The OTI Festival 1972 (, ) was the first edition of the OTI Festival, held on 25 November 1972 at the auditorium of the in Madrid, Spain, and presented by Rosa María Mateo and Raúl Matas. It was organised by the (OTI) and host broadcaster (TVE).

Broadcasters from fourteen countries were expected to debut in the festival, but the entry from Mexico was disqualified because its lyrics didn't comply with the rules, and the Mexican broadcaster refused to send a replacement. Of the remaining thirteen entries who took the stage, the winner was the song "", written by Paulo César Pinheiro and Baden Powell, and performed by Claudia Regina and Tobías representing Brazil; with "", written by , Pablo Herrero, and José Luis Armenteros, and performed by Basilio himself representing Panama, placing second; and "", written by Manuel Alejandro, and performed by Marisol representing Spain, placing third.

The broadcast of the festival marked the first time in history that so many countries linked together via satellite to participate in a song contest.

Background The (OTI) was formed in 1971 as a tool of exchange of news and audiovisual contents of any kind between the active member broadcasters. As a part of those goals, the organisation agreed to create a competitive song festival, the /, following the example of the Eurovision Song Contest, in order to encourage the creation of original songs among Spanish and Portuguese-speaking authors, composers, and performers.

Location

The members of the organisation agreed that (TVE) would hold the first edition of the OTI Festival in Madrid. The venue selected was the auditorium of the , with a seat capacity for over 1,500 people. This exhibition and convention hall, which was, at that time, the biggest convention-oriented building of Spain, is located in the Castellana neighborhood, in the central part of the city. The building was designed by . Construction was finished in 1970 and the large tile mural on its façade by ceramist Josep Llorens i Artigas following a design by Joan Miró was added later in 1980.

Participants The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twelve Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America initially signed up for the contest. (TSM) had initially registered for the contest, and had selected through its 1st National OTI Festival the song "", written by Roberto Cantoral, and performed by , as its entry; but this was disqualified by the OTI Program Commission because its lyrics didn't comply with the rules of the competition for going against "the idiosyncratic sensitivity or way of life of the Ibero-American peoples". The commission asked TSM to submit a replacement song, but the broadcaster refused to do so. Mexico had been drawn to perform between Colombia and Peru. This left the final total number of participants at thirteen.

+ Participants of the OTI Festival 1972 Country Broadcaster(s) Song Artist Songwriter(s) Language Conductor Argentina Canal 7 Argentina "" Víctor Heredia Víctor Heredia Spanish Augusto Algueró Bolivia TVB "" Arturo Quesada Spanish Eddy Guerín Brazil Rede Tupi "" Claudia Regina & Tobías Portuguese Carlos Monteiro De Souza Chile TVN "" Spanish Eddy Guerín Colombia "" Christopher Spanish Armando Velázquez Dominican Republic "" Fernando Casado Meche Díez Spanish Augusto Algueró Mexico TSM ◇ "" ◇ ◇ Roberto Cantoral ◇ Spanish ◇ Panama RPC-TV "" Spanish Augusto Algueró Peru Panamericana Televisión "" Betty Missiego Betty Missiego Spanish Román Alís Portugal RTP "" Tonicha José Cid Tavares Portuguese Augusto Algueró Puerto Rico WKAQ-Telemundo "" Chucho Avellanet Guillermo Venegas Lloveras Spanish Pedro Rivera Toledo Spain TVE "" Marisol Manuel Alejandro Spanish Augusto Algueró Uruguay "" Rona Jorge da Trindade Spanish Augusto Algueró Venezuela RCTV "" Mirla Castellanos Pablo Schneider Spanish Eduardo Cabrera

Festival overview The festival was held on Saturday 25 November 1972, beginning at 24:00 CET (23:00 UTC). It was presented by Rosa María Mateo and Raúl Matas. The musical director was Augusto Algueró who conducted the RTVE Light Music Orchestra when required. The draw to determine the running order (R/O) was held on 30 October, at the TVE boardroom in . Participants began rehearsing at the venue on 21 November.

