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Eurovision 2011 : Australia celebrates! Written by on April 16, 2011 | 5 Comments

In 2011, once again the official Australian broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, SBS, will be bringing Australian fans unrivalled coverage of the events both leading up to and at the event.  Including its usual 14-hour delayed broadcast of the final, it will screen both semi finals, a documentary and the Countdown To Eurovision specials.  Once again, commentary will be provided by Rockkwiz host Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang, who will be on the ground in Dusseldorf to grab interviews with those involved.

Starting with the television coverage, SBS shall re-screen the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest on the Anzac Day public holiday on 26th April, and will continue prime-time coverage all the way up till 15th May with the screening of the Eurovision Final. 

SBS is also the official broadcaster of the documentary The Secret History of Eurovision, which was filmed during 2010 including the contest in Oslo last year.  The co-production with Electric Pictures is screened in two parts – “East vs. West” and “The Embrace of New Europe”.  The documentary features interviews with fans, experts and artists, including a major role by our very own ESC Insight writer and academic – Paul Jordan.

 The television schedule for SBS Eurovision coverage is as follows (as airing on SBS 1):

 

  • 26th April – 1pm – Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010
  • 6th May – 7.30pm – Secret History of the Eurovision Song Contest Pt.1
  • 7th May – 5.30pm – Countdown to Eurovision 2011
  • 13th May – 7.30pm – Secret History of the Eurovision Song Contest Pt.2
  • 13th May – 8.30pm – Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Semi Final 1
  • 14th May – 7.30pm – Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Semi Final 2
  • 15th May – 7.30pm – Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Final

A re-broadcast of the 2011 final will also occur at a later date in May.

For the second year, SBS also brings fans 24-hour radio coverage of Eurovision on digital station SBS6.  This year the station shall be streamed online and features modern and classic tunes from the contest, and locally created 30-minute shows covering Eurovision history, remixes of the 2011 competitors, and discussion of the national finals with a playlist of ‘second chance’ songs.  ESC Insight editors have had a hand in this, and from 15th April till 29th May you can tune to hear both Ewan Spence and Sharleen Wright provide not only these programs but daily news coverage live from Dusseldorf starting on 2nd May.

You can find the SBS Eurovision radio stream and further information all on the SBS Eurovision mini-site: www.sbs.com.au/eurovision

The website also has pages regarding each Eurovision 2011 artist, filmclips, and images and blogs by Sam Pang and Eurovision expert David Knox.

About The Author: Sharleen Wright

Sharleen Wright is the co-founder of ESC Insight and a freelance journalist and researcher. She has previously worked for numerous community radio stations in Sydney Australia, and contributed to the wider world of comedy holding production and promotions roles at both the Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Her written words have appeared online, as well as The List magazine, and numerous fanzines on the topics of television and specifically, Eurovision . She is currently based in Australia and undertaking research on food and event tourism. You can follow Sharleen on Twitter (@sharly77) and Facebook (facebook.com/sharleenwright).

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Have Your Say

5 responses to “Eurovision 2011 : Australia celebrates!”

  1. Jasmin B says:

    I love how much we love Eurovision down under!!! It makes the pain at being too poor to fly to the other side of the world and see it live slightly less intense =)

    PS – Thanks for the Countdown date!

  2. Chad says:

    Hopefully some of these shows: eg Countdown To Eurovision will be available to watch (perhaps on youtube) at some point. I’d love to see them!!

  3. Chad says:

    ps. I am aware that the main documentary Secret History… will be broadcast on more4 in the uk in May a week before the contest… definitely be watching that!!

  4. Ewan Spence says:

    They’ve been on the EBU Eurovision TV youtube channel in previous years after broadcast around the word.

  5. goofster says:

    i missed it tonite! golly zat maked me very upset haha 🙂

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