Chile was represented at the OTI Festival 1978 with the song "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda. The Chilean participating broadcasters, (TVN), (UCTV), (UTV), and (UCVTV), jointly selected their entry through a national televised competition with several phases. The song, that was performed in position 3, placed seventh out of 19 competing entries, with 17 points. In addition, the four broadcasters were also the host broadcasters and staged the event at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago.

National stage (TVN), (UCTV), (UTV), and (UCVTV), held a competition with different televised preselections and a national final to select their entry for the 7th edition of the OTI Festival. Each of the four broadcasters would contribute three songs to the twelve-song national final, which was the first color broadcast via the national network of stations.

TVN pre-selection TVN held its own preselection for its three songs, which consisted of eight televised qualifying rounds of three songs each, held every Sunday between 2 July and 27 August 1978 within its show , presented by María Olga Fernández, Gabriela Velasco, and María Graciela Gómez; from which the first-placed song in each round was qualified to a final round. The eight-song final round was held on Monday 28 August, and broadcast on Sunday 3 September, at , with Susana Giménez, Fernando Ubiergo, , and as special guests.

Qualifying rounds of the TVN pre-selection

+ Result of the first qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 2 July 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Mariela González Mariela González Qualified Iván Marcelo + Result of the second qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 9 July 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Desiderio Arenas Desiderio Arenas Qualified "" Eduardo Gatti Eduardo Gatti "" Carlos Eugenio Romero Carlos Eugenio Romero + Result of the third qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 16 July 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Marcelo Muñoz Marcelo Muñoz "" Roberto Rojas Roberto Rojas "" Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas Qualified + Result of the fourth qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 23 July 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Hugo Moraga Qualified + Result of the fifth qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 30 July 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Los Juglares "" Patricio Carvallo Ernesto Rencoret "" Qualified + Result of the sixth qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 13 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Óscar Andrade "" Verónica Hurtado Lucy Mohor "" Juan Antonio Labra Qualified + Result of the seventh qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 20 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Reynaldo Tomás Martin Reynaldo Tomás Martin "" Dúo Libra Paz Aldunate Qualified "" María Angélica Ramírez María Angélica Ramírez + Result of the eighth qualifying round of the TVN pre-selection – 27 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Result "" Luis "Poncho" Venegas Qualified

Final round of the TVN pre-selection + Result of the final round of the TVN pre-selection – 28 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Votes Result 1 "" Hugo Moraga 2 "" Luis "Poncho" Venegas 9 Qualified 3 "" Dúo Libra Paz Aldunate Qualified 4 "" 5 "" Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas 7 Qualified 6 "" Mariela González Mariela González 7 "" Desiderio Arenas Desiderio Arenas 8 "" Juan Antonio Labra

Universities pre-selection UCTV, UTV, and UCVTV organized a joint preselection to contribute their nine songs, which consisted of nine televised qualifying rounds of six songs each, held every Wednesday between 16 August and 11 October at in Providencia, from which the first-placed song in each round was directly qualified for the national final and the second-place song had a second chance the following round. On 18 October, a final presentation show was held where all nine qualified songs were performed. The shows were presented by and from UCTV, Raquel Argandoña and from UTV, and María José del Rey and from UCVTV, who rotated their presentation duties in each program.

In each round, a jury of seven members, in which each broadcaster appointed two permanent jurors and the seventh was a rotating guest juror, scored each song between 1 and 5 points. The six permanent jurors were: and Octavio Espinoza appointed by UCTV, María de la Luz Necochea and Juan Carlos Gil appointed by UTV, and and Orlando Walter Muñoz appointed by UCVTV.

+ Result of the first qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 16 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Osvaldo Carrasco "" María Luisa Sousa Ricardo de la Fuente Qualified "" Adriana Campusano "" Fernando Jiménez Fernando Jiménez 2nd "" "" Doris y Rossie + Result of the second qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 23 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Mariela and José Miguel González Mariela González 31 Qualified "" Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas 19 "" Sergio Berríos Sergio Berríos Medel "" Fernando Jiménez Fernando Jiménez "" Claudio Hahn Claudio Hahn San Cristóbal "" Patricio Carvallo Francisco Flores del Campo 30 2nd + Result of the third qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 30 August 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Rodrigo Azagra Rodrigo Bernabé Azagra "" Cristóbal Marco Antonio Orozco 2nd "" Patricio Carvallo Francisco Flores del Campo "" Humberto José Onetto Humberto José Onetto "" Rosa María Barrenechea Rosa María Barrenechea "" Osvaldo Díaz and Grupo Cámara 35 Qualified + Result of the fourth qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 6 September 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Julio Zegers 33 Qualified "" Ángel Maulén Ríos 28 2nd "" Cristóbal Marco Antonio Orozco 23 "" Gastón Alfonso 21 "" Rafael Garay 12 "" Carlos Salazar Carlos Salazar Sepúlveda 20 + Result of the fifth qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 13 September 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Pachi Salgado Paz Cecilia Salgado 17 "" Marcelo 24 2nd "" Vicky Castillo Marcos Torres Martínez 20 "" Ángel Maulén Ríos Ángel Maulén Ríos 30 Qualified "" Alejandro "" Norman Ilic Norman Ilic Muñoz 21 + Result of the sixth qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 20 September 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Boris Valdés Boris Valdés Romero 11 "" Margarita Rojas and Juan Esteban Solari 24 "" David Oyarzún David Oyarzún "" Marcelo 30 2nd "" Ernesto Rencoret 35 Qualified "" Sergio Lillo María Angélica Ramírez 25 + Result of the seventh qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 27 September 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Margarita Rojas and Juan Esteban Solari 22 "" Óscar Olivares Zúñiga and Óscar Olivares Vásquez 24 "" Capri 31 Qualified "" Hugo Moraga 15 "" Soledad and Gabriela 25 2nd "" Patricio Carvallo + Result of the eighth qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 4 October 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" José Antonio Chávez Arturo Barros Medina "" Antonio Zabaleta Ricardo de la Fuente Qualified "" Eduardo Salazar "" Soledad and Gabriela "" Ruperto Fonfach Ruperto Fonfach Hernández "" Rodrigo Gana 2nd + Result of the ninth qualifying round of the universities pre-selection – 11 October 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Points Result "" Óscar Andrade 30 "" Árbol y Fruto Galvarino Villota 25 "" Juan Carlos González "" Luis Miguel Silva Luis Miguel Silva 30 Qualified "" Lucy Mohor Lucy Mohor "" Rodrigo Gana

