ESC Insight’s Coverage Of The 2012 Contest
For 2012, the Eurovision Song Contest went further East than it ever has before to visit Azerbaijan. In the brand new Crystal Hall Arena and Press Center complex, Loreen took the victory and the ESC Insight team started looking towards Sweden for the 2013 Contest.
It was a busy run up to the Contest, and a packed two weeks while in Baku. If you want to relive it, we’ve gathered links to all our articles, podcasts, videos, interviews, and more on this page. Your Eurovision 2012 memories are just a click away!
Sweden Victorious
The Guide Book
Our third guide book to a Eurovision Song Contest proved a popular download both in PDF form and via Amazon. Featuring all 42 countries performing at this year’s Contest, as well as thoughts on each song from the ESC Insight team, it provided the popular mix of information and opinion we’re proud of to everyone. It was also a handy reference for us while we reported from the Crystal Hall!
Eurovision: Beyond the Sequins (Guardian Short)
In conjunction with The Guardian, ESC Insight’s Ewan Spence published a book looking at the Eurovision Song Contest from a different angle. Taking place between the end of Eurovision 2011 in Dusselforf, and flying off to Baku for the 2012 Contest, ‘Eurovision: Beyond the Sequins‘ looks at how Eurovision 2012 came together, touring round Europe visiting a number of National Finals, and discussing popular topics from the finer details of the Contest to the myth of political voting.
The book is available for Amazon Kindle, and iBook compatible Apple devices.
Articles, Editorial and Insight around the 57th Contest
- Nine things the grown-ups can learn from Junior Eurovision.
- Ten classic Eurovision National Final songs that never made it.
- Make love not war at Eurovision.
- How far can you push the Eurovision rulebook?
- How do you solve a problem like Barrowman?
- Who said nationalism was dead?
- From Anneke to Gaitana: Race and Ethnicity at Eurovision.
- Double-Dutch: Choosing the right language for Eurovision.
- An Open Letter to America about Eurovision.
- The Myth of the Jury Vote.
- Let’s Go Azerbaijan:Visas, Hotels, and Money.
- Let’s Go Azerbaijan: The Must-see sights of Baku and Azerbaijan.
- Raising the bar ever higher as Eurovision heads to Baku.
- The Minipop Invasion of 2012.
- The Problem of Spoilers in Australia.
- We Are (Eurovision) Family.
- Spotter’s Guide to Tuesday’s Semi Final.
- Spotter’s Guide to Thursday’s Semi Final.
- Spotter’s Guide to the Grand Final
The Eurovision Lists
ESC Insight is not the only website covering the Contest, and we like pointing out the big stories and opinions from around the web. That’s why we have the Eurovision List, pointing out some of the best stories on the web. You can step back through them in our Links and List index.
SBS Eurovision Radio
The ESC Insight team worked alongside Australian broadcaster SBS to create content for their website, and for broadcast on their SBS Eurovision Radio station. 13 standalone thirty minute programs were commissioned and aired during May, while daily news bulletins were produced in Baku during the contest (sbs.com.au/eurovision)
Video Insights
During the first week of rehearsals at Eurovision 2012, the ESC Insight team worked on our Video Insights show. Switching to a traditional ‘magazine’ style format and a long-form show of between 20 and 25 minutes allowed us to take time with our guests and explore Baku itself, and the various Eurovision fixtures in the Azeri capital city.
- Monday May 14th
(Anmary, Rona Nishliu, and a walk round the Press Centre) . - Tuesday May 15th
(The Trackshittaz, Soluna Samay, Ivi Adamou, and a tour of the Crystal Hall arena). - Wednesday May 16th
(Kaliopi, Kurt Callejah, Zjelko Joksimovic, and introducing the Euroclub). - Thursday May 17th
(Extended inteview with Greta Salome and Jonsi, and Loreen). - Friday May 18th
(Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Pernilla Karlsson, Eva Boto, and Donny Montell). - Monday May 21st
(Nina Zilli, Ott Lepland, Can Bonomo, and exploring the city of Baku).
Juke Box Jury 2012
In the eight weeks running up to the semi-finals and finals, we previewed each country’s song in our Juke Box Jury format, with discussion between two judges and host Ewan Spence before rating each song as hit, miss, or maybe.
