:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Andrew Lloyd Webber has ruled out composing "some silly nonsense song" for the UK's Eurovision Song Contest entry. Lord Lloyd-Webber has been asked by the BBC to put together the UK entry for Eurovision 2009 and will mentor the act selected to perform it. -

Albania was the first country to hold its national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Kejsi Tola won the 47th edition of the Festivali i kenges. With the song Më mërr në ëndërr (Take me into your dreams) , she will be the sixth Albanian entrant in the competition. 20 songs were presented in the national final and a jury picked the winner. The song Më mërr në ëndërr was written by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, the team behind Anjeza Shahini's 2004 entry The image of you. Reaching 7th place in Istanbul, it remains the country's most successful entry to date. -

Latvian broadcaster LTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they have withdrawn from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The broadcaster will not face any penalty for the withdrawal and are already working to return to the competition in 2010. LTV confirms " The reason for withdrawal is that our government decided to cut down LTV's budget for 2,4 million Lats (3,5 million EUR) and LTV's board decided to close several entertainment programmes including the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. " -

The Georgian flag will finally be flown in the Olympiysky Arena during one of the semi finals of the 2009 contest. It was a sad day for the Eurovision Song Contest when back in August 2008 it was announced that Georgia would not take part in the 2009 edition to be held in Moscow due to political reasons. Today, it has been confirmed by YLE executive Kjell Ekholm, member of the EBU Reference Group, that Georgia will indeed be returning for 2009. The return may have been influenced by the country's victory in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and further encouraged by the 12 points awarded to them by Russia. Source: ESC Today -

RTÉ has published its rules for its National Final to be held provisionally for Friday, February 20th 2009. The competition will be called Eurosong 2009. There will be a Late Late Show Eurosong Special on a date to be confirmed in late February or early March, where six shortlisted songs and performers will compete to decide Ireland's entry. RTÉ is now inviting entries that include the song, the singer(s) and any proposed performance/staging details. In this scenario, songwriters entering will have a singer or singers selected when the entries are submitted. Singers submitting entries will have agreed with the song composer that they will perform that song composer's work. The closing date and time for entries will be noon on Monday, the 2nd of February, 2009. Entries should be submitted to Eurosong 2009, RTÉ Entertainment, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland. FULL DETAILS HERE RTE COVERAGE -

With San Marino out of 2009 and Latvia nearing withdrawal, is there other countries withdrawing from 2009 due to financial reasons. As we all know, the list of participants has traditionally been made public in early December. The delay in revealing the final list of countries taking part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest suggests that there are still countries that have yet to confirm that they will procede with their participation. Lithunaian national broadcaster LVT has claimed that not competing in the Eurovision Song Contest could be a cost saving measure. Monaco may not compete in 2009 for the same reason. Who knows what will happen, but the list of participates for 2009 will make interesting reading. Read: Article from ESCTIME -

What were rumours is now fact, San Marino will not participate in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The Broadcaster has informed the EBU that despite wanting to participate, it will not be able to meet all of the necessary criteria for entering the competition in Moscow. San Marino's withdrawal from the competition after just one year of particiaption. Initally, the national broadcaster of San Marino, SMRTV, had applied to enter the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. This sad news today comes as the EBU maintains discussions to keep Latvia in the competition. Reports in the last two days have confirmed that the Baltic state is looking to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. Source: ESC Today. -

Latvian national broadcaster, LTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they have informed the EBU that they intend to withdraw from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The reason is simply financial and the broadcaster is currently battling to save it's full range of television and radio channels. FULL STORY HERE -

Looks like the theory on Johnny Logan is totally out the window! RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, has announced that it is having an Open National Selection to choose the Irish representative(s) for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Similar to their format in 2007, RTÉ are experiencing financial difficulties this time round and will instead be holding the selection on a special edition of The Late Late Show provisionally set for Friday February 20th, 2009 in Dublin. Song writers are asked to submit their songs to RTÉ as soon as possible for to be included in the running of the competition. While the micro details of the show to be held on February 20th are still under discussion, these matters will be clarrified on a later date. Source: ESC Today.com -

