Eurovision Song Contest 1970

Summary

The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the contest was held at the RAI Congrescentrum on 21 March 1970, and was hosted by Dutch television presenter Willy Dobbe.

Eurovision Song Contest 1970
Dates
Final21 March 1970
Host
VenueRAI Congrescentrum
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Presenter(s)Willy Dobbe
Musical directorDolf van der Linden
Directed byTheo Ordeman
Executive supervisorClifford Brown
Executive producerWarner van Kampen
Host broadcasterNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/amsterdam-1970 Edit this at Wikidata
Participants
Number of entries12
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countries
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of EuropeBelgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970Denmark in the Eurovision Song ContestDenmark in the Eurovision Song ContestAustria in the Eurovision Song ContestFinland in the Eurovision Song ContestNorway in the Eurovision Song ContestPortugal in the Eurovision Song ContestSweden in the Eurovision Song Contest
         Competing countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1970
Vote
Voting systemTen-member juries distributed ten points among their favourite songs.
Winning song Ireland
"All Kinds of Everything"
1969 ← Eurovision Song Contest → 1971

Twelve countries participated in the contest this year. This was the lowest number of participants since the 1959 edition. The reason was that Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Austria all boycotted the 1970 edition, officially because they felt that the contest marginalised smaller countries and was no longer good television entertainment,[1] though it is rumoured that this was also in protest of the four-way tie result that had occurred in 1969.[2]

The winner of the competition was Ireland with the song "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana, and written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith. This was Ireland's first of their eventual record seven victories in the contest. The United Kingdom finished in second place for the seventh time, while Germany ended up in third place – the best result for the country at the time. This was also the only time that Luxembourg received nul points.[2]

Location edit

 
RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam – host venue of the 1970 contest.

Due to there being four winners in the previous contest, a question was raised as to which nation would host the 1970 contest. With Spain having hosted in 1969 and the United Kingdom in 1968, only France and the Netherlands were in consideration. A draw of ballots between these two countries resulted in the Netherlands being chosen as the host country.[3]

The Congrescentrum, venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat to Amsterdam and was opened on 31 October 1922. This building was replaced in 1961 by the current RAI building on Europe's Square. The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon and opened on 2 February 1961.

Participating countries edit

Eurovision Song Contest 1970 – Participation summaries by country

Austria (who had not taken part in 1969), Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure.[2]

For the first time, no artists from previous contests returned.[4]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1970[5][6][7][8]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
  Belgium RTB Jean Vallée "Viens l'oublier" French Jean Vallée Jack Say
  France ORTF Guy Bonnet "Marie-Blanche" French
Franck Pourcel
  Germany HR[a] Katja Ebstein "Wunder gibt es immer wieder" German
  • Christian Bruhn
  • Günter Loose
Christian Bruhn
  Ireland RTÉ Dana "All Kinds of Everything" English
  • Derry Lindsay
  • Jackie Smith
Dolf van der Linden
  Italy RAI Gianni Morandi "Occhi di ragazza" Italian Mario Capuano
  Luxembourg CLT David Alexandre Winter "Je suis tombé du ciel" French
Raymond Lefèvre
  Monaco TMC Dominique Dussault "Marlène" French
Jimmy Walter
  Netherlands NOS Patricia and Hearts of Soul "Waterman" Dutch Pieter Goemans Dolf van der Linden
  Spain TVE Julio Iglesias "Gwendolyne" Spanish Julio Iglesias Augusto Algueró
   Switzerland SRG SSR Henri Dès "Retour" French Henri Dès Bernard Gérard
  United Kingdom BBC Mary Hopkin "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)" English Johnny Arthey
  Yugoslavia JRT Eva Sršen "Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" Slovene Mojmir Sepe

Format edit

The Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format that has endured almost to the present day. An extended opening sequence (filmed in Amsterdam) set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video 'postcard' featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the 'postcards' for Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris (as was the French postcard).[2] The long introduction film (over four minutes long) was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French and Dutch, finishing her introduction after only 24 seconds. On-screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lowercase and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals.

The set design was devised by Roland de Groot; a simple design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars and silver baubles which could be moved in a variety of different ways.

To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie-breaking rule was created. It stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes and were tied for first place, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury (other than the juries of the countries concerned) would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best. If the countries tied again, then they would share first place.

