Eurovision Song Contest 1987

The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the 32nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brussels, Belgium, following the country's victory at the Template:Escyr with the song "J'aime la vie" by Sandra Kim. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (RTBF), the contest was held at the Centenary Palace on 9 May 1987 (also Europe Day) and hosted by French-Belgian singer Viktor Lazlo.

Twenty-two countries took part in the contest with Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty returning to the competition after their absences the previous year. This set the record for the highest number of competing countries up until that point.

The winner was Template:Esccnty with the song "Hold Me Now" by Johnny Logan, who had also won the Template:Escyr contest. He became the first performer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice. Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty, and the Template:Esccnty rounded out the top five.

Location

File:Brussels Expo, Palais 5 (DSCF1226).jpg

The Centenary Palace of the Brussels Exhibition Centre, host venue of the 1987 contest

The contest took place at the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo) in Brussels, Belgium. These are a set of exhibition halls built from 1930 on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau (Heysel Park) in Laeken (northern part of the City of Brussels) to celebrate the centenary of Belgian Independence. The Centenary Palace (Template:Langx, Template:Langx), where the main stage was located, is one of the remaining buildings of the Brussels International Exposition of 1935. Currently, it is still being used for trade fairs, as well as concerts, usually for bigger acts and artists.

Host city selection process

Template:Location map+ During the selection process of the host city and venue, a joint committee from the two Belgian broadcasters, Walloon {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (RTBF) and Flemish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (BRT), was created by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The committee also decided that a potential place for the contest was the Royal Theatre of Antwerp, as both locations proposed by RTBF (the Palais du Centenaire in Brussels and the Template:Ill in Liege) would have required heavy renovation works to meet the proposed technical specifications for the contest. Nevertheless, RTBF demanded the event to be held in Brussels with the argument that the city symbolized more than the Belgium capital itself, in addition to its federal functions as the capital of the country (but almost all governing bodies of the European Union also located there). On 6 October 1986, seven months ahead of the contest, RTBF surprisingly and one-sidedly announced that the Palais du Centenaire was chosen as the host venue for the Eurovision Song Contest 1987. The Flemish newspaper {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, published that BRT proposed instead to host the contest at the Cirque Royal, near the Royal Palace of Brussels, adding that RTBF would be solely in charge of organizing the contest if BRT's counteroffer was not chosen. However, RTBF moved forward alone with its plans and confirmed that the Palais du Centenaire was the official contest's host venue.<ref name="lesoir" /> BRT was offended by the choice of Brussels as the host city, and withdrew from the organization, but kept the duties of competing in the contest representing Belgium.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Participants

Template:Further Template:Interlanguage link info Template:ESC 1987 participants The Eurovision Song Contest 1987 was the biggest contest to date, and it was also the first in which 22 countries competed. Only Template:Esccnty, Template:Esccnty and Template:Esccnty failed to compete out of all the countries which had entered the contest in the past. To date, this was the largest number of countries participating in the contest, with the maximum number up until then being 20. As this had never happened, the EBU was forced to review the rules and production calendar after this edition, and fearing that the number would increase again, it was decided that from this edition onwards, the maximum number of participants would also be 22. This was a problematic question over the next six years as new and returning nations indicated an interest in participating, but they could not be accommodated.<ref name="TOH">Template:Cite book</ref>

Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists in past editions for the same country. Gary Lux had represented Template:Esccnty as part of Westend, and Template:Esccnty as a soloist; and he had additionally provided backing vocals Template:Esccnty. Alexia had represented Template:Esccnty as part of Island. Wind had represented Template:Esccnty. Johnny Logan had won the contest for Template:Esccnty.

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Roxburgh" />
Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)	Conductor
Template:Esc	ORF	Gary Lux	lang}}"	German	Template:Hlist	Richard Oesterreicher
Template:Esc	BRT	Liliane Saint-Pierre	"Soldiers of Love"	Dutch	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	CyBC	Alexia	lang}}" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})	Greek	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	DR	Template:Ill with Anne-Cathrine Herdorf	lang}}"	Danish	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	YLE	Vicky Rosti	lang}}"	Finnish	Template:Hlist	Ossi Runne
Template:Esc	lang}}	Christine Minier	lang}}"	French	Template:Hlist	Jean-Claude Petit
Template:Esc	BRTemplate:Efn	Wind	lang}}"	German	Template:Hlist	Laszlo Bencker
Template:Esc	ERT	Bang	lang}})	Greek	Template:Hlist	Giorgos Niarchos
Template:Esc	RÚV	Halla Margrét	lang}}"	Icelandic	Template:Ill	Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson
Template:Esc	RTÉ	Johnny Logan	"Hold Me Now"	English	Seán Sherrard	Noel Kelehan
Template:Esc	IBA	Template:Ill and Kushnir	lang}}" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})	Hebrew	Zohar Laskov	Kobi Oshrat
Template:Esc	RAI	Umberto Tozzi and Raf	lang}}"	Italian	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	CLT	Plastic Bertrand	lang}}"	French	Template:Hlist	Alec Mansion
Template:Esc	NOS	Marcha	lang}}"	Dutch	Peter Koelewijn	Rogier van Otterloo
Template:Esc	NRK	Kate Gulbrandsen	lang}}"	Norwegian	Template:Hlist	Terje Fjærn
Template:Esc	RTP	Nevada	lang}}"	Portuguese	Template:Hlist	Jaime Oliveira
Template:Esc	TVE	Patricia Kraus	lang}}"	Spanish	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill
Template:Esc	SVT	Lotta Engberg	"Boogaloo"	Swedish	Template:Hlist	Curt-Eric Holmquist
Template:Esc	SRG SSR	Carol Rich	lang}}"	French	Jean-Jacques Egli	Template:N/A
Template:Esc	TRT	Seyyal Taner and Grup Lokomotif	lang}}"	Turkish	Olcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz	Garo Mafyan
Template:Esc	BBC	Rikki	"Only the Light"	English	Richard Peebles	Ronnie Hazlehurst
Template:Esc	JRT	lang}}	lang}}" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})	Serbo-Croatian	Template:Hlist	Template:Ill

