Eurovision Song Contest 1978

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the 1977 contest with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Télévision Française 1 (TF1), the contest was held at the Palais des Congrès on 22 April 1978 and was directed by Bernard Lion.[1] The contest was presented by French television presenters Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. This was the first time that more than one presenter had hosted the contest as well as the first to have a male presenter since 1956.

Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Dates
Final22 April 1978
Host
VenuePalais des Congrès
Paris, France
Presenter(s)
Musical directorFrançois Rauber
Directed byBernard Lion
Executive supervisorFrank Naef
Host broadcasterTélévision Française 1 (TF1)
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/paris-1978
Participants
Number of entries20
Debuting countriesNone
Returning countries
Non-returning countriesNone
Participation map
  • A coloured map of the countries of Europe
         Participating countries     Countries that participated in the past but not in 1978
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song Israel
"A-Ba-Ni-Bi"

Twenty countries participated, the highest number of competing countries in the history of the competition at the time. Denmark and Turkey both returned to the contest. Denmark had not participated since 1966, 12 years before.

The winner of the contest was Israel with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta. The winning entry was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word ani אני, meaning "I"). This was Israel's first Eurovision win, and it was also the first winning song to be performed in one of the Semitic languages. Furthermore, it was also the only winning song to be conducted by a woman, Nurit Hirsh. Norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points after the new voting system was implemented in 1975.

Location
Palais des Congrès, Paris – host venue of the 1978 contest.

The event took place in Paris, the capital and largest city of France, with the host venue being the Palais des congrès de Paris, which is a concert venue, convention centre and shopping mall in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, the venue was inaugurated in 1974.

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

Denmark returned to the competition after having been absent for twelve years, while Turkey did so after missing out two years.[2] This meant that, for the first time, the contest had twenty participating nations competing.

Participants of the Eurovision Song Contest 1978[3][4][5][6]
Country Broadcaster Artist Song Language Songwriter(s) Conductor
 Austria ORF Springtime "Mrs. Caroline Robinson" German[lower-alpha 1]
  • Gerhard Markel
  • Walter Markel
  • Norbert Niedermayer
 Richard Oesterreicher
 Belgium RTBF Jean Vallée "L'Amour ça fait chanter la vie" French Jean Vallée Jean Musy
 Denmark DR Mabel "Boom Boom" Danish
Helmer Olesen
 Finland YLE Seija Simola "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" Finnish
Ossi Runne
 France TF1 Joël Prévost "Il y aura toujours des violons" French
Alain Goraguer
 Germany SWF[lower-alpha 2] Ireen Sheer "Feuer" German
  • Jean Frankfurter
  • John Möring
 Jean Frankfurter
 Greece ERT Tania Tsanaklidou "Charlie Chaplin" (Τσάρλυ Τσάπλιν) Greek
  • Sakis Tsilikis
  • Yiannis Xanthoulis
 Haris Andreadis
 Ireland RTÉ Colm C. T. Wilkinson "Born to Sing" English Colm C. T. Wilkinson Noel Kelehan
 Israel IBA Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (א-ב-ני-בי) Hebrew
Nurit Hirsh
 Italy RAI Ricchi e Poveri "Questo amore" Italian
Nicola Samale
 Luxembourg CLT Baccara "Parlez-vous français ?" French
Rolf Soja
 Monaco TMC Caline and Olivier Toussaint "Les Jardins de Monaco" French
Yvon Rioland
 Netherlands NOS Harmony "'t Is OK" Dutch
Harry van Hoof
 Norway NRK Jahn Teigen "Mil etter mil" Norwegian Kai Eide Carsten Klouman
 Portugal RTP Gemini "Dai li dou" Portuguese
Thilo Krasmann
 Spain TVE José Vélez "Bailemos un vals" Spanish[lower-alpha 3]
  • Ramón Arcusa
  • Manuel de la Calva
 Ramón Arcusa
 Sweden SR Björn Skifs "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" Swedish Peter Himmelstrand Bengt Palmers
  Switzerland SRG SSR Carole Vinci "Vivre" French
Daniel Janin
 Turkey TRT Nilüfer and Nazar "Sevince" Turkish
Onno Tunç
 United Kingdom BBC Co-Co "The Bad Old Days" English
Alyn Ainsworth

