Template:Short description Template:Infobox song contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Madrid, Spain, following the country's victory at the Template:Escyr with the song "La La La" by Massiel. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (TVE), the contest was held at the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} on 29 March 1969 and was hosted by Spanish television presenter and actress Laurita Valenzuela.

Sixteen countries took part in the contest with Template:Esccnty deciding not to participate this year.

At the close of voting, four countries were declared joint-winners: the Template:Esccnty with "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu, Template:Esccnty with "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" by Salomé, the Template:Esccnty with "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr, and Template:Esccnty with "Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara. It was the first time in the history of the contest that a tie for first place had occurred, and as there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners.<ref name=ESC1969>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> France's win was its fourth, thus making it the first country to win the contest four times. The Netherlands' win was its third. Spain and the United Kingdom each won for the second time, with Spain becoming the first country to win the contest twice in a row.

LocationEdit

File:Teatro Real de Madrid 2025.jpg
lang}}, Madrid – host venue of the 1969 contest.

The venue selected to host the 1969 contest was the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, an opera house located in Madrid opened in 1850. After having to close in 1924 due to damage to the building, the venue reopened in 1966 as a concert hall and the main concert venue of the Spanish National Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra.<ref name="Cultural Institutions: Teatro Real">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ParticipantsEdit

Template:Further Template:Interlanguage link info Template:ESC 1969 participants Austria was absent from the contest,<ref name=ESC1969 /> officially because they could not find a suitable representative,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but it was rumoured that they refused to participate in a contest staged in Franco-ruled Spain.<ref name=History>Template:Cite book</ref> Wales wanted to debut with Welsh language broadcaster BBC Cymru, and also made a national selection called Cân i Gymru, but in the end it was decided they would not participate in the competition – their participation was rejected because Wales is not a sovereign state. Only the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the Template:Esccnty.

Several of the performing artists had previously represented the same country in past editions: Simone de Oliveira had represented Template:Esccnty; Kirsti Sparboe had represented Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty; and Louis Neefs had represented Template:Esccnty. In addition, Siw Malmkvist representing Template:Esccnty had represented Template:Esccnty; and Romuald representing Template:Esccnty had represented Template:Esccnty.

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Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
Template:Esc BRT Louis Neefs "Jennifer Jennings" Dutch Template:Hlist Francis Bay
Template:Esc YLE Jarkko and Laura lang}}" Finnish Template:Hlist Ossi Runne
Template:Esc ORTF Frida Boccara lang}}" French Template:Hlist Franck Pourcel
Template:Esc HRTemplate:Efn Siw Malmkvist lang}}" German Hans Blum Hans Blum
Template:Esc RTÉ Muriel Day "The Wages of Love" English Michael Reade Noel Kelehan
Template:Esc RAI Iva Zanicchi lang}}" Italian Template:Hlist Ezio Leoni
Template:Esc CLT Romuald "Catherine" French Template:Hlist Augusto Algueró
Template:Esc TMC Template:Ill lang}}" French Jo Perrier Hervé Roy
Template:Esc NTS Lenny Kuhr lang}}" Dutch Template:Hlist Frans de Kok
Template:Esc NRK Kirsti Sparboe lang}}" Norwegian Arne Bendiksen Øivind Bergh
Template:Esc RTP Simone de Oliveira lang}}" Portuguese Template:Hlist Ferrer Trindade
Template:Esc TVE Salomé lang}}" Spanish Template:Hlist Augusto Algueró
Template:Esc SR Tommy Körberg lang}}" Swedish Template:Hlist Lars Samuelson
Template:Esc SRG SSR Paola lang}}" German Template:Hlist Henry Mayer
Template:Esc BBC Lulu "Boom Bang-a-Bang" English Template:Hlist Johnny Harris
Template:Esc JRT Template:Ill lang}}" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) Serbo-Croatian Milan Lentić Miljenko Prohaska

FormatEdit

The surrealist artist Salvador Dalí designed the publicity material for the contest. The stage featured a metal sculpture created by surrealist artist Template:Ill.Template:Efn The musical director of the event was Augusto Algueró, who made the arrangements and conducted the orchestra during the opening and ending acts. The show opened with a rendition of the Eurovision tune by the Teatro Real organ, followed by the orchestra performing the previous year's winning song, "La, la, la". The interval act consisted of a surrealist documentary titled {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, directed by Javier Aguirre, with music by Luis de Pablo. The show ended with the orchestra performing a medley of previous Eurovision winning songs during the credits.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

This was the second contest to be filmed and transmitted in colour, even though TVE did not have the required colour equipment for such a big event. It had to rent colour television cameras from the ARD German network, which was provided by Fernseh and brought to Madrid from Cologne.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In Spain itself the broadcast was seen in black and white because the local transmitters did not support colour transmissions. The colour recording equipment did not arrive in time, so TVE only had a black and white copy of the contest, until a colour copy was discovered in the archives of NRK.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It was the first time that the contest resulted in a tie for first place, with four countries each gaining 18 votes. Since there was at the time no rule to cover such an eventuality, all four countries were declared joint winners. This caused an unfortunate problem concerning the medals due to be distributed to the winners as there were not enough to go round, so that only the singers received their medals on the night:<ref name=ESC1969 /> the songwriters, to some disgruntlement, were not awarded theirs until some days laterTemplate:Citation needed. The medals were presented by previous year's winner, Massiel.

