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| Eurovision Song Contest 1980 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date and venue | |
| Final |
|
| Venue | Nederlands Congresgebouw The Hague, Netherlands |
| Organisation | |
| Organiser | European Broadcasting Union (EBU) |
| Scrutineer | Frank Naef |
| Production | |
| Host broadcaster | Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) |
| Director | Theo Ordeman |
| Executive producer | Fred Oster |
| Musical director | Rogier van Otterloo |
| Presenter | Marlous Fluitsma |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 19 |
| Debuting countries |  Morocco |
| Returning countries |  Turkey |
| Non-returning countries | |
| |
| Vote | |
| Voting system | Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs |
| Winning song |  Ireland"What's Another Year" |
| 1979 ← Eurovision Song Contest →1981 Event page at eurovision.tv  | |
TheEurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of theEurovision Song Contest, held on 19 April 1980 at theNederlands Congresgebouw inThe Hague, Netherlands, and presented byMarlous Fluitsma. It was organised by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasterNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), who staged the event after theIsrael Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which had won the1979 contest forIsrael, declined hosting responsibilities as it had staged the competition in 1979. Although Fluitsma was the main presenter, each song was introduced by a presenter appointed by each participating broadcaster, that in some cases was the same person providing the commentary.
Broadcasters from nineteen countries took part this year, withMonaco and the previous year's winnerIsrael deciding not to participate, andTurkey returning.Morocco made its only appearance in the contest. It was the last Eurovision Song Contest not to be hosted in the previous edition's winning country until2023.
The winner wasIreland with the song "What's Another Year", sung byJohnny Logan and written byShay Healy.[1][2]
TheIsrael Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which won the contest in 1979, renounced its right to host the 1980 edition on 13 August 1979. The resignation was the result of failed negotiations between the broadcaster and theKnesset, after lawmakers did not authorize extra budget allocations for another international production hosted by IBA in a short space of time.[3][4] However, rumours later emerged that the resignation was in actuality due to a controversy related to the date of the contest, which had been provisionally confirmed for 19 April 1980, coinciding with theYom HaZikaron holiday. The issue itself became controversial in Israel, thanks to a translation error in several documents sent by theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) to IBA at the end of 1979, when negotiations regarding the holding of the contest would begin. However, IBA tried to negotiate several times with the EBU the possibility of changing the date. However, none of them were fruitful and on 10 December 1979, the Israeli withdrawal was confirmed, following confirmation that the date chosen for the competition was 19 April 1980.[5]
Following these incidents, the EBU apologised to IBA, but even with their arguments, the date of the competition could not be changed, since the schedule for the participating broadcasters was tight and many of them already had their participation plans and programming schedules set up. This caused an atypical situation, because it was the only time in history that the country that had won the previous year could not defend its title.
Upon learning of the decision taken by the IBA, the EBU sent a public apology, claiming that "the lack of employees with knowledge of the Hebrew language has placed it in a strained situation". The issue was resolved when the IBA publicly accepted the apologies and confirmed that regardless of what happened in the 1980 contest, it would return in 1981.[6]
Many years later,Yair Lapid, son of the lateTommy Lapid who was the general director of the IBA at the time, told in his father's biography, "that when his father discovered that holding the contest for two years in a row by IBA could result in unexpected bankruptcy. In December 1979, when this argument was presented to the other broadcasters, only NOS immediately accepted".[7]
As news arrived, the EBU triggered an emergency protocol and invited theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as reserve host broadcaster, something that had already happened four other times (1960,1963,1972, and1974). However, this time alleging the same financial problems that delayed the1977 contest, the BBC ended up not taking over production. The third option wasTelevisión Española (TVE), due to the fact that the Spanish entry had finished second the previous year. However, with the period of theSpanish transition to democracy having already started, TVE also declined, despite the fact that the tourism board of theCosta del Sol was already working in a bid with the Convention Center ofTorremolinos as the venue with the aim of harnessing the area's touristic potential.[8]
With negative responses from the reserve options, the EBU and the IBA decided to offer hosting rights to any of the other 15 broadcasters which had participated in the previous edition. 14 of them also gave negative responses to the situation, as no one expected the IBA to give up the rights. The situation only calmed down at the end of 1979, whenNederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) confirmed the date of the competition and its location, which was decided on 23 October.[9] As it accepted the responsibility with little time to organize and produce the event, NOS allocated a smaller budget and reused many elements of the stage design from the1976 contest.
