Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 explained

Year:1998
Country:Belgium
Preselection:Finale Nationale Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1998
Preselection Date:13 March 1998
Entrant:Mélanie Cohl
Song:Dis oui
Final Result:6th, 122 points
Prev:1996

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with the song "Dis oui" written by Philippe Swan and performed by Mélanie Cohl. Belgium placed sixth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 122 points.

Background

See main article: Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest. Prior to the 1998 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in .[1] Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in with the song "J'aime la vie" performed by Sandra Kim. In 1996, the latest Belgian entry, Lisa del Bo represented the country with the song "Liefde is een kaartspel" and placed sixteenth.

The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish Dutch; Flemish: [[VRT (broadcaster)|Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie]]|i=no (VRT; at the time known as BRTN) and the Walloon French: [[RTBF|Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française]]|i=no (RTBF). Both broadcasters had selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. For the 1998 contest, RTBF was responsible for organising the selection process for the Belgian entry. The Walloon broadcaster returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a two-year absence following Belgium's relegation from 1997 as one of the six countries with the least average points over the preceding four contests. The Belgian entry for the 1998 contest was selected through the national final Finale Nationale Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1998, organised by RTBF.[2]

Before Eurovision

Finale Nationale Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1998

Finale Nationale Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1998 was the national final that selected Belgium's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. 128 entries were received for the competition following a submission period, from which ten acts were selected by a committee chaired by Head of the RTBF variety and entertainment department Pierre Meyer and announced on 12 December 1997.[3] The national final was broadcast live at 20:20 CET on 13 March 1998 on La Une from Studio 6 in the RTBF Studios in Brussels and was hosted by Jean-Pierre Hautier.[4] [5] The winner, "Dis oui" performed by Mélanie Cohl, was selected solely by public televoting with the results being revealed by Belgium's six regions: four provinces in Wallonia with votes from Namur and Luxembourg being combined, a "Rest of Belgium" region made up of votes from Flanders, and Brussels.[6] [7] [8]

Final – 13 March 1998
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)TelevotePlace
1Alexis"Rien qu'une passagère"Jacques Broun, Alexis Vanderheyden2,6615
2Betty"Ferme la porte à tes larmes"Pierre Theunis1,7617
3Valérie Buggea"Dans quel monde"Daniel Willem, Joseph Reynaerts, Damir Ceric1,13110
4Curt Close"Ton image"Curt Close2,5036
5Mélanie Cohl"Dis oui"Philippe Swan15,4241
6Alain Colard and Sabrine"Pour t'entendre encore"Alain Colard2,7004
7Maira"Ma séduction"Christian Vidal, Wota, M. Pools1,2179
8Les Mas"Ils sont là"Asukulu Yunu Mukalay11,0212
9Dida Robbert"Tant besoin de toi"Luc Mourinet1,2278
10Manon Selyn"Tu es libre"Martine Cugnon, Adelin Deltenre4,8313
!Draw!Song!Walloon
Brabant!Hainaut!Namur and
Luxembourg!Liège!Rest of
Belgium!Brussels!Total
1"Rien qu'une passagère"531471592,0081121822,661
2"Ferme la porte à tes larmes"754342166501212651,761
3"Dans quel monde"103128804591512101,131
4"Ton image"1593782297044505832,503
5"Dis oui"1,0025,2811,6902,2282,5652,65815,424
6"Pour t'entendre encore"2295463754342907562,700
7"Ma séduction"692191474041742041,217
8"Ils sont là"9423,8511,2111,4431,3032,27111,021
9"Tant besoin de toi"792171291521904601,227
10"Tu es libre"3268961,0547275401,2884,831

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the eight countries which had obtained the lowest average number of points over the last five contests competed in the final on 9 May 1998. On 13 November 1997, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Belgium was set to perform in position 20, following the entry from Sweden and before the entry from Finland.[9] [10] The day before the contest, Belgium was considered one of the favourites among bookmakers to win the competition, featuring alongside the entries from,, and the .[11] Belgium finished in sixth place with 122 points.[12]

The contest was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the show on TV1 and Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by André Vermeulen and Andrea Croonenberghs.[13] [14] [15] RTBF televised the show on La Une with commentary in French by Jean-Pierre Hautier.[16] The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the results of the Belgian televote during the final, was Marie-Hélène Vanderborght.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Netherlands in the contest.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Belgium Country Profile. EBU. 3 November 2014.
  2. Web site: Belgium 1998 . 2023-11-23 . The Eurovision Database.
  3. Web site: 1997-12-12 . FRANCE 3 . 2023-11-23 . Le Soir . fr.
  4. Web site: Belgian Selection 1998 . 2023-11-23 . Eurovisionworld . en-gb.
  5. News: 4 March 1998 . La Une . Revue . 129.
  6. Web site: 1998-03-16 . Mélanie Cohl représentera la Belgique à l'Eurovision . 2023-11-23 . Le Soir . fr.
  7. Web site: Chris . Vandenabeele . The Belgian Preselection 1998 . 2023-11-24 . Belgian Eurovision Union.
  8. Book: Vermeulen, André . Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong. 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisiesongfestival. . 2021 . Kritak . 978-94-014-7609-6 . Leuven . 1240241113.
  9. News: 9 August 1997 . Birmingham to stage Eurovision . . live . 23 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210509203812/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/birmingham-to-stage-eurovision-1.95446?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fbirmingham-to-stage-eurovision-1.95446 . 9 May 2021.
  10. Eurovision Song Contest winner Katrina and compere Terry Wogan[...] ]. 13 November 1997 . . Birmingham, United Kingdom . 24 June 2022 . Jones, David.
  11. Web site: 8 May 1998 . The bookies' favourites . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20021101084938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/05/98/eurovision/89453.stm . 1 November 2002 . 21 March 2021 . BBC News.
  12. Web site: Final of Birmingham 1998 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210413070124/https://eurovision.tv/event/birmingham-1998/final . 13 April 2021 . 13 April 2021 . European Broadcasting Union.
  13. News: 9 May 1998 . Radio en televisie . nl . Radio and television . 8 . . 21 May 2023.
  14. News: Smolders . Thomas . 8 April 2014 . VRT schuift André Vermeulen opzij bij Eurovisiesongfestival . nl . VRT pushes André Vermeulen aside at the Eurovision Song Contest . . 2 July 2022.
  15. News: 9 May 1998 . Teletekst ondertitelt inzendingen . nl . Teletext will subtitle the entries . . 12 July 2022.
  16. Web site: Busa . Alexandru . 12 October 2012 . Jean-Pierre Hautier dies at the age of 56 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200813052607/http://esctoday.com/37910/jean-pierre-hautier-dies-at-the-age-of-56/ . 13 August 2020 . 20 June 2022 . ESCToday.
  17. Web site: Results of the Final of Birmingham 1998 . European Broadcasting Union . 13 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210413192913/https://eurovision.tv/event/birmingham-1998/final/results/belgium . 13 April 2021 . live.