Contest overview edit

 
Dana sings the winning song "All Kinds of Everything"

Ireland won the contest with "All Kinds of Everything", penned by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, and sung by another unknown, Dana, an 18-year-old schoolgirl from Derry, Northern Ireland. As the contest was held in the Netherlands this year, and the country was one of the four winners in 1969, Dana received her awards from the Dutch winner Lenny Kuhr.

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1970[10]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1   Netherlands Patricia and Hearts of Soul "Waterman" 7 7
2    Switzerland Henri Dès "Retour" 8 4
3   Italy Gianni Morandi "Occhi di ragazza" 5 8
4   Yugoslavia Eva Sršen "Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" 4 11
5   Belgium Jean Vallée "Viens l'oublier" 5 8
6   France Guy Bonnet "Marie-Blanche" 8 4
7   United Kingdom Mary Hopkin "Knock, Knock (Who's There?)" 26 2
8   Luxembourg David Alexandre Winter "Je suis tombé du ciel" 0 12
9   Spain Julio Iglesias "Gwendolyne" 8 4
10   Monaco Dominique Dussault "Marlène" 5 8
11   Germany Katja Ebstein "Wunder gibt es immer wieder" 12 3
12   Ireland Dana "All Kinds of Everything" 32 1

Spokespersons edit

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1970 contest are listed below.

  •   United Kingdom – Colin Ward-Lewis[6]

Detailed voting results edit

Detailed voting results[11][12]
Total score
Netherlands
Switzerland
Italy
Yugoslavia
Belgium
France
United Kingdom
Luxembourg
Spain
Monaco
Germany
Ireland
Contestants
Netherlands 7 3 3 1
Switzerland 8 2 2 1 2 1
Italy 5 1 2 2
Yugoslavia 4 4
Belgium 5 3 1 1
France 8 1 2 2 3
United Kingdom 26 3 2 2 4 2 2 4 4 3
Luxembourg 0
Spain 8 3 2 3
Monaco 5 1 1 2 1
Germany 12 1 1 3 4 1 2
Ireland 32 5 6 9 1 4 2 3 2

Broadcasts edit

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.[13]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest's introduction sequence claimed the contest was also broadcast in Greece, Iceland, Israel and Tunisia, in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Brazil and Chile.[6][4]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  Belgium RTB RTB Unknown [14][15]
BRT BRT Jan Theys [nl] [15][16]
  France ORTF Deuxième Chaîne Pierre Tchernia [14][17]
  Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Unknown [14][17][18]
  Ireland RTÉ RTÉ Valerie McGovern [19][20]
RTÉ Radio Unknown [21]
  Italy RAI Secondo Programma Renato Tagliani [it] [22]
  Luxembourg CLT Télé-Luxembourg Unknown [14]
  Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Unknown [23]
  Netherlands NOS Nederland 1 Pim Jacobs [15][24]
  Spain TVE TVE 1 José Luis Uribarri [25][26]
RNE RNE Unknown [25]
Radio Peninsular [es] Unknown
   Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Unknown [17][18][27][28][29]
TSR Georges Hardy [fr]
TSI Unknown
DRS 1[b] Unknown
RSR 2 Robert Burnier
  United Kingdom BBC BBC1 David Gell [6][30]
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Tony Brandon [6][31][32]
BFBS BFBS Radio John Russell [6]
  Yugoslavia JRT Televizija Ljubljana Unknown [33][34]
Televizija Zagreb Unknown
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
  Austria ORF FS1 Ernst Grissemann [18][35]
  Brazil TV Brasília Unknown [36]
  Chile TVN[c] Raúl Matas [es] [37]
  Hungary MTV MTV Unknown [38]
  Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið[d] Unknown [39]
  Israel IBA Israeli Television[e] Unknown [40]
  Malta MBA MTS Victor Aquilina [41][42]

Notes edit

  1. ^ On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[9]
  2. ^ Delayed broadcast on 23 March 1970 at 22:30 CET (21:30 UTC)[28]
  3. ^ Delayed broadcast on 21 March 1970 at 20:20 CLT (00:20 UTC)[37]
  4. ^ Delayed broadcast on 4 April 1970 at 20:55 WET (20:55 UTC)[39]
  5. ^ Delayed broadcast on 6 April 1970 at 19:35 IST (17:55 UTC)[40]