Returning artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Jean Vallée  Belgium 1970
Norbert Niedermeyer (as part of Springtime)  Austria 1972 (as part of Milestones)
Ireen Sheer  Germany 1974 (for  Luxembourg)

Format

The postcards were filmed live, featuring the artists making their way to the stage. They took a corridor, then an elevator. Leaving the lift, they were greeted by the previous participants and then made their entrances to the stage. The camera also made several shots of the audience, notably Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.

Each song was accompanied by a 45-piece orchestra.[1]

The Swedish participant Björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the last moment, causing him to completely forget the lyrics. He therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again.

The Israeli win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. According to author and political commentator John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, when Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, later announcing that the Belgian entry (which finished second) was the winner.[8]

Contest overview

The contest was held on 22 April 1978, beginning at 21:30 CEST (19:30 UTC).[9]

Fears of terrorist attacks like at the Summer Olympics 1972 in Munich and of stage invasions like in 1964 meant that security measures in and around the Palais des Congrès were particularly tight: 200 police officers, some of them as undercover agents, tried to prevent any potential incidents. Spectators had to go through metal detectors upon arrival at the Palais des Congrès.[9]

In addition to his duties as a host together with Denise Fabre, Léon Zitrone also served as commentator for France, in an own commentary box backstage.[9]

Results of the Eurovision Song Contest 1978[10]
R/O Country Artist Song Points Place
1  Ireland Colm C. T. Wilkinson "Born to Sing" 86 5
2  Norway Jahn Teigen "Mil etter mil" 0 20
3  Italy Ricchi e Poveri "Questo amore" 53 12
4  Finland Seija Simola "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" 2 18
5  Portugal Gemini "Dai li dou" 5 17
6  France Joël Prévost "Il y aura toujours des violons" 119 3
7  Spain José Vélez "Bailemos un vals" 65 9
8  United Kingdom Co-Co "The Bad Old Days" 61 11
9   Switzerland Carole Vinci "Vivre" 65 9
10  Belgium Jean Vallée "L'Amour ça fait chanter la vie" 125 2
11  Netherlands Harmony "'t Is OK" 37 13
12  Turkey Nilüfer and Nazar "Sevince" 2 18
13  Germany Ireen Sheer "Feuer" 84 6
14  Monaco Caline and Olivier Toussaint "Les Jardins de Monaco" 107 4
15  Greece Tania Tsanaklidou "Charlie Chaplin" 66 8
16  Denmark Mabel "Boom Boom" 13 16
17  Luxembourg Baccara "Parlez-vous français ?" 73 7
18  Israel Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" 157 1
19  Austria Springtime "Mrs. Caroline Robinson" 14 15
20  Sweden Björn Skifs "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" 26 14

Spokespersons

Each country nominated a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1978 contest are listed below.

Detailed voting results
Detailed voting results[12][13]
Total score
Ireland
Norway
Italy
Finland
Portugal
France
Spain
United Kingdom
Switzerland
Belgium
Netherlands
Turkey
Germany
Monaco
Greece
Denmark
Luxembourg
Israel
Austria
Sweden
Contestants
 Ireland 861235710105101068
Norway 0
Italy 5310614861112823
Finland 22
Portugal 541
France 11963102258686410588151210
Spain 65782474612267
United Kingdom 61362324268735253
Switzerland 65511742786238110
Belgium 12512766412212105312127744
Netherlands 37534156121
Turkey 211
Germany 8413127103578107137
Monaco 107447851105610574108112
Greece 6672581074441032
Denmark 136142
Luxembourg 73212121273326176
Israel 15788810108651212121212356128
Austria 1433125
Sweden 26510434

