976. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Radio ∗ Televizia" רדיו ∗ טלוויזיה. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 2 April 1976. p. 136. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via National Library of Israel.
- ^ a b "Alla TV". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 3 April 1976. p. 6. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "Monaco – The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ a b "TV-Radio programmene". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Gjøvik, Norway. 3 April 1976. p. 35. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
- ^ "Televisão – Hoje". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 3 April 1976. p. 15. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
- ^ "Programas de Radio y T.V.". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 3 April 1976. p. 65. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "Televisione". Gazzetta Ticinese (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 3 April 1976. p. 8. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
- ^ "Radio – samedi 3 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 1 April 1976. p. 66. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
- ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1976 – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
- ^ "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 3 April 1976". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
- ^ "Televizija – sobota 3" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 3 April 1976. p. 11. (PDF) from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "JRT – subota". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 3 April 1976. p. 16. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
- ^ "Programoversigt" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Sjónvarp – Sunnudagur 25. apríl". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 24 April 1976. p. 23. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
- ^ "Televizyon". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). Istanbul, Turkey. 3 April 1976. p. 6. from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
External links Edit
- Official website