References edit

  1. ^ "Les pays nordiques ne participeront pas au prochain concours de la chanson de l'Eurovision" [The Nordic countries will not participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest]. Journal du Jura (in French). Bienne, Switzerland. 7 November 1969. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  3. ^ Escudero, Victor M. (29 April 2020). "Happy 50th Anniversary, Eurovision 1970!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Eurovision Song Contest 1970". EBU. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Participants of Amsterdam 1970". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 25–37. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  7. ^ "1970 – 15th edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Detailed overview: conductors in 1970". And the conductor is... Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Final of Amsterdam 1970". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Results of the Final of Amsterdam 1970". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1970 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  13. ^ "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d "Télé-Programmes". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 20 March 1970. p. 23. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  15. ^ a b c "Dit weekend op radio en TV". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). Heerlen, Netherlands. 21 March 1970. p. 47. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  16. ^ "De festival-herinneringen van Jan Theys". Story [nl] (in Dutch). 12 May 1987. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  17. ^ a b c "TV – samedi 21 mars". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 19 March 1970. pp. 80–81. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  18. ^ a b c "Fernsehen – Samstag". Die Tat (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 21 March 1970. p. 23. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  19. ^ "TV Today". The Irish Times. 21 March 1970. p. 15. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  20. ^ Gray, Ken (23 March 1970). "Ireland as host of next year's contest?". The Irish Times. p. 13. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Radio". The Irish Times. 21 March 1970. p. 15. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Oggi alla televisione". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 21 March 1970. p. 6. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Monaco – Amsterdam 1970". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Vanavond: vijf kwartier Songfestival op de tv". Trouw (in Dutch). Meppel, Netherlands. 21 March 1970. p. 4. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  25. ^ a b "Programas de Radio y TV". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 21 March 1970. p. 59. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  26. ^ HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" (in Spanish). Los 40. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  27. ^ "Radio – samedi 21 mars". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 19 March 1970. pp. 54–56. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  28. ^ a b "Radio – Montag, 23. März". Thuner Tagblatt (in German). Bern, Switzerland. 21 March 1970. p. 13. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  29. ^ "Sabato – Televisione Svizzera Italiana". Popolo e Libertà (in Italian). Bellinzona, Switzerland. 21 March 1970. p. 4. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese [it].
  30. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1". Radio Times. 21 March 1970. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  31. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix 1970 – BBC Radio 1". Radio Times. 21 March 1970. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  32. ^ "Schedule – BBC Radio 2 – 21 March 1970". Radio Times. 21 March 1970. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  33. ^ "Televizija – sobota – 6. marca" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 21 March 1970. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  34. ^ "Televizija – Subota 21. ožujka". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 21 March 1970. p. 17. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  35. ^ Halbhuber, Axel (22 May 2015). "Ein virtueller Disput der ESC-Kommentatoren". Kurier (in German). Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  36. ^ "TV-Rádio". Correio Braziliense (in Portuguese). Brasília, Brazil. 21 March 1970. p. 16. Retrieved 17 March 2024 – via BNDigital.
  37. ^ a b "Vía Satélite". Las Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). 19 March 1970. p. 11. El próximo sábado Rául Matas, director de programas de Canal Nacional, realizará una transmisión excepcional desde Amsterdam, Holanda, por Canal 7 de Televisión. Se trata del Festival de Eurovisión, al que Matas le dedicará todas sus energías mientras dure el evento que se transmitirá vía satélite.
  38. ^ "TV – szombat III.21". Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). 16 March 1970. p. 13. Archived from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via MTVA Archívum.
  39. ^ a b "Sjónvarp – laugurdagur 4. april 1970". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 4 April 1970. p. 29. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
  40. ^ a b "7 yamim al hamasakh hakatan" 7 ימים על המסך הקטן. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 2 April 1970. p. 25. Retrieved 4 January 2023 – via National Library of Israel.
  41. ^ "Sound and Vision – Today's TV Log". Times of Malta. 21 March 1970. p. 12.
  42. ^ Barry, Fred (18 March 1970). "All Eyes on Amsterdam – Eurovision Song Contest's 15th edition next Saturday". Times of Malta. p. 13.

External links edit

  • Official website

52°20′29″N 4°53′18″E / 52.34139°N 4.88833°E / 52.34139; 4.88833