The show began with the "OTI Theme" composed by Ernesto Halffter. In between the songs in competition, traditional dance groups of the from Ibiza, Redondela, and Seville performed. The interval act consisted of an orchestral medley of Algueró songs "" and "".

The winner was the song "", written by Paulo César Pinheiro and Baden Powell, and performed by Claudia Regina and Tobías representing Brazil; with "", written by , Pablo Herrero, and José Luis Armenteros, and performed by Basilio himself representing Panama, placing second; and "", written by Manuel Alejandro, and performed by Marisol representing Spain, placing third. The performers of the winning entry received a single trophy while its composer and lyricist each received a plaque. The performers of the entries who placed second and third each received a trophy. The prizes were delivered by Eduardo Reina, president of the OTI programs committee; and , director of TVE. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

+ Results of the OTI Festival 1972 Country Song Artist Votes Place 1 Bolivia "No volveré a pasar por allí" Arturo Quesada 3 9 2 Chile "Una vez, otra vez" 4 7 3 Puerto Rico "Por ti" Chucho Avellanet 6 4 4 Spain "Niña" Marisol 7 3 5 Colombia "Volverás a mis brazos" Christopher 3 9 6 Peru "Recuerdos de un adiós" Betty Missiego 3 9 7 Uruguay "Busco mi destino" Rona 3 9 8 Argentina "Sabes que aquí estamos, América" Víctor Heredia 3 9 9 Portugal "Glória, glória, aleluia" Tonicha 5 6 10 Venezuela "Sueños de cristal y miel" Mirla Castellanos 6 4 11 Brazil "Diálogo" Claudia Regina & Tobías 10 1 12 Panama "Oh, Señor" 8 2 13 Dominican Republic "Siempre habrá en la luna una sonrisa" Fernando Casado 4 7

Spokespersons Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective jury in the order of participation via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1972 festival are listed below. María Eugenia Ruiz

José Luis Uribarri Antonio Carrizo Antonio Carrizo Eduardo Frangias Adriano Rodríguez

Detailed voting results Each participating broadcaster assembled a national jury located in its respective country, composed of five members each. Each juror gave one vote to its favorite entry and could not vote for the entry representing its own country. Each participating broadcaster had also a delegate present in the hall to stand in for its jury if it was not receiving the event live, or in case of communication failure during the broadcast or voting. In the event of a tie for first place, the stand-in delegates from the countries not affected by the tie would vote to select the winning song from among the tied ones. In the event of a tie for second or third place, no tiebreaker would be held. All the countries gave their votes remotely by telephone, except for Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, who used the stand-in delegates since they were not receiving the event live. The voting was supervised by OTI representative Amaury Daumas.

Voting process

+ Detailed voting results of the OTI Festival 1972 Voter: Voting countries Classification 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" Votes Place scope="rowgroup" rowspan="13" Bolivia11139 Chile21147 Puerto Rico121264 Spain111111173 Colombia11139 Peru11139 Uruguay11139 Argentina11139 Portugal112156 Venezuela1111264 Brazil111115101 Panama121482 Dominican Republic21147

Broadcast The festival was broadcast in the 13 participating countries and in Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the United States, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks. This marked the first time in history that so many countries linked together via satellite to participate in a song contest. Using the ground station located in Buitrago del Lozoya, the television signal was sent from Madrid to the Americas via the Intelsat IV F-2 satellite, where eight ground stations were responsible for distributing it to the broadcasters within their reach. Of the participating countries, only Bolivia and the Dominican Republic did not receive the event live, as they neither had a satellite ground station nor were within reach of one.

Since most broadcasters in the Americas used the 525 lines television system, TVE produced the festival in color natively in that system to avoid intermediate conversions. The signal was subsequently converted to the 625 lines system by the receiving broadcasters in Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay.

Although Spain and the American countries are separated by a wide time difference, the show was an enormous success and was watched by over one hundred million people. Mexico was the country where the viewing figures were the highest, although the country did not participate in the competition.

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) Canal 7 Argentina TVN Canal 7 Inravisión WKAQ-Telemundo TVE

Notes

References

External links 1st OTI Festival, Madrid 1972 at RTVE Play