Eurovision Song Contest 1986

Background

By 1985, Norway had received the unwanted distinction of being "the nul points country", receiving 0 points three times and coming in last six times. When they finally won the 1985 contest, it was a source of pride among the Norwegian population, and Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) took full advantage of being able to showcase Norway and its achievements in front of over 500 million television viewers. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the next year's contest at the Grieghallen in Bergen, turning down other bids from capital Oslo, and main cities of Stavanger, Sandnes, and Trondheim. Bergen is the northernmost city to have ever hosted the Eurovision Song Contest. About 450 journalists have covered the event.

As this was the first time a Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Norway, NRK commissioned a lavish budget for the event, turning Grieghallen into a Viking-esque "ice palace" for the live show, complete with white and pastel neon lights for the stage. In addition, NRK had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenter Åse Kleveland for her opening number. The prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 lb, is still available for viewing at NRK's costuming department at Marienlyst in Oslo.

Åse Kleveland, a well-known music and celebrity at the host country, also was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians at the time and had represented at Eurovision, sang the multilingual "Welcome to Music" as the opening act, incorporating English and French primarily, in addition to other European languages. BBC commentator Terry Wogan, at the close of Kleveland's number, dryly remarked, "Katie Boyle (a former Eurovision host for the UK) never sang, did she?"

During her opening remarks, Kleveland said of Norway's road in the contest, "For those of you who have followed Norway's course through the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, you will know that it has been quite thorny, in fact. So, imagine our joy when last year we finally won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway, and to Bergen."

The intersong videos introducing each participant, traditionally named 'postcards' were for the only time, represented as actual picture postcards sent from the artists to your own nation. Each video began with clips of various scenic views of a part of Norway, which then 'flipped' to reveal a message of greeting, written in the language of the upcoming song, alongside details of the title, author and composer. The postage stamp on each card (a representation of a genuine Norwegian postage stamp) was linked to the theme of the video content. The postcard then 'flipped' back to the picture side, where the performing artist had been superimposed onto the image. After the video, Åse Kleveland gave details of the entry and introduced the conductors in a mix of English and French, reading from cards represented by the flag of the upcoming country.

The main interval act presented featured two Norwegian musicians: one was the previously unknown outside Norway 16 year-old Sissel Kyrkjebø and the musician Steinar Ofsdal, accompanied by the NRK radio orchestra, Kringkastingsorkesteret (KORK). They opened with the traditional song of the city of Bergen, Udsikter fra Ulriken (also known as "Nystemte'n"), and presented a number of familiar tunes while showing the sights and sounds of Bergen area. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such as accordion, recorder, and hardingfele. This was Kyrkjebø's first performance on an international event, which served as the starting point for a consolidated international career years later.

Participants

A record number of broadcasters submitted entries for the contest, and it was expected that twenty-two countries would participate in the event. This would have surpassed the previous record of twenty participating countries which competed in , , and . The and both returned after a one-year absence, and made its first ever entry. Of the countries which had participated in the only opted not to compete in this event. However, only twenty countries ultimately participated, as the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), which had already selected the song "Wagon-lit" performed by Polina to represent , made a late decision to not compete due to the event falling on Holy Saturday in the Eastern Orthodox calendar.

The contest featured one artist who had previously competed at Eurovision: Elpida representing had previously represented .

Production and format

About 450 journalists have covered the event. The trophy was made by Arne Valen at the Bergen Steinsenter.

Contest overview

The contest took place at 21:00 CEST, and was hosted by Åse Kleveland, who had represented .

Spokespersons

Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1986 contest are listed below.

• FinlandSolveig Herlin
• IcelandGuðrún Skúladóttir
• SwedenAgneta Bolme Börjefors
• United KingdomColin Berry

Detailed voting results

The winning song, Belgium's "J'aime la vie", received points from every jury (Belgium received five sets of 12 points; every country awarded Belgium at least five points except for Germany, which gave them just one point). Belgium was the leader in the voting from the results of the second jury out of twenty, in the longest winning stretch during voting since 1974. Switzerland was behind Belgium in nearly every part of the voting, but Belgium had a commanding lead from the very beginning. Traditionally some juries give high points to the host country's entrant, but this did not happen this year; no jury gave Norway's song "Romeo" more than six points out of a possible 12.

Belgium scored an absolute record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before number of 176 points (that record remained seven years until the 1993 contest, with Ireland scoring 187 points), an average of 9.26 points per voting nation. Kim received 77.2% of the maximum possible score, which, as of 2023, still ranks 8th among all Eurovision winners.

12 points

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

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.

The contest was reportedly broadcast in Greece and Jordan; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Australia, Gibraltar, and South Korea, with an estimated maximum audience of 600 million viewers and listeners. 44 television and radio stations have reportedly broadcast the contest. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

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