The participation of Puerto Rico in the OTI Festival began at the inaugural OTI Festival in 1972. The Puerto Rican participating broadcaster was Telemundo Puerto Rico, which was member of the (OTI). The broadcaster participated in all twenty-eight editions of the festival. It won the festival two times: in 1974 and 1980; and hosted the event once: in 1975.
History Telemundo Puerto Rico, branded as WKAQ-Telemundo in 1968–1976 and Canal 2 Telemundo in 1976–1986, selected all its entries for the OTI Festival internally. In fact, it always selected big names in order to compete in the event. It won the contest on two occasions, the first time with the song "" sung by Nydia Caro in 1974. This song, written by Caro and , was enormously popular and very controversial for being considered an "anti-protest" song. In 1980 it recorded its second victory in the festival with the song "" sung by Rafael José, which was written by Laureano Brizuela and Ednita Nazario.
Apart from its victories, it managed to reach the top 10 in eight occasions, but from 1983 on, the results started declining, In fact, since then, it was unable to reach the top ten positions again, until the last edition of the show in 2000, when it got the second place with the song "" by José Vega Santana.
WKAQ-Telemundo, hosted the OTI Festival 1975 after the victory of Nydia Caro the previous year. The venue of the contest were its own television studios in San Juan. The broadcaster created a colorful stage with a central platform and an orchestra section in the background.
Participation overview + Table key 1 First place 2 Second place F Finalist SF Semi-finalist ◇ Contest cancelled Year Song Artist Songwriter(s) Conductor Place Points 1972 "" Chucho Avellanet Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Pedro Rivera Toledo 4 6 1973 "" Óscar Solo Óscar Solo Pedro Rivera Toledo 6 5 1974 "" Nydia Caro 1 18 1975 "" Los Hispanos Edwin Oliver Wilson Torres 5 5 1976 "" Eduardo Delgado 15 1 1977 "" Aqua Marina Wilson Torres 6 3 1978 "" Rafael José Pedro Rivera Toledo 4 35 1979 "" Ednita Nazario Ettore Stratta 5 21 1980 "" Rafael José Jorge Calandrelli 1 36 1981 "" Glenn Monroig Glenn Monroig Ángel "Cucco" Peña Berdiel 15 8 1982 "" Lunna Ángel "Cucco" Peña Berdiel 18 5 1983 "" Edgardo Huertas Lou Briel Héctor Garrido colspan=2 1984 "" Lou Briel Lou Briel Eddie Fernández colspan=2 1985 "" Juan Manuel Lebrón Lou Briel Luis García colspan=2 1986 "" Maggy Pijuán Pijuán colspan=2 1987 "" Marisol Calero Ito Serrano colspan=2 1988 "" Sandra Rogers Druco Gandía 14 0 1989 "" Aldo Matta Eddie Hernández colspan=2 1990 "" Ivonne Briel Lou Briel Ito Serrano colspan=2 1991 "" José Juan Tañón José Juan Tañón Ito Serrano 1992 "" Brenda Reyes Rodolfo Barrera colspan=2 1993 "" Rumba y Bembé Eduardo Reyes colspan=2 1994 "" Jessica Cristina José Luis Melendez Pedro Rivera 1995 "" Carlos Alberto Fortuño Antonio Ramía Pérez Ramón Sánchez colspan=2 1996 "" Grupo Porto Latino Rodolfo Barreras Pedro Toledo colspan=2 1997 "" Ángel Joel Peña Ángel "Cucco" Peña Berdiel 1998 "" Arianna Miguel Cubano 1999 Contest cancelled ◇ 2000 "" José Vega Santana José Vega Pedro Rivera Toledo 2
Hosting Year City Venue Hosts 1975 San Juan Telemundo TV studios
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