But the European Broadcasting Union wrote back and said, ‘Look, we have no rules against politics, there can be political messages in Eurovision.’”īut things have changed a lot since then, and since 2000, political messages have been banned under rules about bringing the contest into disrepute. “Turkish television sent a letter to the European Broadcasting Union saying the song should be removed as it was political and anti-Turkish. “In 1976, the Greek entry protested the Turkish invasion of Cyprus,” says Vuletic. While Eurovision has always advertised itself as apolitical, there haven’t always been rules against political messaging. Read more | The Beatles: 8 landmark moments that chart the changing face of sixties BritainĦ And while political messages are now banned, that hasn’t stopped performers in the past.While Eurovision was plagued by recurrent complaints that commercial record companies were influencing the competition, Intervision embraced commercialism in the late 70s by staging two contests – one based on national entries, and another based on entries submitted by commercial record companies. Intervals acts were welcomed from West Germany and the US – including Gloria Gaynor.Īnd there were other innovations that might seem surprising for a communist-run competition. And by the late 1970s, there was an idea that Intervision should not just be pan-European, but global,” says Vuletic. “Intervision was staged in Czechoslovakia, and in 1968 the Prague Spring saw the Czechoslovak media liberalised and open to western influences. Read more | Did the Cold War ever really end?.
Whereas Eurovision remained closed throughout the Cold War to states that were not members of the European Broadcasting Union, Intervision allowed participants from outside Eastern Europe, making it the first truly pan-European song contest. Suggestions of a joint competition were rejected, and instead, Eastern Bloc broadcasting organisations created their own contest – called Intervision – based on the rules of Eurovision. 4 There was a rival communist singing competition during the Cold Warįrom the late 1950s, Western Europe’s European Broadcasting Union began to cooperate more with its Eastern European equivalent.