As in1970 and1976, the stage design was the work ofRoland de Groot [nl].[10] The main platform was decorated with a five-step staircase and three curved horizontal panels, in front of which participants performed their songs. The technique included a series of geometric elements suspended by cables that accompanied each performance, transforming into totally different images accompanied by colored lights that also changed with each song.[11]
Given the short time for production, the Dutch art team ended up opting to recycle several elements from the 1976 contest stage, but with different uses. They chose to rescue several pieces from sets from other productions by the broadcaster, a warehouse and also a scrapyard, observing the conditions of use. Recycling also involved the contest's visual identity, in the same way that the opening video was a reissue of the one used four years earlier.[12]
 | This section contains numerous links to pages onforeign language Wikipedias. They are shown asred links with the language codes in [small blue letters] in brackets. Click on the language code to see the page in that language. |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1980 – Participation summaries by country | |
|---|---|
After Israel announced its absence,Morocco entered the contest for its first, and to date only, participation.Monaco also withdrew from the contest, and would not return until2004.
Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions:Paola del Medico had representedSwitzerland in 1969,Katja Ebstein had representedGermany in 1970 andin 1971, andMaggie MacNeal had represented theNetherlands in 1974 as part ofMouth and MacNeal.
The venue that had hosted the1976 contest, theCongresgebouw, was again chosen to stage the event. Because of the limited budget and time available, NOS decided to recycle several elements of the 1976 production such as several opening video sequences and many pieces and elements that had been used in other NOS shows since then. Again, Roland de Groot took charge of the design. As with the 1977 and 1978 contests, there were no pre-filmed postcards between the songs, with a guest presenter appointed by each participating broadcaster introducing the entries. Apart from this,Marlous Fluitsma presented the contest almost entirely inDutch, with exceptions in the protocol parts and in the voting where she used French and English. Thus, the broadcaster host spent onlyNLG 900.000 on organizing the contest, from the overall amount of NLG 1.5 million.[16][17] At least 300 journalists were onsite to cover the event.[18]
Each of the 19 contestants was presented by a presenter from that country appointed by each participating broadcaster, in some cases the same person providing the commentary.[14] Each of the songs was introduced in the same language as the song was performed, with the exception of the Irish introduction, which was made in Irish, whereas the song was performed in English. The British presenter was incorrectly identified in the onscreen caption as 'Noel Edmunds' and the Finnish presenter as 'Heikki Haarma'.
Austria – Chris Lohner [de] Turkey – Şebnem Savaşçı
Greece – Kelly Sakakou
Luxembourg – Michèle Etzel [fr] Morocco – Mohammed Bouzidi
Italy – Beatrice Cori
Denmark – Jørgen de Mylius
Sweden – Ulf Elfving
Switzerland – Lyliam Stambac
Finland – Heikki Harma
Norway – Åse Kleveland
Germany – Carolin Reiber
United Kingdom – Noel Edmonds
Portugal – Eládio Clímaco
Netherlands – Marlous Fluitsma
France – Évelyne Dhéliat Ireland – Thelma Mansfield
Spain – Mari Cruz Soriano
Belgium – Arlette Vincent [fr]During the live interval act performance ofSan Fernando by The Dutch Rhythm Steel and Show Band with the Lee Jackson dancers, Hans van Willigenburg intercut brief interviews with some of the participants backstage in the green room, speaking to the singers from Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and the Netherlands, each in their own language.
Australian-bornJohnny Logan, representing his parents' countryIreland, was ultimately crowned the winner with the song "What's Another Year". This was Ireland's second victory in the competition, having previously won in1970 with "All Kinds of Everything", coincidentally also held on Dutch soil. It was also the first time that a male solo artist (albeit with backing vocals) had won the contest sinceUdo Jürgens won forAustria in 1966.
