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Eurovision Insight Podcast: Embrace, Extend, And Enjoy Written by on May 26, 2016 | 3 Comments

Stay up to date with the Contest this summer by listening to the ESC Insight podcast online, adding the RSS Feed to your favourite podcast application, or clicking here to follow us in iTunes and never miss an episode.

Stockholm is over, and the long summer is stretching out in front of Song Contest fans. But that doesn’t meant there is nothing to talk about.

Eurovision Insight Podcast: Embrace, Extend, And Enjoy

What do we need to learn from the 2016 Contest, what can we expect for the 2017 Contest, how did JESC change, and who just volunteers to sing? Ewan Spence brings you the latest news from the world of the Song Contest.

As we head into the quiet summer, keep up to date with all of the Eurovision news by subscribing to the ESC Insight podcast and our daily shows. You’ll find the show in iTunes, and a direct RSS feed is also available. We also have a regular email newsletter which you can sign up to here.

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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3 responses to “Eurovision Insight Podcast: Embrace, Extend, And Enjoy”

  1. Eurojock says:

    Ewan, you make some very good points indeed.

    Do you think that the fact that the San Marino ‘televote’ wasn’t released by the EBU means that the vote had a major bearing on the final overall result?

    I’m wondering if part of the fuss about the result in the Russian media, is Russia already positioning itself to take a year out in ‘protest’? After, all any Russian act that goes to Kiev is going to get an extremely hostile reception. If Russia do withdraw for a year the EBU may breathe a huge sigh of relief.

    Finally, for all the criticism of 1944 as the winner, I agree that it is great that a song as dark and as difficult as this can win Eurovision. Politics aside, it is a far better winner for the musical credibility of the contest than the dated Russian effort or even the Australian entry for that matter.

  2. Ewan Spence says:

    Eurojock, No I don’t think the release isn’t happening because it could change the result (it would need the Danish vote to be reversed, which it won’t be). It’s more likely that the default feeling of the Reference Group is to not release any information, as opposed to a nature of ‘release everything’ that some other organisations have.

    Russian media reaction is a good example of soft political power at play. It’s certainly applying pressure, let’s see what happens in 2017. Winning in Ukraine would be an immense result for Russia.

    And yes, a ‘song’ winning the Eurovision ‘Song’ Contest… isn’t that what all the detractors wanted? 🙂

  3. Interesting what needs to gets shifted in each Eurovision venue – basketball in Kiev (if they get it), James Last and a horse show in Vienna!

    Some nice points raised there – the ‘Danish juror issue’ is easily sorted, the observer just needs to be given instructions to say ‘remember what happened to the old Danish lady last year? What you like the most is number 1 and given top marks…’

    The ‘San Marino’ issue – if the EBU are supposedly using a second ‘jury’ system, why not get 100 or so San Marinese residents, buy them a decent dinner and get them to score as televoters, just accept that it’ll be 100 there compared to hundreds of thousands elsewhere…

    The major change I would have for 2017 is:

    Having the jurors only score the top ten to remove the negative scoring that is rife amongst certain dichotomies; and

    Have the jurors score on the Public Finals, as it is obvious that the money paying public voters are still being penalised when an act has a bad jury performance the night before – all NFs manage to score jury and public votes on the same performance and night, why not the ESC itself? coughcough?

    This was one of the best organised and staged Contests though…

    I listened to this on Saturday 28th May – you could tell that the Championship play-off Final had happened earlier on as I thought you kept saying ‘Hull City’!

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