JIM'S BLOG: EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Over the last 2 years, I have become an absolute fan of the Eurovision Song Contest. For you who do not know about it began in the mid 50's and has been going on every year since then. Eurovision Television is an organization much like the Public Broadcasting System here in the US including over 43 countries in from England in the west to Israel in the east.

Each country selects on singer and song to go to the ESC (Eurovision Song Contest). They do it starting at different times. Some start as early as the fall before the finals sometime in May. Other, make their decisions over a smaller time. They also make their selections in different ways. Some use a jury of music experts. Most allow the public to cast votes over the phone or via text messages.

This is really the first year that I have followed the country selection process. The first year I only found out about it after it was over. Last year, I saw the finals on the Internet. This year, I am totally into it, watching all the country selections that are on ESCTV's broadcast over the internet. Below is a video of the winners for the last three years. You can tell that there is a great difference between them.

The country from which the winning song comes gets to host the contest the next year.