The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which members are radio and television companies, and most of them are government-owned public service broadcasters or privately owned stations with public missions.

Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956.

* Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.

The first Contest was held in the town of Lugano, Switzerland, on 24^th May 1956. Seven countries participated and each submitting two songs, that was 14 songs in total. This was the only Contest in which more than one song per country was performed, so since 1957 all Contests have allowed one entry per country.

After 56 runnings, the contest is one of the most typical European traditions and without doubt, Europe’s favorite TV show!

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 is the 57^th annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, following Azerbaijan’s win in the 2011 Contest.

The two semi-finals were held on 22nd May and 24th May 2012, and the final on 26th May 2012. Ten countries from each semi-final were qualified for the final and were joined by Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

For this issue of SEEbtm magazine, after just finished Eurovision Song Contest 2012, we had an honor to speak with Mr Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest.

1. The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest running television shows in the world. What are the main factors in organization process for event to last so far?

Eurovision Song Contest is the only true pan-European cultural event. The fact that it brings nations together in a friendly competition has always been the driving force for ESC.
It has been travelling through Europe since 1956, and is a part of our common cultural heritage. People love it or hate it, but very few are indifferent. ESC reminds us about our differences and similarities.

2. How many people were involved in organization of this year’s Eurovision?
More than 700 people were directly connected to the shows. Then another 1,000 in supporting functions like security, transportation, delegation handling and catering.

3. What was the most demanding, considering organizational aspect of the show?
Eurovision Song Contest is always challenging. It demands a lot from the local organizers as well as the EBU. Azerbaijan had little experience in hosting big events so there ware challenges both on the technical as well as the logistical side.

4. The contest is considered to be a unique opportunity for promoting the host country as a tourist destination. Do you know what kind of benefits countries usually have from this point of view or some interesting story to tell us?
ESC creates a huge focus on the host city. Both Oslo and Düsseldorf saw an increase in tourism after the event. Düsseldorf also managed to revamp their image in Germany. It was regarded as a boring and expensive city. Thousands of articles from Düsseldorf gave quite a different expression.

5. The 57th Eurovision Song Contest has finished. Could you tell us in few sentences your impressions of this year’s contest? What makes you particularly proud?

I`m very proud of the young, dedicated and enthusiastic Azeri team in Baku, the team of the Azerbaijani Host Broadcaster Ictimai TV. They did their outmost day in and day out to make ESC 2012 a success. They made a truly remarkable event.

Facts and figures

*        Every year an estimated amount of 125 million viewers watch the Eurovision Song Contest

*        More than 1,000 songs already have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest

*        Most winning songs were performed in English – songs (mostly) in English won 24 times. French is also popular, with 14 victories. Dutch and Hebrew songs won 3 times each

*        Six different systems were used over the past decades to pick the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest

*        ABBA is the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winner

*        Norway could be found at the bottom of the list as many as eleven times! They came last in 1963, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2012. Nevertheless, they also won thrice (in 1985, 1995 and 2009)

* Ireland has won 7 times; Luxembourg, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom 5 times; The Netherlands won 4 times

S.G.