12 points

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

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

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.[14] TF1 provided 29 commentary boxes in the auditorium for foreign broadcasters.[9]

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 17 other countries, including Algeria, Iceland, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union via Intervision, and in Hong Kong, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.[1][4][9] No official accounts of the viewing figures are known to exist. An estimate given in the French press ahead of the contest was 350 million viewers worldwide.[9]

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Austria ORF FS2 Ernst Grissemann [15][16]
 Belgium RTBF RTBF1 Unknown [17][18][19]
BRT TV1 Unknown [17][19]
 Denmark DR DR TV Unknown [20]
 Finland YLE TV1 Unknown [21]
Rinnakkaisohjelma Unknown
 France TF1 Léon Zitrone [18][22][9]
 Germany ARD Deutsches Fernsehen Werner Veigel [15][19][23]
 Greece ERT ERT Mako Georgiadou [24]
 Ireland RTÉ RTÉ Unknown [25]
RTÉ Radio Unknown [26]
 Israel IBA Israeli Television Unknown [27]
 Italy RAI Rete Due,[lower-alpha 4] Rai Radio 2 Tullio Grazzini [28][29]
 Luxembourg CLT RTL Télé-Luxembourg Jacques Navadic and André Torrent [18][30]
 Monaco Télé Monte-Carlo Unknown [31]
 Netherlands NOS Nederland 2 Willem Duys [19][32]
 Norway NRK NRK Fjernsynet Bjørn Scheele [33]
NRK Erik Heyerdahl
 Portugal RTP I Programa Eládio Clímaco [34][35][36]
RDP Programa 1 Unknown
 Spain TVE TVE 1 Miguel de los Santos [37][38]
 Sweden SR TV1 Ulf Elfving [11][21][33]
SR P3 Kent Finell
  Switzerland SRG SSR TV DRS[lower-alpha 5] Theodor Haller [15][22][39][40]
TSR Georges Hardy
TSI Unknown
RSR 1 Robert Burnier
 Turkey TRT TRT Televizyon Unknown [41]
 United Kingdom BBC BBC1 Terry Wogan [4][42]
BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 Ray Moore [4][43][44]
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Hong Kong TVB TVB Jade[lower-alpha 6] Unknown [45]
TVB Pearl[lower-alpha 6] Unknown
 Hungary MTV MTV2[lower-alpha 7] Unknown [46]
 Iceland RÚV Sjónvarpið[lower-alpha 8] Ragna Ragnars [47]
 Yugoslavia JRT TV Koper-Capodistria[lower-alpha 9] Unknown [28]
TV Ljubljana 1[lower-alpha 10] Unknown [48]
TV Zagreb 1 Unknown [49]

See also

Notes
  1. Contains some words in English
  2. On behalf of the German public broadcasting consortium ARD[7]
  3. Contains some words in French
  4. Deferred broadcast at 21:55 CET (20:55 UTC)[28]
  5. Broadcast through a second audio programme on TSI[15]
  6. Deferred broadcast on 23 April[45]
  7. Delayed broadcast on 23 May 1978 at 21:40 CET (20:40 UTC)[46]
  8. Delayed broadcast on 30 April 1978 at 21:20 WET (21:20 UTC)[47]
  9. Deferred broadcast at 20:45 CET (19:45 UTC)[28]
  10. Deferred broadcast on 23 April at 15:30 CET (14:30 UTC)[48]