National final The national final was held on 29 October 1978, beginning at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC), at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago, and was presented by Raúl Matas and Raquel Argandoña. The musical director was . It was staged by TVN, and broadcast on TVN's , UCTV's , UTV's , UCVTV's , Radio Minería, and .

+ Competing entries on the national final – Chile 1978 Song Artist Songwriter(s) Conductor "" María Luisa Sousa Ricardo de la Fuente "" Julio Zegers "" Mariela and José Miguel González Mariela González Sergio González "" Antonio Zabaleta Ricardo de la Fuente "" Capri "" Ángel Maulén Ríos "" Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas "" Dúo Libra Paz Aldunate Horacio Saavedra "" Luis "Poncho" Venegas Horacio Saavedra "" Ernesto Rencoret Juan Azúa "" Osvaldo Díaz and Grupo Cámara "" Luis Miguel Silva Luis Miguel Silva

Five expert jurors scored all entries between 1 and 5 points. The jurors were: Raquel Barros, Carlos Dourthé, Mariano Casanova, Alejandra Ramos, and .

The winner was "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

+ Result of the national final – Chile 1978 Song Artist Points Result 1 "" Florcita Motuda 23 1 2 "" María Luisa Sousa 15 8 3 "" Osvaldo Díaz and Grupo Cámara 19 2 4 "" Dúo Libra 16 6 5 "" 11 11 6 "" 17 5 7 "" 11 11 8 "" Mariela and José Miguel González 15 8 9 "" Luis Miguel Silva 12 10 10 "" 19 2 11 "" Antonio Zabaleta 18 4 12 "" Capri 16 6

+ Detailed vote of the national final – Chile 1978 Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "" 5 4 5 4 5 23 2 "" 3 3 4 3 2 15 3 "" 4 4 4 4 3 19 4 "" 3 4 4 2 3 16 5 "" 3 2 3 2 1 11 6 "" 3 3 3 4 4 17 7 "" 3 2 3 1 2 11 8 "" 3 4 4 3 1 15 9 "" 3 3 3 2 1 12 10 "" 5 4 4 4 2 19 11 "" 3 5 4 2 4 18 12 "" 4 4 4 3 1 16

At the OTI Festival On 2 December 1978, the OTI Festival was held at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago, hosted by TVN, UCTV, UTV, and UCVTV, and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. Florcita Motuda performed "" in position 3, with Horacio Saavedra conducting the event's orchestra, and placing seventh out of 19 competing entries, with 17 points.

The festival was broadcast live on TVN's , UCTV's , UTV's , and UCVTV's .

Voting Each participating broadcaster, or group of broadcasters that jointly participated representing a country, assembled a national jury located in its respective country, consisting of four voting members and a president who would only decide in case of a tie. Each voting member scored each performance, except the entry representing its own country, between 1 and 5 votes right after it was performed, and at the end the president totaled all the scores and awarded 5 points to the most voted, 4 to the second, and so on down to 1 point. To ensure that there was no vote switching, before the voting segment began each participating broadcaster(s) announced to its national audience the vote of its jury in local opt-out from its studios.

Cristián Livingstone, Ximena Hormazábal, , and were the five members of the Chilean jury, with the latter acting as the president of the jury and the spokesperson who announced the Chilean points at the festival. The local opt-out segment where the Chilean jury revealed their points to the Chilean audience was presented by .

+ Points awarded to Chile Score Country 5 points 4 points Dominican Republic 3 points 2 points Puerto Rico 1 point Uruguay

+ Points awarded by Chile Score Country 5 points Brazil 4 points Spain 3 points Mexico 2 points United States 1 point Venezuela

Notes

References