Three times winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, 1987 and writer of 1992, Johnny Logan may represent Ireland once again for the fourth time in 2009. It has been reported exclusively on esctoday.com that in an article that appears in "The Sunday Tribune", it reads that "Logan set to relight the flame for Eurovision." If this is true, it is just what Ireland needs and will become the biggest story of Eurovision Song Contest 2009. After disappointing results for Ireland in recent years, bar the odd exception, the Irish public broadcaster, RTÉ, are set to "be pulling out all the stops to get three-time Eurovision winner Logan (54) to sing at the 2009 show in Moscow." According to the Sunday Tribune, "RTÉ will offer Johnny Logan his own TV show if he represents Ireland... The deal is said to include a lump sum for Logan as well as his own prime time music show. This is similar to a package offered to Brian Kennedy after he rescued Ireland's E

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Dilas handed over a giant key ring with Perspex symbols of each city that has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest to Luzhkov at a ceremony to kick off Moscow's preparations for the contest, which will be held at Olimpiisky Stadium and culminate with finals in the Luzhniki Stadium on May 16. READ MORE FROM THE MOSCOW TIMES

According to Oikotimes , EBU's Svante Stockselius said that we will have a record of participating countries. The statement of Svante Stockselius took place during the insignia exchange of the host city. Though Mr Stockselius didn't gave any details on the participating countries. This means that the upcoming list of participating countries will include a number of 44 countries or more. The following statements are being made by various websites and fans about the countries that are in and out: Monaco and San Marino are in 2009 despite rumours . Georgia will participate in 2009 after winning the 2008 Junior Eurovision, despite claiming they will not participate due to policitial reasons. Kosovo will participate in 2009. Lebanon will return in 2009 after the 2005 issue . Luxembourg may return. Italy may return. Austria may return due to changes in the voting . To be honest I could agree with statement 1 & 7. Georgia will not participate as the contest is been held in Russ

Those people who are writing a song for the Irish selection may as well put down their pen as it appears that RTÉ Television has had a complete change of mind on its selection process, from the plans it was making in the autumn and has reverted to an internal selection for the performer. The popular and my faviourite Irish website All Kinds of Everything reports that the Irish national broadcaster is believed to have ditched plans for a large scale multi-artist national final in favour of a " Late Late Show " special, using one of Ireland's best known performers, to be staged in late February. Once again it is believed that the public will choose which song will carry the Irish colours at Eurovision, although there may not be a open call for songs as there was in 2006 and 2007. RTÉ was to have announced details of its 2009 Eurovision selection by the end of November. Please be reminded that RTE have not announced the details yet of

Today, the EBU exclusively announced that jury and televoters will each have a 50% stake in the outcome of the Final . The proposal, made by the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest, has already been approved by the European Broadcasting Union's TV Committee. This Wednesday and Thursday, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest will meet in Moscow to decide upon the exact way the national juries will be composed, and to discuss rules to assure a fair jury vote. It was already announced to EBU Member broadcasters that the jury members should all be music industry professionals.

Out of all the news I have had to gather and research for this blog for the last 2 years, I have never had to write so much about Wogan like I have for the last few months. The BBC website reveals today that Terry Wogan will no longer be the face of Eurovision in the United Kingdom. The 70-year old Irishman has been involved with Eurovision for 35 years, both as a commentator and as a host for the UK national finals. He was also the host of the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham in 1998 together with Ulrika Jonsson. Fellow Irishman from Co. Cork Graham Norton will replace him. Norton will host the new format UK selection show series “Eurovision: Your country needs you” in January as well as commentate the final from Moscow in May. Wogan tells the BBC he feels “sad to leave it all behind after 35 wonderful years of commentating Eurovision for radio and television” . "From my first, in a small musichall in Dublin, to my last, in the huge arena in Belgrade, it has been nothing bu