References
  1. Chaillet, Cathérine; TF1 Service de presse (4 April 1978). Concours Eurovision de la chanson (in French). Paris: TF1. pp. 1–4. OCLC 965372158.
  2. "Paris 1978". Eurovision.tv.
  3. "Participants of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  4. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 312–327. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9.
  5. "1978 – 23rd edition". diggiloo.net. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  6. "Detailed overview: conductors in 1978". And the conductor is... Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  7. "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.
  8. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  9. Didi, Franklin (22 April 1978). "350 millions de téléspectateurs et 200 policiers". Télé 7 Jours (in French). No. 934. pp. 28–29.
  10. "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  11. Thorsson, Leif; Verhage, Martin (2006). Melodifestivalen genom tiderna : de svenska uttagningarna och internationella finalerna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Premium Publishing. pp. 132–133. ISBN 91-89136-29-2.
  12. "Results of the Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  13. "Eurovision Song Contest 1978 – Scoreboard". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 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. 22 April 1978. p. 47. Retrieved 10 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. 21 April 1978. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  18. "Samedi, 22 avril". LW-Weekend (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 21 April 1978. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  19. "Radio en televisie dit weekend". Limburgs Dagblad (in Dutch). Heerlen, Netherlands. 22 April 1978. p. 7. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  20. "Programoversigt" (in Danish). LARM.fm. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  21. "Radio ja TV". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 22 April 1978. p. 37. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  22. "TV – samedi 22 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 20 April 1978. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  23. "Tele-schau: Gesehen – Grand Prix Eurovision (I. Programm)". Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt (in German). Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  24. "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 10 January 2023.
  25. "Television Today". The Irish Times. 22 April 1978. p. 21. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  26. "Radio Today". The Irish Times. 22 April 1978. p. 21. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  27. "Shabat – 22.4.78 – Televizia" שבת – 22.4.78 – טלוויזיה. Davar (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, Israel. 21 April 1978. p. 64. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via National Library of Israel.
  28. "Alla TV | Alla radio". La Stampa (in Italian). Turin, Italy. 22 April 1978. p. 8. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  29. "Sabato 22 aprile". Radiocorriere TV (in Italian). 16–22 April 1978. p. 182. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  30. "Großer Eurovisionspreis für Israel". Luxemburger Wort (in German and French). Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. 23 April 1978. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  31. "Monaco – Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  32. Berkenbosch, Co (22 April 1978). "Groep Harmony in Parijs: 'Alleen Engeland grote concurrent'". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). Amsterdam, Netherlands. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Delpher.
  33. "TV-radio programmene". Oppland Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Gjøvik, Norway. 22 April 1978. p. 35. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via National Library of Norway.
  34. "Televisão – Hoje". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 22 April 1978. p. 15. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
  35. "Rádio". Diário de Lisboa (in Portuguese). 22 April 1978. p. 18. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Casa Comum.
  36. Firmino, Tiago (7 April 2018). "O número do dia. Quantos festivais comentou Eládio Clímaco na televisão portuguesa?" (in Portuguese). N-TV. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  37. "Programas de televisión". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Barcelona, Spain. 22 April 1978. p. 49. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  38. HerGar, Paula (28 March 2018). "Todos los comentaristas de la historia de España en Eurovisión (y una única mujer en solitario)" (in Spanish). Los 40. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  39. "Radio – samedi 22 avril". Radio TV - Je vois tout (in French). Lausanne, Switzerland: Héliographia SA. 20 April 1978. p. 68. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  40. "Televisione". Gazzetta Ticinese (in Italian). Lugano, Switzerland. 22 April 1978. p. 14. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Sistema bibliotecario ticinese.
  41. "TV". Cumhuriyet (in Turkish). Istanbul, Turkey. 22 April 1978. p. 9. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  42. "Eurovision Song Contest 1978 – BBC1". Radio Times. 22 April 1978. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  43. "Eurovision Song Contest 1978 – BBC Radio 2". Radio Times. 22 April 1978. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  44. "Schedule – BBC Radio 1 – 22 April 1978". Radio Times. 22 April 1978. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via BBC Genome Project.
  45. 歐洲歌唱大賽 無線將作直播 並轉播英足總杯總决賽. Ta Kung Pao (in Traditional Chinese). 12 April 1978. p. 5 – via Hong Kong Public Libraries.
  46. "TV – kedd május 23". Rádió- és Televízió-újság (in Hungarian). 22 May 1978. p. 12. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via MTVA Archívum.
  47. "Sjónvarp – Sunnudagur 30. apríl". Dagblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. 29 April 1978. p. 22. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Timarit.is.
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