- Juke Box Jury 2012 #1
(Albania, Finland, Moldova, The Netherands, and Turkey). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #2
(Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Iceland, and Slovenia). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #3
(Estonia, Greece, San Marino, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Ireland). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #4
(Switzerland, Cyprus, Denmark, Malta, and Norway). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #5
(Slovakia, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, and Russia). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #6
(Serbia, Austria, Georgia, Romania, and Lithuania). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #7
(Israel, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Portugal, and Sweden). - Juke Box Jury 2012 #8
(Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Italy, Spain, and The United Kingdom).
The Daily Podcast Chat Shows
Following on from the successful run of our morning chat shows in Dusseldorf, the regular ESC Insight podcast switched to a daily schedule, allowing us to provide our trademark in-depth coverage and analysis from backstage at the Crystal Hall, bringing all the news and opinions of the 2012 Contest as it happened, though a rotating guest line up who joined host Ewan Spence.
- Monday 14th May
(with Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, Steven Newby, and Luke Fisher). - Tuesday 15th May
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, Ervin Juhaz, and Ryan Wilson). - Wednesday 16th May
(Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, Liam Clark, Michael Lowther, and Anton Kulakov). - Thursday 17th May
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Liam Clark, and David Elder). - Friday 18th May
(Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, Emma Backfish, and Alec Parkin). - Saturday 19th May
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, Emma Backfish, and Roy Delaney). - Sunday 20th May
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Luke Fisher, and John Stanton). - Monday 21st May
(Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, Steven Newby, Luke Fisher, and Ervin Juhaz). - Tuesday 22nd May- Semi Final 1 preview
(Ewan Spence, Steven Newby, and Luke Fisher). - Wednesday 23rd May
(Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, Steven Newby, Garrett Mulhall, and Elaine Dove). - Thursday 24th May – Semi Final 2 preview
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, and Luke Fisher). - Friday 25th May
(Ewan Spence, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby). - Saturday 26th May – Grand Final preview
(Ewan Spence, Sharleen Wright, Samantha Ross, and Steven Newby).
The Alternative Commentaries
Now in their fourth year, our Alternative Commentaries are an integral part of the Eurovision experience for many of our readers and listeners as the download the commentaries to watch alongside the Song Contest, either live or synced with the on-demand streams of the Eurovision Song Contest (via www.eurovision.tv/esctv). This year Ewan Spence was joined in the commentary booth by Luke Fisher, from EscXtra.
Our Senior Interviewer, Terry Vision
The latest addition to the team was Terry Vision. Our ‘Senior Interviewer’ spoke to many of the big names at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, as well as meeting up with some old friends. Having retired after attending 176 Contests (by his count), ESC Insight lured the puppet back to the world of Eurovision, giving him the chance to bring his unique view of Europe’s Favourite TV Show back into the public eye. He met:
- Florent Boshnjaku (composer of Suus)
- Izabo
- Valentina Monetta
- Compact Disco
- Edward af Sillen (SVT commentator)
- Tooji
- Eva Boto
- Donny Montell
- Mandinga
- Greta Salome and Jonsi
- Kaliopi
- Terry Vision on the Welcome Party’s Red Carpet (highlights reel also available)
- Christer Bjorkman (Melodifestivalen Head / Swedish Head of Delegation)
- The Trackshittaz
- Eleftheria Eleftheriou
- Joan Franka
- Marty Whelan (RTE commentator)
- Kurt Calleja (and his brother, Kevin).
- Scott Mills and Sara Cox (BBC 3 commentary team)
- Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2 commentator)
- Nina Zilli
- Pastora Soler
- Sietse Bakker (Eurovision Events Supervisor)
Thank you to our supporters
ESC Insight is a year-round operation, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our two commercial supporters from the 2012 season.
- The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) was launched in November 2008, having been initially established four years earlier as the London Azerbaijan Society. Its objective is to promote Azerbaijani culture, business and public affairs to international audiences, and create to a sense of community for expatriate Azerbaijanis – www.teas.eu
- During the 2012 season, BMI was the second largest airline at London Heathrow, one of the world’s busiest and best-connected international airports. From our Heathrow hub they operated services in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, serving a number of Eurovision destinations including Baku – www.flybmi.com
Finally, thank you to you
That wraps up the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, and our coverage from on the ground at the Crystal Hall, Baku. It’s time to work through the off-season over the summer, and then the 2013 season will kick off during September. If you’ve any comments on our coverage, let us know in the comments or get in touch.
During the Eurovision fortnight while we were in Baku, ESC Insight had it’s biggest year ever. We’ll be here though the summer, the National Finals season, and into Sweden 2013. It might be three hours in May for some peope, but the Eurovision Song Contest is a year long affair. And we’ll be here to tell you all about it!