Eurovision Song Contest 1978

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 22 April 1978 at the Grand Amphitheatre of the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France, and presented by Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), who staged the event after winning the 1977 contest for France with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest, and the first to have a male presenter since the inaugural 1956 contest.

Broadcasters from twenty countries participated, the highest number of competing countries in the history of the competition at the time. Denmark and Turkey both returned to the contest. Denmark had not participated since 1966, 12 years before.

The winner was Israel with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. This was Israel's first victory in the contest, and it was also the first winning song to be performed in one of the Semitic languages. It was also the only winning song to be conducted by a woman, Nurit Hirsh. Belgium, France, Monaco and Ireland rounded out the top five, with Belgium's runner-up finish being their best result in the competition at that point. Norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points after the new voting system was implemented in 1975.

Location

Télévision Française 1 (TF1) staged the contest at the Palais des congrès de Paris, a multi propose venue in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Designed by French architect Guillaume Gillet, the venue was inaugurated in 1974.

Participants

Denmark returned to the competition after having been absent for twelve years, while Turkey did so after missing out two years. This meant that, for the first time, the contest had twenty entries competing.

Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Jean Vallée had represented Belgium in 1970; and Norbert Niedermeyer as part of Springtime[de; es; fr] had represented Austria in 1972 as part of Milestones. In addition, Ireen Sheer representing Germany, had represented Luxembourg in 1974.

Format

The postcards were filmed live, featuring the artists making their way to the stage. They took a corridor, then an elevator. Leaving the lift, they were greeted by the previous participants and then made their entrances to the stage. The camera also made several shots of the audience, notably Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.

Each song was accompanied by a 45-piece orchestra.

The Swedish participant Björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the last moment, causing him to completely forget the lyrics. He therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again.

The Israeli winning song was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word ani, meaning "I"). The fact that the song won caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. According to author and political commentator John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, when Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordan Television finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, later announcing that the Belgian entry (which finished second) was the winner.

Contest overview

The contest was held on 22 April 1978, beginning at 21:30 (CEST).

Fears of terrorist attacks like at the Summer Olympics 1972 in Munich and of stage invasions like in 1964 meant that security measures in and around the Palais des Congrès were particularly tight: 200 police officers, some of them as undercover agents, tried to prevent any potential incidents. Spectators had to go through metal detectors upon arrival at the Palais des Congrès.

In addition to his duties as a host together with Denise Fabre, Léon Zitrone also served as commentator for France, in an own commentary box backstage.

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1978 contest are listed below.

• Finland – Kaarina Pönniö
• Germany – Sigi Harreis[de]
• Spain – Matías Prats Luque
• Sweden – Sven Lindahl
• Turkey – Meral Savcı
• United Kingdom – Colin Berry

Detailed voting results

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

Broadcasts

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. TF1 provided 29 commentary boxes in the auditorium for foreign broadcasters.

In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in 17 other countries, including Algeria, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yugoslavia; in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. No official accounts of the viewing figures are known to exist; an estimate given in French press outlets ahead of the contest put the expected audience at around 350 million viewers worldwide, while media reports put viewing figures between 500 and 600 million.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

See also

• OTI Festival 1978

Notes

External links