Eurovision Song Contest 1970

Location

Due to there being four winners in the –, the , , and the –, a question was raised as to which broadcaster would host the 1970 contest. With Televisión Española (TVE) having hosted the 1969 contest in Madrid and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) the in London, only Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF) and Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) were in consideration. A draw of ballots between these two resulted in NOS being chosen as the host broadcaster.

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.

Participants

(which had not taken part in 1969), , , , and boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969 and the voting structure.

For the first time, no lead artists from previous contests returned. However, María Jesús Aguirre and Mercedes Valimaña, members of , who provided backing vocals for , returned as backing singers for Spain.

Format

Following the confirmation of the twelve competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 15 January 1970.

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). 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

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.

Spokespersons

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

• IrelandJohn Skehan
• SpainRamón Rivera
• United KingdomColin Ward-Lewis

Detailed voting results

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.

In addition to the participating countries, the contest was reported to have been broadcast by EBU member broadcasters in Greece, Iceland, Israel, and Tunisia; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. An estimated global audience of 400 million viewers was reported to have watched the contest. It was also known to broadcast on radio in countries including Ireland, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Notes

References

References

1. . (7 November 1969). ["Les pays nordiques ne participeront pas au prochain concours de la chanson de l'Eurovision"](https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=JDJ19691107-01.2.42.20.3&srpos=41&e=-------de-20--41--txt-txIN-%22de+l%27Eurovision%22-------0-----). *[[Journal du Jura]]*.
2. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 {{ISBN. 978-1-84442-994-3
3. (29 April 2020). "Happy 50th Anniversary, Eurovision 1970!". European Broadcasting Union.
4. "Eurovision Song Contest 1970". [[EBU]].
5. Castillejo, Antonio. (18 May 2019). "Merche Valimaña (trío La La La): "Eurovisión ha degenerado y no hay quien lo aguante"".
6. "Amsterdam 1970 – Participants". European Broadcasting Union.
7. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel". ARD.
8. (16 January 1970). "Nederland eerste op songfestival". [[de Volkskrant.
9. "Amsterdam 1970 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union.
10. (21 March 1970). "TV". [[The Herald (Ireland).
11. (22 March 1970). "Irlanda vencedora en el Festival de Eurovisión". {{ill.
12. (2014). "Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest". [[Telos Publishing]].
13. "Amsterdam 1970 – Detailed voting results". European Broadcasting Union.
14. "Eurovision Song Contest 1970 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union.
15. (31 October 2018). "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union.
16. (21 March 1970). "Songfestival zonder presentator". [[Limburgs Dagblad]].
17. (23 March 1970). "Ierse Dana verrassende winnares". [[De Waarheid]].
18. (21 March 1970). "Vele kanshebbers op het Eurovisie-songfestival". [[Leydse Courant.
19. (21 March 1970). "Télévision {{!}} À la radio". [[Le Soir]].
20. (21 March 1970). "Radio– en TV–programma's van zaterdag 21 maart 1970". [[De Standaard]].
21. (12 May 1987). "De festival-herinneringen van Jan Theys". {{ill.
22. (21 March 1970). "Songfestival ook an radio". [[De Standaard]].
23. (21–22 March 1970). "Téléprevision". {{ill.
24. (21 March 1970). "Fernsehen heute". {{ill.
25. (21 March 1970). "AFTV in Germany". [[Stars and Stripes (newspaper).
26. (15-21 March 1970). "sabato {{!}} TV {{!}} 21 marzo".
27. (20 March 1970). "Télé-Programmes". [[Luxemburger Wort]].
28. (21 March 1970). "Dit weekend op radio en TV". [[Limburgs Dagblad]].
29. (21 March 1970). "Vanavond: vijf kwartier Songfestival op de tv". [[Trouw]].
30. (21 March 1970). "Programas de radio". {{ill.
31. (21 March 1970). "Radio TV". [[Diario de Barcelona]].
32. (20 March 1970). "Radio". {{ill.
33. (21 March 1970). "Programa de las emisoras castellonenses". {{ill.
34. (21 March 1970). "Radio y Television". [[Libertad (newspaper).
35. (21 March 1970). "Radio TV". {{ill.
36. (21 March 1970). "tv". {{ill.
37. (21 March 1970). "Programas de radio para hoy". [[ABC (newspaper).
38. (21 March 1970). "Radio Tarragona". {{ill.
39. (21 March 1970). "Fernsehen". [[Die Tat (Swiss newspaper).
40. (19 March 1970). "TV – samedi 21 mars". [[TV8 (magazine).
41. (21 March 1970). "Sabato – Televisione Svizzera Italiana". Popolo e Libertà.
42. (23 March 1970). "Radio – Montag 23. März 1970". [[Neue Zürcher Zeitung]].
43. (19 March 1970). "Radio – samedi 21 mars". Radio TV – Je vois tout.
44. (21 March 1970). "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1".
45. (21 March 1970). "as Radio 1 – BBC Radio 2".
46. (21 March 1970). "Weekend television and radio". [[Birmingham Post.
47. (21 March 1970). "Saturday TV and radio". [[The Journal (Newcastle upon Tyne newspaper).
48. (21 March 1970). "Radio". [[Liverpool Daily Post]].
49. (21 March 1970). "Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix 1970 – BBC Radio 1".
50. (21 March 1970). "Телевизија". [[Borba (newspaper).
51. (21 March 1970). "Televizija". [[Slobodna Dalmacija]].
52. M. B.. (23 March 1970). "Чуда се не догађају увек". Borba.
53. (21 March 1970). "RTV Ljubljana". [[Delo (newspaper).
54. B.Š.. (26 March 1970). "Naša skupna zabloda". [[Delo (newspaper).
55. (23 March 1970). "Festival Eurovision de la Cancion 1970". [[Crónica (newspaper).
56. (19 March 1970). "Fernsehen und radio". {{ill.
57. (22 May 2015). "Ein virtueller Disput der ESC-Kommentatoren". [[Kurier]].
58. (21 March 1970). "TV-Rádio". [[Correio Braziliense]].
59. (21 March 1970). "Programação e verão quente – Canal 6 {{!}} Hoje". {{ill.
60. (21 March 1970). "Festival da Canção na Eurovisão". [[Diário de Pernambuco]].
61. (19 March 1970). "Vía Satélite". [[Las Últimas Noticias]].
62. (16 March 1970). "Sobota". Týdeník Československé televize.
63. (16 March 1970). "TV – szombat III.21".
64. (4 April 1970). "Sjónvarp". [[Morgunblaðið]].
65. (2 April 1970). "7 ימים על המסך הקטן". [[Maariv (newspaper).
66. (21 March 1970). "Sound and Vision – Today's TV Log". [[Times of Malta]].
67. (18 March 1970). "All Eyes on Amsterdam – Eurovision Song Contest's 15th edition next Saturday". Times of Malta.
68. (21 March 1970). "Telewizja". [[Dziennik Polski]].
69. (28 March 1970). "tv". [[Scînteia]].