:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Terry Wogan has announced he is to step down as presenter of BBC Radio 2's breakfast show. The 71-year-old told his listeners shortly after Monday's 0800 news bulletin, calling his decision to go "the hardest thing I have ever done". "It touches me deeply that I've played a part in your lives for, it seems, like generations," Terry said. Terry left his job as commentator for the BBC for the Eurovision Song Contest last year. -

In somewhat surprising news, according to media reports, Steve Schmit, manager of RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg, considers Luxembourg's return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010. The country has not been taking part in the competition since 1993. Smitt told the website wort.lu that after a very long time, they had a meeting with the EBU and the broadcaster considers submitting an entry in 2010, although any decision has yet to be made. The biggest issue appear to be the expenses considering the small budget of the broadcaster. The final decision has to be taken until December. Luxembourg was one of the seven countries to take part in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Over the years, the small country won the contest on five occassions and produced international hit songs like Poupée de cire, poupée de son by France Gall (1965) and Après toi by Vicky Leandros (1972), Parlez-vous français by Baccara (1978) and L'amour est bleu (1967). Based on victories, Luxembourg is the seco...

It has been reported that Graham Norton is to leave the BBC later this year to return to former broadcasting home, Channel Four. The entertainment front man commentated for the British public at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, replacing veteran Terry Wogan. He also hosted the selection show, Your country needs you in January. Graham Norton is set to quit the BBC to return to Channel Four later this year. His lucrative contract ends and he is set to reject a new deal to take over the Paul O'Grady talk show at his former stomping ground. Should he remain at the BBC, he is set to move his talk show from BBC2 to BBC1. Norton is said to be unhappy at the BBC after his latest Saturday Night show Totally Saturday flopped and was later pulled by the BBC. He also hosts the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical reality shows that select lead artists for his stage shows, but with the Lord, who wrote this year's British Eurovision Song Contest entry, now in a battle to end his BBC contract and tak...

From ESC TODAY .... The Director General of the European Broadcasting Union has issued an official statement regarding the investigation of whether Azeri citizens were questioned by the Ministry of the Interior in Azerbaijan over their decision to vote for Armenia at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Azeri broadcaster Ictimai has also responded to the EBU investigation. The official statement on the EBU website tonight says: The European Broadcasting Union has received responses from Azerbaijan regarding allegations that telephone voters in Azerbaijan who voted for the Armenian song in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest were interrogated by security police. Ictimai, the EBU’s Azeri Member which broadcast this year’s Song Contest from Moscow in May, has confirmed its commitment to free and fair voting. While two individuals had been invited to the Ministry of National Security, Ictimai said, the Ministry of National Security had given assurances that nobody had been questioned, either ...

Someone has these on Facebook, had to put them here. What an opening to opening to the Eurovision Song Contest of 1996 in Oslo, Norway on May 18th when Morten Harket performed his song "Heaven's Not For Saints". Also included is Eimear Quinn, winner Ireland 1996 singing "Norwegian Wood". -

The Turkish broadcaster responsible for the events in relation to the European Broadcasting Union namely TRT have denied the participation of the Turkish superstar Tarkan at the Eurovision Song Contest. The news comes just days after his participation was "confirmed" by several Turkish newspapers who reported that some sort of pre-agreement which was said to have been formalised after the return of Hadise from Moscow where she reached a credible fourth place. Source: oikotimes.com -

The European Broadcasting Union have said that an investigation is underway regarding the questioning of Azerbaijan residents that voted for Armenia at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest by the Ministry of the Interior. Media reports claim that the 43 members of the Azeri public that voted for neighbouring Armenia were traced and taken for questioning about their actions. tensions between the two countries remain high after a war fifteen years ago. "The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is aware of the rumours and accusations made in the media and started last week to investigate the matter. The investigation will involve our technical partners and also gives our Member Broadcasters the chance to respond. Until this investigation is completed we cannot comment further on these rumours and accusations," said Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the EBU. Source: ESCTODAY -

According to Sabah newspaper, Tarkan has agreed with Turkish Radio Televison (TRT) to participate forTurkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. He is reported to have agreed to sign a contract of intention with the national broadcaster this week. According to several leading newspapers in Turkey, today, Tarkan will represent Turkey in 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Tarkan said that he agreed with TRT last Thursday but still negotiations are ongoing. He added that the contract will be signed this week and next week there will be an official briefing for the media. The Turkish super star also stated that an agreement has been reached withTRT about a music program in the new music channel of TRT. ESCTODAY.COM -

Over ten million televotes were received during the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, the European Broadcasting Union and its voting partner Digame reveal today. With 8,825,527 calls and text messages received in 2008, this year's Eurovision Song Contest saw an increase of over 20 percent. During the two Semi-Finals and the Final, 6,162,749 text messages came in and 4,517,933 calls were made to cast a vote. During this year's Final alone, over 1,5 million more calls and text messages came in compared to last year. Over the past years, the number of incoming calls has been relatively stable, while the amount of incoming text messages has significantly increased year after year. In just five years, the number of text messages sent out to cast a vote has nearly tripled. Televoting revenues are being distributed back to the participating EBU Member Broadcasters, thereby partly compensating participation fees. Source: EBU. -

A campaign to bring back a live orchestra to the Eurovision Song Contest has been launched through social media website, facebook. More than 3,750 people have already signed up in support of the move. The Eurovision Song Contest has not used an orchestra since the 1998 contest in the United Kingdom. It did use an orchestra for the 50th anniversary show in Denmark in October 2005. With the rapid development of music technology, producers, writers and production methods make backing tracks a better alternative. It also means more space for the stage and audience in the Eurovision Song Contest arena during the shows. With the rapid growth in the number of countries participating at the Eurovision Song Contest, orchestras would need to learn more than 40 songs, as opposed to around 20-25 the last time an orchestra was used at the competition. This makes a return to the use of an orchestra unlikely. Despite this, Jan Fredrik Heyerdahl of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK), said that they ...

