The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 3 April 1976 at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, Netherlands, and presented by Corry Brokken. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NOS), who staged the event after winning the for the with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. Brokken had also won the contest for the .
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contest with , , and opting not to return after participating the previous year. Malta would not make their return until 1991. On the other hand, and returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.
The winner was the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me", written and composed by Tony Hiller, Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee, and performed by the group Brotherhood of Man. This was the country's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1967 and 1969. , , and rounded out the top five.
The winning song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score and an average of 9.65 out of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.
Location
Following the Netherlands' win in the , five Dutch cities bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest 1976: Amsterdam, Groningen, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht. Enschede, the hometown of the winning band Teach-In, had also expressed interest in hosting, but was ruled out due to a lack of adequate venues and sufficient hotel rooms. Amsterdam's RAI Congrescentrum and The Hague's Nederlands Congresgebouw were favoured as the most suitable venues by executive producer . Ultimately, the Nederlands Congresgebouw was selected; its isolated location, combined with the proximity of two major hotels, made it the ideal choice for implementing the strict security measures required in light of 's participation. The Willem-Alexander Hall at the venue could accommodate 1,500 spectators.
Participants
Sweden, Malta and, Turkey all decided not to participate this year, while Austria and Greece returned to the contest, making for eighteen participating countries.
Liechtenstein attempted to enter the contest, but was ineligible due to the lack of an EBU member broadcaster.
After many controversies related to the previous year's contest, the Swedish broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), decided not to participate, as they did not have enough money to host another contest if they won again. SR's withdrawal forced the introduction of a new rule in which from 1977 onwards, registration and maintenance fees would be introduced for each of the participating broadcasters, which was meant for financing future contests. These demands forced the Maltese broadcaster to withdraw, as it had a very small budget for 1976.
As the author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in his book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, "there had been public demonstrations in Sweden against the contest, which also played a part in SR's decision not to take part".
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions: Fredi had represented ; Anneli Koivisto as part of "The Friends" had represented as part of ; Peter, Sue and Marc had represented ; Sandra Reemer had represented the along Andres Holten; and Anne-Karine Strøm had represented as part of the Bendik Singers and .
's participation sparked controversy as it referred to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The previous year, Greece had withdrawn from the contest for the same reason, and in 1976, it was Turkey who withdrew. The organizers informed Mariza Koch that they were not responsible for her physical integrity, as there were threats that armed Turks would be present at the venue and shoot her on stage. She signed a waiver stating that she would sing at her own risk. Rumors circulated that she was wearing a bulletproof vest when she went on stage.
+ Eurovision Song Contest 1976 participants Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor ORF Waterloo and Robinson "My Little World" English Gerhard Heinz Erich Kleinschuster RTB Pierre Rapsat "" French Michel Bernholc YLE Fredi and the Friends "Pump-Pump" English Ossi Runne TF1 Catherine Ferry "" French Tony Rallo HR Les Humphries Singers "Sing, Sang, Song" German, English Les Humphries ERT Mariza Koch "" () Greek Mihalis Rozakis RTÉ Red Hurley "When" English Brendan Graham Noel Kelehan IBA Chocolate, Menta, Mastik "" () Hebrew Matti Caspi RAI Romina and Al Bano "We'll Live It All Again" English, Italian Maurizio Fabrizio CLT Jürgen Marcus "" French Jo Plée TMC Mary Christy "" French Raymond Donnez NOS Sandra Reemer "The Party Is Over Now" English Hans van Hemert Harry van Hoof NRK Anne-Karine Strøm "Mata Hari" English Frode Thingnæs RTP Carlos do Carmo "" Portuguese TVE Braulio "" Spanish Braulio García Bautista Joan Barcons SRG SSR Peter, Sue and Marc "Djambo Djambo" English Mario Robbiani BBC Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses for Me" English Alyn Ainsworth JRT Ambasadori "" () Serbo-Croatian
Format Following the confirmation of the eighteen competing countries, the draw to determine the running order of the contest was held on 8 January 1976.
As with the Dutch hosted contest of 1970, each song was introduced by a pre-recorded film of the performing artist on location in their home nation. Unlike the 1970 films, the Dutch broadcaster made all of the films themselves, sending a crew to each nation to capture the footage. Both the artists from Monaco and Luxembourg were filmed in their respective nations, despite again not being from the country they were representing. Each film was preceded by an animated insert featuring the flags of the eighteen participating nations and ended with a profile shot of the artists.
The interval act was The Dutch Swing College Band led by Peter Schilperoort, who performed live on the stage, intercut with brief interviews with the artists from France, Israel, Austria, Belgium and Spain backstage in the green room conducted by Hans van Willigenburg. Willigenburg asked each of the five artists which song they thought would win, but only French singer Catherine Ferry was willing to give a definite answer; correctly predicting the United Kingdom.
