€UR☼ ♥ ISI☼N: Past & Present

Did you know that not only stars like ABBA, Cèline Dion, Olivia Newton-John, Gina G., Ofra Haza, Domenico Modugno, Ester Ofarim, Nana Mouskouri, Gérard Joling, Vicky Leandros, Cliff Richard, Mocedades and Julio Iglesias took part, but also dance act Riverdance thanks its fame to the Eurovision Song Contest?  What started in 1956, grew to become the largest music competition in the world. The Eurovision Song Contest is not just considered to be the oldest live broadcast in the world, but the most expensive as well. In 1955, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) came up with the idea of an international song contest whereby countries, represented by their respective public broadcasters, would participate in one television show, to be transmitted simultaneously in all represented nations. This was conceived during a meeting in Monaco in 1955 by Marcel Bezençon, a Frenchman working for the EBU. The competition was based upon the Italian Festival di Sanremo, held for the first time in 1951, and was also seen as a technological experiment in live television: in those days, it was a very ambitious project to join many countries together in a wide-area international network. Satellite television did not exist yet at that time, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network. Le Grand-Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne was born! Should there be a tie for first place, the Eurovision title shall be awarded to the song that has obtained points from the highest number of countries. If the songs received votes from the same number of countries, then the highest number of 12-point scores shall qualify. If the winner cannot be determined by this procedure, then the number of times ten points have been awarded shall be the deciding factor; if necessary, this method shall continue until account has been taken of the number of times one point has been awarded. Should two or more songs still tie for first place, even after the above calculation, both/all such songs shall share the title of winners of the Eurovision Song Contest. Without interruption, the Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956, which makes it one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. In 2003, the first ever Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place, while the Eurovision Song Contest celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005. Viewers picked ABBA's "Waterloo" as best ever Eurovision Song Contest song. 2008 running saw a record of 43 represented countries, as Azerbaijan and San Marino joined the family. The competition has been broadcast throughout Europe, but also in Australia, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States, even though these countries do not participate. In 2010, the format was launched outside of Europe so that various other parts of the world will be introduced to the concept behind the show.