Eurovision Song Contest 1976

The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the 1975 contest with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the contest was held at the Nederlands Congrescentrum on 3 April 1976 and was hosted by 1957 Dutch Eurovision winner Corry Brokken.

Eurovision Song Contest 1976
Dates
Final3 April 1976
Host
VenueNederlands Congresgebouw
The Hague, Netherlands
Presenter(s)
Musical directorJan Stulen
Directed byTheo Ordeman
Executive supervisorClifford Brown
Executive producerFred Oster
Host broadcasterNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/the-hague-1976
Participants
Number of entries18
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countries
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1976
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song United Kingdom
"Save Your Kisses for Me"

Eighteen countries took part in the contest with Sweden, Malta and Turkey opting not to return to the contest after participating the previous year. Malta would not return to the contest again until 1991. On the other hand, Austria and Greece returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.

United Kingdom won the contest this year with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man.[1] The 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 of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.[2]

Location
Nederlands Congresgebouw – host venue of the 1976 contest.

The Hague is the seat of government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the capital city of the province of South Holland. It is also the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The contest took place at the Congresgebouw (presently known as the World Forum). The venue was constructed in 1969.

Participating countries
Further information: List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

Sweden, Malta and Turkey all decided not to participate this year, while Austria and Greece returned to the contest, making for eighteen participating countries.[1]

Sweden did not enter the contest as broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) did not have enough money to host another contest if Sweden should win again. A new rule was therefore introduced that in the future each participating broadcaster would have to pay a part of the cost of staging the contest. 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.[3][4]

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976[5][6][7][8]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Waterloo and Robinson "My Little World" English Gerhard Heinz Erich Kleinschuster
 Belgium RTB Pierre Rapsat "Judy et Cie" French
Michel Bernholc
 Finland YLE Fredi and the Friends "Pump-Pump" English
Ossi Runne
 France TF1 Catherine Ferry "Un, deux, trois" French
Tony Rallo
 Germany HR[lower-alpha 1] Les Humphries Singers "Sing, Sang, Song" German, English
Les Humphries
 Greece ERT Mariza Koch "Panaghia mou, panaghia mou" (Παναγιά μου, παναγιά μου) Greek
Mihalis Rozakis
 Ireland RTÉ Red Hurley "When" English Brendan Graham Noel Kelehan
 Israel IBA Chocolate, Menta, Mastik "Emor Shalom" (אמור שלום) Hebrew
Matti Caspi
 Italy RAI Romina and Al Bano "We'll Live It All Again" English, Italian
Maurizio Fabrizio
 Luxembourg CLT Jürgen Marcus "Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment" French
Jo Plée
 Monaco TMC Mary Christy "Toi, la musique et moi" French
Raymond Donnez
 Netherlands NOS Sandra Reemer "The Party Is Over Now" English Hans van Hemert Harry van Hoof
 Norway NRK Anne-Karine Strøm "Mata Hari" English
Frode Thingnæs
 Portugal RTP Carlos do Carmo "Uma flor de verde pinho" Portuguese
Thilo Krasmann
 Spain TVE Braulio "Sobran las palabras" Spanish Braulio García Bautista Joan Barcons
  Switzerland SRG SSR Peter, Sue and Marc "Djambo Djambo" English Peter Reber Mario Robbiani
 United Kingdom BBC Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses for Me" English
Alyn Ainsworth
 Yugoslavia JRT Ambasadori "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" (Не могу скрити своју бол) Serbo-Croatian
  • Slobodan Đurašović
  • Slobodan Vujović
 Esad Arnautalić

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Fredi (Along with "The Friends")  Finland 1967
Anneli Koivisto (As part of "The Friends")  Finland 1971 (as part of Koivistolaiset)
Peter, Sue and Marc   Switzerland 1971
Sandra Reemer  Netherlands 1972
Anne-Karine Strøm  Norway 1973 (as part of Bendik Singers)
1974 (Along with Bendik Singers)

Format

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 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.[lower-alpha 2]