The Dutch broadcasters made the decision to use the same logo of the 1970 version held in the same country (in Amsterdam), but modified to be in black instead of the colors on the flag of the Netherlands. This logo was seen in promotions and in the introduction of the festival. This is one of the only times a Eurovision logo for the contest was used more than once.
The scoring system introduced in the previous year's competition returned in 1976. Each jury voted internally and awarded 12 points to the highest scoring song, 10 to the second highest, then 8 to the third, and then 7 to 1 (from fourth to tenth best song, according to the jury). Unlike today, the points were not given in order (from 1 up to 12), but in the order the songs were performed. The current procedure was not established until 1980 (also held in The Hague).
Contest overview
The following tables reflect the officially verified scores given by each jury, adjusted after the transmission. During the live broadcast, France failed to announce the 4 points they awarded to Yugoslavia, an error overlooked by the scrutineer, Clifford Brown. Thus in the live show, Norway were placed 17th and Yugoslavia 18th. After the broadcast, the scores were adjusted and the two nations swapped places, with Yugoslavia's score being adjusted from 6 to 10 points, moving Norway down to last place.
In terms of points gained as a percentage of maximum available, the winning UK entry from Brotherhood of Man is statistically the most successful winning Eurovision entry since the introduction of the 'douze points' scoring system inaugurated in 1975.
+ Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 Country Artist Song Points Place 1 Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses for Me" 164 1 2 Peter, Sue and Marc "Djambo Djambo" 91 4 3 "Sing, Sang, Song" 12 15 4 Chocolate, Menta, Mastik "" 77 6 5 "" 17 14 6 "" 68 8 7 "When" 54 10 8 "The Party Is Over Now" 56 9 9 "Mata Hari" 7 18 10 "" 20 13 11 Fredi and the Friends "Pump-Pump" 44 11 12 Braulio "" 11 16 13 Romina and Al Bano "We'll Live It All Again" 69 7 14 Waterloo and Robinson "My Little World" 80 5 15 "" 24 12 16 "" 93 3 17 "" 147 2 18 Ambasadori "" 10 17
Spokespersons Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1976 contest are listed below.
André Hagon
Jacques Harvey José María Íñigo Ray Moore
Detailed voting results
+ Detailed voting results scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" rowspan="19" United Kingdom 164 12 8 12 8 12 3 10 12 12 10 12 4 10 12 10 7 10 Switzerland 91 12 5 4 1 7 1 6 10 2 7 4 8 7 4 6 7 Germany 12 2 2 1 2 2 3 Israel 77 6 7 3 7 5 4 2 7 8 1 10 6 2 1 8 Luxembourg 17 6 6 5 Belgium 68 7 6 1 4 6 12 8 3 8 8 5 Ireland 54 10 1 3 3 8 5 12 2 6 3 1 Netherlands 56 4 4 8 4 4 2 1 7 3 2 4 6 2 5 Norway 7 3 4 Greece 20 2 4 5 1 8 Finland 44 2 6 6 5 1 4 6 7 7 Spain 11 3 1 3 3 1 Italy 69 1 8 2 12 3 10 6 1 10 10 6 Austria 80 4 3 10 10 5 3 10 7 2 6 5 8 5 2 Portugal 24 6 4 1 1 12 Monaco 93 5 5 7 7 12 8 8 8 5 2 7 7 5 3 4 France 147 8 10 12 5 10 10 7 12 8 5 3 10 6 12 5 12 12 Yugoslavia 10 1 2 3 4
12 points Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points 7 , , , , , , 5 , , , , 1
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 33 countries, including the participating countries, EBU member broadcasters in Algeria, Morocco, Iceland, Tunisia, and Turkey; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and in Hong Kong, Japan, and Mexico. There were also reportedly 27 television and 17 radio commentator teams present at the contest. At least 25 radio stations from eight countries were reported to have broadcast the contest. There was an estimated global audience of 450 to 500 million television viewers and 80 million listeners.
Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) ORF FS2 Ernst Grissemann RTB RTB Paule Herreman BRT BRT, BRT 1 Luc Appermont YLE TV1 TF1 ARD Werner Veigel ERT ERT, A Programma RTÉ RTÉ Mike Murphy RTÉ Radio IBA Israeli Television RAI Silvio Noto CLT Jacques Navadic NOS Willem Duys NRK NRK RTP TVE TVE 1 José Luis Uribarri SRG SSR TV DRS TSR TSI RSI 1 BBC BBC1 Michael Aspel BBC Radio 2 Terry Wogan BFBS BFBS Radio Andrew Pastouna JRT , TV Zagreb 1 Oliver Mlakar TV Koper-Capodistria TV Ljubljana 1
+ Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) ČST DR DR TV Per Møller Hansen MR Petőfi Rádió RÚV Jón Skaptason JTV JTV2 TP TP1 TVR SR SR P3 TRT
See also OTI Festival 1976
Notes
References
External links