| R/O | Country | Artist | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austria | Blue Danube | "Du bist Musik" | 64 | 8 |
| 2 | Turkey | Ajda Pekkan | "Pet'r Oil" | 23 | 15 |
| 3 | Greece | Anna Vissi and the Epikouri | "Autostop" | 30 | 13 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | Sophie and Magaly | "Papa Pingouin" | 56 | 9 |
| 5 | Morocco | Samira Bensaïd | "Bitakat Hob" | 7 | 18 |
| 6 | Italy | Alan Sorrenti | "Non so che darei" | 87 | 6 |
| 7 | Denmark | Bamses Venner | "Tænker altid på dig" | 25 | 14 |
| 8 | Sweden | Tomas Ledin | "Just nu" | 47 | 10 |
| 9 | Switzerland | Paola | "Cinéma" | 104 | 4 |
| 10 | Finland | Vesa-Matti Loiri | "Huilumies" | 6 | 19 |
| 11 | Norway | Sverre Kjelsberg andMattis Hætta | "Sámiid ædnan" | 15 | 16 |
| 12 | Germany | Katja Ebstein | "Theater" | 128 | 2 |
| 13 | United Kingdom | Prima Donna | "Love Enough for Two" | 106 | 3 |
| 14 | Portugal | José Cid | "Um grande, grande amor" | 71 | 7 |
| 15 | Netherlands | Maggie MacNeal | "Amsterdam" | 93 | 5 |
| 16 | France | Profil | "Hé, hé m'sieurs dames" | 45 | 11 |
| 17 | Ireland | Johnny Logan | "What's Another Year" | 143 | 1 |
| 18 | Spain | Trigo Limpio | "Quédate esta noche" | 38 | 12 |
| 19 | Belgium | Telex | "Euro-Vision" | 14 | 17 |
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for its respective country via telephone. Known spokespersons at the 1980 contest are listed below.
Denmark – Bent Evold[20] Finland – Kaarina Pönniö[21] Ireland – David Hefferman[22] Sweden – Arne Weise[23] United Kingdom – Ray Moore[14]_winnaar_Johnny_Logan_in_aktie%2c_Bestanddeelnr_930-7803.jpg)
The scoring system implemented in 1975 remained the same; each country had a jury who awarded 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 point(s) for their top ten songs. However this year for the first time, spokespersons were required to declare their scores in ascending order, 1,2,3 etc. This change made for the added excitement of waiting for each country to award their highest 12 points at the end of each voting round.
For the voting sequence, Marlous Fluitsma used a different telephone to speak to each of the nineteen jury spokespersons, although the phones were simply props and were not connected.
Total score | Austria | Turkey | Greece | Luxembourg | Morocco | Italy | Denmark | Sweden | Switzerland | Finland | Norway | Germany | United Kingdom | Portugal | Netherlands | France | Ireland | Spain | Belgium | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contestants | Austria | 64 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Turkey | 23 | 3 | 12 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| Greece | 30 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Luxembourg | 56 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 8 | |||||||||
| Morocco | 7 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Italy | 87 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 10 | ||||
| Denmark | 25 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| Sweden | 47 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Switzerland | 104 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Finland | 6 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Norway | 15 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Germany | 128 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 7 | ||||
| United Kingdom | 106 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | |||||
| Portugal | 71 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | ||||||
| Netherlands | 93 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 3 | ||||||
| France | 45 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | |||||||
| Ireland | 143 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 12 | ||||
| Spain | 38 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Belgium | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
| N. | Contestant | Nation(s) giving 12 points |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Ireland | Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom |
| 4 | Netherlands | Austria, France, Luxembourg, Turkey |
| 3 | Germany | Italy, Netherlands, Spain |
| 2 | Switzerland | Finland, Ireland |
| 1 | Italy | Portugal |
| Turkey | Morocco | |
| United Kingdom | Sweden |
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.[26] The contest was also reportedly broadcast in Cyprus, Israel, Iceland, and Jordan; in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union viaIntervision; and in Cuba, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with an estimated audience of 450 million viewers.[27][28][29] The contest was reportedly broadcast via radio in countries including Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.[27] Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.
| Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cyprus | CyBC | RIK | [68] | |
 Hong Kong | TVB | TVB Jade[f] | [69] | |
| TVB Pearl[f] | ||||
 Iceland | RÚV | Sjónvarpið[g] | Björn Baldursson | [70] |
 Israel | IBA | Israeli Television[h] | [71] | |
| Reshet Bet [he],Reshet Gimel [he] | [72] | |||
 Jordan | JTV | JTV2 | [73] | |
 Netherlands Antilles | ATM | TeleAruba[i] | [74] | |
 Romania | TVR | Programul 1[j] | [75] | |
 South Korea | KBS | KBS[k] | [76] |
| Contests | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Countries | |||||||||||
| National selections |
| ||||||||||
| Related topics |
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