Eurovision 2008: Belgrade, Serbia.

[Dan F]

Terry Wogan quits Eurovision role

Terry Wogan has confirmed that he will no longer be presenting the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Radio 2 DJ, who has fronted the BBC's coverage for 37 years, said it was "time for someone else to take over".

"I was considering giving up before Belgrade, and now I have to say I'm very doubtful about ever wanting to do Eurovision again," Wogan told the Radio Times.

In this year's contest, Britain's Andy Abraham only earned 14 points, while the Russian winner Dima Bilan bagged 272.

Commenting on the 2008 contest, Wogan said: "Days before the show, I knew Russia would win. The fact is, Putin was getting nasty, which means the former satellite states were always going to vote for Russia in order to keep the oil coming.

"It's unfortunate, I suppose, but whereas we have always taken Eurovision with a pinch of salt, the former Eastern Bloc countries are not sufficiently versed in the ways of democracy to realise they are supposed to be voting for a song, not a next-door neighbour."

[Cal]

Thank Christ!

[Siog Alainn]

Eurovision voting revamp is announced

It has been announced that juries are to return to next year's Eurovision Song Contest, following criticism of tactical voting by former eastern bloc countries.

The contest has been criticised as politically-motivated because of the decision by some countries to vote together.

Now it has been announced that the 2009 final, due to take place in Moscow, will feature votes from viewers as well as a jury.

AdvertisementThis year Ireland's entry, performed by Dustin, failed to make it past the semi-final stage of the contest.

Sir Terry Wogan had threatened to quit the BBC commentating job he has held for 37 years because of the repeated tactical voting.

He had called for a return to juries to judge the contest after Russia won this year's contest. Russia received the maximum 12 points from former Soviet states Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia, as well as Israel.

Ruurd Bierman, chairman of the Eurovision reference group, said: "We strongly believe in televoting as a way of measuring the opinion of our millions of viewers across Europe.

"After the public debate about neighbour and diaspora voting, we decided to give the national juries a say in the outcome of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest."

Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: "Nothing is more democratic than the vote of the public.

"But a jury takes the opportunity to listen to the songs several times, before they make up their minds. In Belgrade, we saw a difference in judgment of the public and the back-up juries, and we believe a combination will make the show more interesting."

The exact form of the jury/public vote split is yet to be decided.

Taken from http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0916/eurovision.html

[Cal]

Yay! I'm quite happy about this. I never liked how the UK and Ireland swapped points every year of televoting. It was getting boring.