JOY Eurovision

26 Apr 2012

On Presenters & Spokespeople

Reports

ESC 2007 hosts Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi in rehersal for final (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Presenter Jaana Pelkonen at the semifinals on May 10, 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Presenting at Eurovision has changed radically over the years.

It used to be a one-person job (with occasional forays into two) from 1956 all the way until 1993.

Then two presenters became standard from 1994 to 2006 (with 1995 being the last gasp of the solo presenter).

Now it’s pretty much standard to have three.

More than numbers of presenters, the  role of the presenter has also changed. (You can read AJ’s view on the evolution/devolution of presenting Eurovision here.)

Whereas before, the presenter was the glue that held together disparate performances and the disembodied voices of jury spokespeople, now the presenter almost has to fight a battle with spokespeople keen to get their time in the sun in front of the hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

AJ & Hikki compare and contrast presenters over the years as well as the rise of the spokesperson in this podcast-exclusive.

Related articles

• Musings – Compère & contrast (joyeurovision.com)
• Musings – Sharing the passion (joyeurovision.com)
• Calling the Americas, Africa, Asia, and beyond… (joyeurovision.com)

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