Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with the song "", written by , and performed by Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps, and Kniri. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry for the contest through a national final.

Before Eurovision 1979 The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1979. The broadcaster received 109 total song submissions (50 in French, 35 in German, and 14 in Italian). In late November 1978, an internal jury shortlisted 26 songs before ultimately selecting eight to take part in the selection, with three being performed in German and Italian and two in French. Among the participants were Peter, Sue and Marc— who represented and and repeated this in . previously won an internal song contest from Liechtenstein in 1976 which was intended to be a Eurovision selection, but could not enter the contest as the country did not have a member broadcaster of the European Broadcasting Union.

Shortly before the final, "" by Alain Morisod and his group, who were drawn to perform as the sixth song, withdrew due to the group's disbandment. The song was resubmitted to the , where it was performed by Arlette Zola and won.

Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster (SF DRS) staged the national final on 28 January 1979 at 21:00 CET in Zürich. It was presented by Christian Heeb, with conducting the orchestra. Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta— who won Eurovision for — and Cissy Houston made guest appearances.

+Participating entriesArtist(s)SongSongwriter(s)Language Composer Lyricist "" Ambros Baumann Beat Hirt German Rita Pavone "" Mario Robbiani Italian Groupe Atlas "" Pierre Alain French "" Ambros Baumann Italian Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri "" German Alain Morisod Group "" Alain Morisod Pierre Alain French "Shake Hands" Pierre Studer German Sandro Caroli "" Sandro Caroli Italian

The voting consisted of regional public votes which were sent to the three divisions of SRG SSR (DRS, TSR, TSI: German, French, and Italian speaking, respectively), a press jury, and a jury of music experts. Applications for viewers from Switzerland and Liechtenstein to join the regional juries were sent via postcard until 20 January, and 50 viewers from each canton were randomly selected to cast their votes to their broadcaster divisions via phone call. Additionally, one random voter in the public jury would be drawn to be invited to attend the Eurovision Song Contest as an audience member along with a companion. The selected voter was Yvonne Barmann from Zurich. The winner was the song "", composed by and performed by Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri.

+Final — 27 January 1979 R/O Artist(s) Song Regional Juries PressJury ExpertJury Total Place DRS TSR TSI 1 "" 4 4 4 1 2 15 6 2 Rita Pavone "" 3 3 5 4 6 21 4 3 Groupe Atlas "" 5 8 3 2 5 23 2 4 "" 1 1 2 3 4 11 7 5 Peter, Sue, Marc, Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri "" 8 5 8 8 8 37 1 6 "Shake Hands" 6 6 1 6 3 22 3 7 Sandro Caroli "La nostra favola" 2 2 6 5 1 16 5

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, held at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, the Swiss entry was the eighth entry of the night following and preceding . The Swiss conductor at the contest was Rolf Zuckowski. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received 60 points in total; finishing in tenth place out of nineteen countries.

Voting Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel with at least eleven members. The jurors awarded 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their top ten songs. Until , the votes were given in the order the awarded songs were performed in, rather than in ascending numerical order.

+ Points awarded to Switzerland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

+ Points awarded by Switzerland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References