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976[10]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  United Kingdom Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses for Me" 164 1
2   Switzerland Peter, Sue and Marc "Djambo Djambo" 91 4
3  Germany Les Humphries Singers "Sing, Sang, Song" 12 15
4  Israel Chocolate, Menta, Mastik "Emor Shalom" 77 6
5  Luxembourg Jürgen Marcus "Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment" 17 14
6  Belgium Pierre Rapsat "Judy et Cie" 68 8
7  Ireland Red Hurley "When" 54 10
8  Netherlands Sandra Reemer "The Party Is Over Now" 56 9
9  Norway Anne-Karine Strøm "Mata Hari" 7 18
10  Greece Mariza Koch "Panaghia mou, panaghia mou" 20 13
11  Finland Fredi and the Friends "Pump-Pump" 44 11
12  Spain Braulio "Sobran las palabras" 11 16
13  Italy Romina and Al Bano "We'll Live It All Again" 69 7
14  Austria Waterloo and Robinson "My Little World" 80 5
15  Portugal Carlos do Carmo "Uma flor de verde pinho" 24 12
16  Monaco Mary Christy "Toi, la musique et moi" 93 3
17  France Catherine Ferry "Un, deux, trois" 147 2
18  Yugoslavia Ambasadori "Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" 10 17

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1976 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results
Detailed voting results[12][13]
Total score
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Germany
Israel
Luxembourg
Belgium
Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Greece
Finland
Spain
Italy
Austria
Portugal
Monaco
France
Yugoslavia
Contestants
 United Kingdom 16412812812310121210124101210710
Switzerland 91125417161027487467
Germany 12221223
Israel 776737542781106218
Luxembourg 17665
Belgium 68761461283885
Ireland 541013385122631
Netherlands 5644844217324625
Norway 734
Greece 2024518
Finland 44266514677
Spain 1131331
Italy 69182123106110106
Austria 8043101053107265852
Portugal 24641112
Monaco 935577128885277534
France 14781012510107128531061251212
Yugoslavia 101234

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
7  United Kingdom  Belgium,  Greece,  Israel,  Norway,  Portugal,  Spain,   Switzerland
5  France  Austria,  Germany,  Monaco,  Netherlands,  Yugoslavia
1  Belgium  Finland
 Italy  Ireland
 Ireland  Italy
 Monaco  Luxembourg
 Portugal  France
  Switzerland  United Kingdom

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.[1][14]

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Hong Kong, Iceland, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.[6]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF FS2 Ernst Grissemann [15][16]
 Belgium RTB RTB Unknown [17][18][19]
BRT BRT Unknown [17][19]
 Finland YLE TV1 Heikki Seppälä [20][21]
Rinnakkaisohjelma Erkki Melakoski
 France TF1 Jean-Claude Massoulier [18][22]
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Werner Veigel [23][19][24]
 Greece ERT ERT Mako Georgiadou [25]
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ Mike Murphy [26][27]
RTÉ Radio Unknown [28]
 Israel IBA Israeli Television Unknown [29]
 Italy RAI Rete Uno Silvio Noto [30]
 Luxembourg CLT RTL Télé-Luxembourg Unknown [18]
 Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Unknown [31]
 Netherlands NOS Nederland 2 Willem Duys [19]
Hilversum 3 Unknown
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet Jo Vestly [32]
NRK Erik Heyerdahl
 Portugal RTP I Programa Unknown [33]
 Spain TVE TVE 1 José Luis Uribarri [34]
  Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS Theodor Haller [22][23][35][36]
TSR Georges Hardy
TSI Unknown
RSI 1 Unknown
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1 Michael Aspel [37]
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Terry Wogan [6][38][39]
BFBS BFBS Radio Andrew Pastouna [6]
 Yugoslavia JRT TV Koper-Capodistria Unknown [30][40][41]
TV Ljubljana 1 Unknown
TV Zagreb 1 Unknown
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Denmark DR DR TV Per Møller Hansen [42]
 Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið[lower-alpha 3] Jón Skaptason [43]
 Sweden SR SR P3 Ursula Richter [4][20][32]
 Turkey TRT TRT Televizyon Unknown [44]