Contest overviewEdit

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Template:Abbr Country Artist Song Votes Place
1 Template:Esc Ivan lang}}" 5 13
2 Template:Esc Romuald "Catherine" 7 11
3 Template:Esc Salomé lang}}" 18 1
4 Template:Esc Jean-Jacques lang}}" 11 6
5 Template:Esc Template:Sortname "The Wages of Love" 10 7
6 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 5 13
7 Template:Esc Lulu "Boom Bang-a-Bang" 18 1
8 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 18 1
9 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 8 9
10 Template:Esc Template:Sortname "Jennifer Jennings" 10 7
11 Template:Esc Paola lang}}" 13 5
12 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 1 16
13 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 8 9
14 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 18 1
15 Template:Esc Template:Sortname lang}}" 4 15
16 Template:Esc Jarkko and Laura lang}}" 6 12

SpokespersonsEdit

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective jury via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1969 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting resultsEdit

Every participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel of ten people. Every jury member could give one vote to his or her favourite song, except that representing their own country.

Although neither spokesperson made any errors in their announcements, scrutineer Clifford Brown asked both the Spanish and the Monegasque spokespersons to repeat their scores. No adjustments were made to the scoring as a result of the repetition.

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rowspan="16" Template:Vert header Yugoslavia 5 1 1 3
Luxembourg 7 1 3 1 1 1
Spain 18 1 2 3 1 3 1 3 2 2
Monaco 11 2 4 2 2 1
Ireland 10 1 1 1 3 1 3
Italy 5 1 1 1 1 1
United Kingdom 18 2 4 3 1 5 1 1 1
Netherlands 18 2 1 3 1 4 1 6
Sweden 8 1 3 1 3
Belgium 10 2 3 1 2 2
Switzerland 13 2 3 2 1 1 2 2
Norway 1 1
Germany 8 3 2 1 1 1
France 18 1 2 4 4 2 1 1 1 2
Portugal 4 2 1 1
Finland 6 1 1 1 1 1 1

BroadcastsEdit

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest live via its networks after receiving it through the Eurovision network. 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in 26 countries including Tunisia; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union received via Intervision; and in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama, and Puerto Rico.<ref name="Roxburgh" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 30 radio and television commentators are reported to be present at the contest,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with an estimated global audience of 250 to 400 million viewers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Template:Abbr
Template:Flagu BRT BRT Template:Ill <ref name="DeS">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
RTB RTB Paule Herreman <ref name="DeS" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
RTB 1 Template:N/A <ref name="DeS" />
Template:Flagu YLE lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Ill <ref name="HS2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HS">Template:Cite news</ref>
lang}} Template:N/A <ref name="HS" />
Template:Flagu ORTF lang}}, France Inter Pierre Tchernia <ref name="Luxemburger" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu ARD lang}} Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu RTÉ RTÉ Gay Byrne <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
RTÉ Radio Kevin Roche <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu RAI lang}} Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu CLT lang}} Template:N/A <ref name="Luxemburger">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu NTS lang}} Pim Jacobs <ref name="Limburger">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu NRK lang}}, NRKTemplate:Efn Template:IllTemplate:Efn <ref name="Norsk">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu RTP lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Henrique Mendes <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
Template:Flagu TVE TVE 1, TVE 2, TVE CanariasTemplate:Efn José Luis Uribarri <ref name="Canary Islands">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

RNE lang}} rowspan="3" Template:N/A <ref name="Barcelona">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio Popular <ref name="Galicia" />
SER Template:Ill rowspan="13" Template:N/A <ref name="Barcelona" />
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio Lérida <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio Orense <ref name="Galicia">Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio Pamplona <ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription or libraries</ref>
Radio Rioja <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio San Sebastián <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Radio Zaragoza <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu SR lang}}, SR P3 Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu SRG SSR TV DRS Template:N/A <ref name="Schweiz">Template:Cite news</ref>
TSR Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
TSI Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu BBC BBC1 David Gell <ref name="Radio Times">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Pete Murray <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
BFBS BFBS Radio John Russell <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Flagu JRT lang}} Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
lang}} Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
lang}} Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Template:Abbr
Template:Flagu ORF FS1 Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu Rede Tupi TV Tupi Rio de Janeiro Rubens Amaral <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Brazil com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

TV Tupi São Paulo
TV Itacolomi
TV Paraná <ref name="Brazil com" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
TV Piratini <ref name="Brazil com" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
TV Rádio ClubeTemplate:Efn <ref name="Brazil com" /><ref name="Pernambuco">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu Canal 9Template:Efn Template:N/A <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Flagu Inravisión Canal NacionalTemplate:Efn Template:N/A <ref name="Colombia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Flagu Telecentro Canal 6Template:Efn Roberto Giralt <ref name="Nación">Template:Cite news</ref>
Telenac Canal 2Template:Efn
Template:Flagu ČST ČST Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu MTV MTV Template:Ill <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu MBA MTS Victor Aquilina <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu TVR lang}} Template:N/A <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

NotesEdit

Template:Notelist

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

Template:Eurovision Song Contest 1969 Template:Eurovision Song Contest Template:Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits Template:Portal bar Template:Use dmy dates Template:Coord