Production and format

Host broadcaster rule

By 1986, Template:Esccnty had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 30 times since making its debut at the first contest in Template:Esccnty along six other countries. Belgium was the only one of the seven founding countries to have never won the contest and had only finished in the top five four times (with "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" by Tonia in Template:Esccnty placing fourth, "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" by Jean Vallée in Template:Esccnty placing second, "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" by Stella in Template:Esccnty placing fourth, and "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" by Jacques Zegers in Template:Esccnty placing fifth).

Their Eurovision victory in Template:Esccnty, with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} by Sandra Kim, occurred amidst a complex political situation in Belgium. The country was undergoing massive constitutional reforms in which the Belgian state was transitioning from a centralized to a federal system. This was due to rising tensions between the two major linguistic regions of Belgium, Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. Both regions had had independent broadcasters since 1960 (BRT in Flanders and RTBF in Wallonia) but had still agreed to jointly host the contest in the event of a Belgian victory. While the triumph of "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" in 1986Template:Sndan entry sent by French-speaking RTBFTemplate:Sndreignited a sense of national union across all Belgian regions, the two regional broadcasters weren't able to overcome their disagreements and joint host the competition.<ref name="lesoir">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the production of the event, BRT eventually withdrew from the project and RTBF organised the contest alone as host broadcaster.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a consequence, the host country images in Eurovision 1987 mostly showed footage of Wallonia. BRT still remained in charge of the participation in the contest competing for Belgium.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Budget

Holding the contest in Belgium caused several legal changes in the country's system and forced the implementation of most of the modern rules and regulations on the monetization of public television. This led to the authorization of advertising, sponsorships, and marketing actions in the two public channels in the country. As a consequence, the RTBF was also allowed to sell sponsorship quotas for the event, setting a new precedent for the Eurovision Song Contest.

For RTBF, this decision was a relief as the event was almost entirely privately funded. This opened the doors to the commercial potential of the event itself, starting a period of modernization and increased interest for the event.<ref name="hautier65">HAUTIER Jean-Pierre, La folie de l’Eurovision, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Arbre, 2010, p. 65.</ref> Apart from the latent tensions, after the end of the contest the then-president of the BRT Cas Goossens praised RTBF for their "perfect organization" while at the same time regretting that the two broadcasters were not able to collaborate. He added that the cost of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest would have been difficult to justify to the Flemish taxpayers.<ref name="lesoir" />

Rehearsals

Dress rehearsals began on 24–25 April.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Contest overview

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Abbr	Country	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	65	9
2	Template:Esc	Datner and Kushnir	lang}}"	73	8
3	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	8	20
4	Template:Esc	Halla Margrét	lang}}"	28	16
5	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Soldiers of Love"	56	11
6	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Boogaloo"	50	12
7	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname and Raf	lang}}"	103	3
8	Template:Esc	Nevada	lang}}"	15	18
9	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	10	19
10	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname and Grup Lokomotif	lang}}"	0	22
11	Template:Esc	Bang	"Stop"	64	10
12	Template:Esc	Marcha	lang}}"	83	5
13	Template:Esc	Plastic Bertrand	lang}}"	4	21
14	Template:Esc	Rikki	"Only the Light"	47	13
15	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	44	14
16	Template:Esc	Wind	lang}}"	141	2
17	Template:Esc	Alexia	lang}}"	80	7
18	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	32	15
19	Template:Esc	Bandjo with Anne-Cathrine Herdorf	lang}}"	83	5
20	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	"Hold Me Now"	172	1
21	Template:Esc	lang}}	lang}}"	92	4
22	Template:Esc	Template:Sortname	lang}}"	26	17

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1987 contest are listed below.

• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndAn Ploegaerts<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndSolveig Herlin<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndGuðrún Skúladóttir<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndRalph Inbar<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndTemplate:Ill<ref name="Melfest">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndColin Berry<ref name="Roxburgh">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:FlaguTemplate:SndLjiljana Tipsarević<ref name="Yugoslavia">Template:Cite news</ref>

Detailed voting results

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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rowspan="22" Template:Vert header	Norway	65			4		7	10	7		3			4			4	7	3	5	3	2		6
Israel	73	2		1	5	6	4		10				3		4	10	8		7		5		8
Austria	8							1				7
Iceland	28	4				4				4		6					10
Belgium	56	5	2	3				6		7	4			5	8		4	5	3			4
Sweden	50		12		8	1		3	7		2					3		7		7
Italy	103		3	6	3	5	1		12	12	8			4	1		12	1	4		12	12	7
Portugal	15									8		5					2
Spain	10											10
Turkey	0
Greece	64				1	2	6	8					5	7	5	7		12		6		5
Netherlands	83		5	2				10		5	7	3		8	3	12			2	2	6	8	10
Luxembourg	4								2						2
United Kingdom	47		10	5		3	5		3		3			1				2	1	4	3	2	5
France	44	1			4			5				4	1	12			5				10		2
Germany	141	3	8	10	12	10	7	4	5	1	6		10	6	10	6		6	10	12	7	7	1
Cyprus	80	6			6		2					12	2		6	5	3		6	10	8	10	4
Finland	32	10					3		4	2		1	8	2			1					1
Denmark	83	7	6	7	7		8	2	1		1	8	6		7	8			8		4		3
Ireland	172	8	4	12		12	12	12	8	10	10		12	10	12	1	6	8	12	5		6	12
Yugoslavia	92	12	7	8	10	8			6	6	12	2				2		10		8	1
Switzerland	26		1		2						5		7	3				4		1		3

12 points

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

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 12 points
8	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc
5	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc, Template:Esc
2	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc, Template:Esc
1	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc
	Template:Esc	Template:Esc

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It was reported that 500 million viewers in 25 countries would see the contest.<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	ORF	FS1	Ernst Grissemann	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	BRT	TV1	Luc Appermont	<ref name="Brugsch">Template:Cite news</ref>
		BRT 2	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	RTBF	RTBF1, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription or libraries</ref>
Template:Flagu	CyBC	RIK, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	DR	DR TV	Jørgen de Mylius	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Flagu	YLE	TV1, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Erkki Toivanen	<ref name="HS">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}		Patrick Simpson-Jones	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	ARD	lang}}	Template:Ill and Template:Ill	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	ERT	ERT	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	RÚV	lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	RTÉ	RTÉ 1	Marty Whelan	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
		RTÉ FM3	Larry Gogan	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu	IBA	Israeli Television	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	RAI	lang}}Template:Efn	Rosanna Vaudetti	<ref name="Radiocorriere">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu	CLT	lang}}	Template:N/A	<ref name="Revue">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
		RTL plus	Template:Ill
Template:Flagu	NOS	lang}}	Willem van Beusekom	<ref name="Limburgs">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	NRK	lang}}, NRK P2	John Andreassen	<ref name="Norsk">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Template:Subscription or libraries</ref>
Template:Flagu	RTP	RTP1	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	TVE	TVE 2	Template:Ill	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	SVT	TV1	Fredrik Belfrage	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
	Template:Ill	SR P3	Jacob Dahlin	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	SRG SSR	lang}}	Template:Ill	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Sportkette">Template:Cite news</ref>
		lang}}	Template:Ill
		lang}}	Template:N/A
	Template:Ill		Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	TRT	TV1	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	BBC	BBC1	Terry Wogan	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
		BBC Radio 2Template:Efn	Ray Moore	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu	JRT	lang}}, TV Zagreb 1, Template:Ill, TV Sarajevo 1, TV Titograd 1	Ksenija Urličić	<ref name="Yugoslavia" /><ref name="Serbia">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		TV Koper-Capodistria	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		TV Ljubljana 1	Vesna Pfeifer
		Template:Ill	Template:N/A	<ref name="Serbia"/>
		TV Skopje 1	Template:N/A

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Commentator(s)	Template:Abbr
Template:Flagu	SBS	SBS TVTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Canberra">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	BT	BT 1Template:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Bulgaria">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	ČST	ČST2Template:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="ČST">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	ETVTemplate:Efn		Template:N/A	<ref name="Eesti">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu	SvF		Template:N/A	<ref name="Faroe">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	KNR	KNRTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Greenland">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	MTV	MTV2Template:Efn	István Vágó	<ref name="Hungary">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Flagu	JRTV	JTV2	Template:N/A	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	TP	TP1Template:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Poland">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	KBS	1TVTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Korea1">Template:Cite news</ref>
		2FMTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="Korea2">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Flagu	CT USSR	Programme OneTemplate:Efn	Template:N/A	<ref name="USSR">Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Eurovision Young Dancers 1987

External links

• Template:Official website