The popular Irish website was re-launched today at www.allkindsofeverything.ie ready for the Eurovision 2010 contest. They have also launched a Twitter feed aswell -

ESC Today reports... The European Broadcasting Union have today announced the full breakdown of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest result. This has been delayed in order for two independent audits to confirm the result and cross check. For the first time, the exact votes of the international juries and televote have been declared. In 2009, the Eurovision Song Contest voting system was modified for the final to include the votes of an international jury from each country comprising of five musical experts. The jury vote and televote were added together to create the result for each participating country. The initial results show that the biggest changes with the introduction of the international jury were the results of France, the United Kingdom, Israel Albania, Denmark and Sweden. France would have finished in a lowly 17th place despite recruiting the internationally acclaimed artist, Patricia Kaas. The multi-million cd selling star however took fourth place from the interntional juri...

As Norway look forward to hosting the next Eurovision Song Contest, oikotimes.com look back at the last time they hosted the contest. The year was 1996 and the location Oslo. It was the last time Ireland won the contest. Read more -

After the UK got their best result since 2002 this year, it looks like their is No More Lloyd Webber for Eurovision. According to the British Media, Andrew Lloyd Webber is close to joining the BBC's main rival, ITV. Lord Webber has worked with the BBC for the last few years with his search for the latest theatre star for smash-hit West-end shows such as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Oliver! and The Sound of Music. In 2008, the BBC offered Lloyd Webber another reality project to stop him defecting to ITV. Instead of the usual theatre based shows, the BBC in an audacious move put Lord Webber solely in charge of reversing the U.K's ailing Eurovision fortunes by making him write the song and chose the final 6 finalists, in which the British public would eventually chose the act to perform Webber's song. Despite one failed attempt by the head of ITV, Peter Fincham to lure Lloyd Webber, it seems like this time he has his man. The BBC are worried about impartiality and com...

The split jury and televoting results of the Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be revealed this Friday, the 31st of July 2009. Eurovision.tv have announced that on Friday July 31st, the official split jury and televoting results of the final of this years Eurovision Song Contest final will be announced. This gives Eurovision fans the chance to analyse the full results and decide for themselves whether they are happy with the new voting system. -

Terry Wogan has given the thumbs-up to his 'Eurovision Song Contest' successor Graham Norton and described this year's show as flawless. Norton took over commentating duties for this year's show in May, when the UK came fifth in the music spectacular in Moscow, reversing the UK's recent poor record. Speaking to the Radio Times, Wogan said he was able to sit down and watch the programme for the first time in 35 years "and I thought it was wonderful. A spectacular show without a flaw in it". He stepped down from hosting the BBC coverage of the event after growing tired of countries bloc voting. He told the magazine: "Contrary to what is often believed I love Eurovision, or I couldn't have presented it for as long as I did. "This year they sorted the voting out, and I thought Graham Norton was excellent. People have said his approach was rather like mine, and all I can say is I take that as a compliment!" Source: RTE -

According to ESC Today , Mrs. Kateřina Fričová, program director of the Czech public television CT, has declared today that the central European nation will leave the Eurovision Song Contest after a three-year stay. The main reason to stop the country's participation that Mrs. Kateřina Fričová mentioned was the lack of interest from the Czech public after three failed attempts. The Czech republic debuted in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, being represented by Kabát and Malá dama. The year after, Tereza Kerndlová took the Belgrade stage with the song Have some fun, followed this year by Gypsy.cz and Aven romale. None of them reached the qualification from the semifinals. The Withdrawal has not been confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union. -

Oikotimes reports... The Norwegian broadcaster NRK who earned the right to host after a record breaking victory with Alexander Rybak's brilliant performance of his entry "Fairytale" has just revealed it's budget plans for next years' Eurovision Song Contest. The amount of 17 million euros which was speculated earlier on has now been confirmed by both the broadcaster and the Ministry for Culture. The budget itself is quite lower than the one used in Moscow which reached a maximum of 30 million euro. This means that the proposed budget for next years' Eurovision Song Contest is 13 million lower than than in 2009 yet it is an increase on the budget used in the Helsinki edition which reached a total of 9 million putting in a margin of 4 million in difference. NRK will be doing it's best to make a profit out of the sponsorship, ticket sales, advertising and televoting so that a loss will not be apparent. -

Esctime.com has announced that the Liechtenstein broadcaster 1FL have confirmed that they will be applying for EBU membership before the end of this month on the 31st July 2009. This leads to the suspicion that the may well be appearing the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, should their application be approved. 1FLTV, the television station for Liechtenstein, began broadcasting on the 15th August 2008. It is the world's first ever television station based in Liechtenstein. It is stated clearly in the rules that any country wishing to enter the Eurovision Song Contest must have a national broadcaster that is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union. For Liechtenstein, a tiny Alpine microstate nestled between Austria & Switzerland, this has prevented them from entering in the past, until last year. News on Liechtenstein -

It seems Johnny Logan wants to keep far away from Ireland as possible as it has been reported that France will be represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo with a song written by Mr Eurovision Johnny Logan, according to the German magazine Bunte. Johnny Logan, who won the Eurovision Song Contest three times in 1980, 1987 and as a writer in 1992, would have been asked by the French public broadcaster to write the French entry. Johnny Logan told in an interview with the German magazine Bunte that "I was asked if I wanted to write a song and I said yes." The australian born Irish singer won the Eurovision Song Contest twice with What's Another Year and Hold Me Now and as composer of the song Why Me? performed by Linda Martin. -