See also

Notes
  1. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[9]
  2. As noted on a TOTP2 Eurovision special, the 1997 Katrina and the Waves entry Love Shine a light ranks third in the rankings of points achieved as a percentage of maximum available with 227 out of 288 or 78.81%, behind Nicole's "Ein bißchen Frieden" in 1982 (161 out of 204 or 78.92%) and Brotherhood of Man's "Save Your Kisses for Me" in 1976 (164 out of 204 or 80.39%). For comparison, Elena Paparizou's 2005 win took 230 points out of a possible 456, or only 50.04% while Portugal's dominant 2017 win from Salvador Sobral took 758 points from a possible 984 available, equating to 77.04%.
  3. Delayed broadcast on 25 April 1976 at 20:35 WET (20:35 UTC)[43]

References
  1. "The Hague 1976 - Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  3. O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  4. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 120–121. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
  5. "Participants of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  6. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 227–243. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  7. "1976 – 21st edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  8. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1976". And the conductor is... Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  9. "Alle deutschen ESC-Acts und ihre Titel" [All German ESC acts and their songs]. www.eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. "Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  11. Tobin, Robert (2023). "Queer Camp against Franco: Iván Zulueta's Eurovision Song Contest parody Un Dos Tres". In Dubin, Adam; Vuletic, Dean; Obregón, Antonio (eds.). The Eurovision Song Contest as a cultural phenomenon : from concert halls to the halls of academia. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 180. doi:10.4324/9781003188933-15. ISBN 978-1-03-203774-5.
  12. "Results of the Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  13. "Eurovision Song Contest 1976 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  14. "The Rules of the Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  15. "Fernsehen – Samstag". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Zürich, Switzerland. 3 April 1976. p. 44. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  16. Halbhuber, Axel (22 May 2015). "Ein virtueller Disput der ESC-Kommentatoren". Kurier (in German). Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  17. "T.V. Programma's". De Voorpost (in Dutch). Aalst, Belgium. 2 April 1976. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  18. "Télé-programmes – samedi 3 avril". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 2 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  19. "Radio en televisie dit weekend". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). Heerlen, Netherlands. 3 April 1976. p. 7. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  20. "Radio ja TV". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 3 April 1976. p. 27. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  21. "Fredi ja Friends ja Pump Euroviisuissa tänä iltana". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 3 April 1976. p. 27. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  22. "TV – samedi 3 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 1 April 1976. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  23. "Fernsehen und Radio". Thuner Tagblatt (in German). Thun, Switzerland. 2 April 1976. p. 14. Retrieved 18 January 2023 – via e-newspaperarchives.ch.
  24. Rudorf, Reginald. "Waterloo für Les Humphries". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  25. "Eurovision 2020: Giorgos Kapoutzidis -Maria Kozakou ston scholiasmo tou diagonismou gia tin ERT" Eurovision 2020: Γιώργος Καπουτζίδης -Μαρία Κοζάκου στον σχολιασμό του διαγωνισμού για την ΕΡΤ (in Greek). Matrix24. 12 February 2020. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  26. "Television Today". The Irish Times. 3 April 1976. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  27. "Celebrities and public figures launch Irish campaign to boycott Eurovision 2019 in Israel". Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  28. "Radio Today". The Irish Times. 3 April 1976. p. 17. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  29. "Radio ∗ Televizia" רדיו ∗ טלוויזיה. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 2 April 1976. p. 136. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via National Library of Israel.
  30. "Alla TV". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 3 April 1976. p. 6. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  31. "Monaco – The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  32. "TV-Radio programmene". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Gjøvik, Norway. 3 April 1976. p. 35. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
  33. "Televisão – Hoje". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 3 April 1976. p. 15. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
  34. "Programas de Radio y T.V.". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 3 April 1976. p. 65. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  35. "Televisione". Gazzetta Ticinese (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 3 April 1976. p. 8. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
  36. "Radio – samedi 3 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 1 April 1976. p. 66. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  37. "Eurovision Song Contest – BBC1". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  38. "Eurovision Song Contest 1976 – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  39. "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 3 April 1976". Radio Times. 3 April 1976. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  40. "Televizija – sobota 3" (PDF). Glas (in Slovenian). Kranj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. 3 April 1976. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  41. "JRT – subota". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Serbo-Croatian). Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia. 3 April 1976. p. 16. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  42. "Programoversigt" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  43. "Sjónvarp – Sunnudagur 25. apríl". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 24 April 1976. p. 23. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
  44. "Televizyon". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). Istanbul, Turkey. 3 April 1976. p. 6. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
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