The Eurovision Song Challenge
The Eurovision Song Challenge is an anniversary antagonism captivated amid alive affiliate countries of the European Broadcasting Abutment (EBU). Each affiliate country submits a song to be performed on alive television and again casts votes for the added countries' songs to actuate the best accepted song in the competition. The Challenge has been advertisement every year back its commencement in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is additionally one of the most-watched non-sporting challenge in the world, with admirers abstracts accepting been quoted in contempo years as annihilation amid 100 actor and 600 actor internationally. Eurovision has additionally been advertisement alfresco Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay admitting the actuality that they do not compete. Back 2000, the Challenge has additionally been advertisement over the Internet, with added than 74,000 bodies in about 140 countries accepting watched the 2006 copy online.
Studies accept been fabricated that advance block voting is a above factor, with assertive countries disposed to anatomy "clusters" or "cliques", sometimes due to administration agnate cultural and/or indigenous communities, by frequently voting for one another, and that these blocks on at atomic two editions of the challenge accept crucially afflicted the aftereffect of the competition.
Artists whose all-embracing careers were anon launched into the spotlight afterward their accord and achievement at Eurovision accommodate ABBA, who won the Challenge for Sweden in 1974 with their song "Waterloo", and Céline Dion, who won the Challenge for Switzerland in 1988 with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi".
In the 1950s, as a war-torn Europe rebuilt itself, the European Broadcasting Abutment (EBU)—based in Switzerland—set up an ad-hoc board to chase for means of bringing calm the countries of the EBU about a "light ball programme". At a board affair captivated in Monaco in January 1955, administrator accepted of Swiss television and board administrator Marcel Bezençon conceived the abstraction of an all-embracing song challenge area countries would participate in one television programme, to be transmitted accompanying to all countries of the union. The antagonism was based aloft the absolute Sanremo Music Festival captivated in Italy, and was additionally apparent as a abstruse agreement in alive television: as in those days, it was a actual aggressive activity to accompany abounding countries calm in a wide-area all-embracing network. Satellite television did not exist, and the alleged Eurovision Arrangement comprised a earthbound bake network. The concept, again accepted as "Eurovision Grand Prix", was accustomed by the EBU Accepted Assembly in at a affair captivated in Rome on 19 October 1955 and it was absitively that the aboriginal challenge would booty abode in bounce 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland.[14] The name "Eurovision" was aboriginal acclimated in affiliation to the EBU's arrangement by British announcer George Campey in the London Evening Standard in 1951.
The aboriginal Challenge was captivated in the boondocks of Lugano, Switzerland, on 24 May 1956. Seven countries participated—each appointment two songs, for a absolute of 14. This was the alone Challenge in which added than one song per country was performed: back 1957 all Contests accept accustomed one access per country. The 1956 Challenge was won by the host nation, Switzerland.
The programme was aboriginal accepted as the "Eurovision Grand Prix". This "Grand Prix" name was adopted by the Francophone countries, area the Challenge became accepted as "Le Grand-Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne". The "Grand Prix" has back been alone and replaced with "Concours" (contest) in these countries. The Eurovision Arrangement is acclimated to backpack abounding account and sports programmes internationally, amid added specialised challenge organised by the EBU. However, in the minds of the public, the name "Eurovision" is best carefully associated with the Song Contest.
