Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Czech Republic | |
|---|---|
| |
| Participating broadcaster | ČT |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 3 |
| First appearance | 2007 |
| Last appearance | 2009 |
| Highest placement | 2nd last: SF 2008 |
The Czech Republic has competed at the Eurovision Song Contest three times, first taking part in 2007. On all three attempts the country failed to qualify to the final from the semi-finals, placing in the bottom two in all attempts. The country withdrew after the 2009 Contest after their entry Gipsy.cz failed to score a single points in the semi-final.
Early history
During the time of Czechoslovakia, Československá televize (ČST) is known to have broadcast a number of editions of the Contest in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 1970s.[1][2] After the dissolusion of the state in 1993 the Czech Republic's partner Slovakia immediately attempted to enter the Contest, entering the contest three times between 1994 and 1998, before withdrawing. It would take until the 2000s before the Czech Republic began looking towards Eurovision.
First interest
Česká televize (ČT), the Czech broadcaster, had originally planned to send an entry to the 2005 Contest, held in Kiev, Ukraine. This did however did not occur due to ČT having planned two big events during the year already.[1]
The following year ČT again looked at sending an entry to the Contest in Athens, Greece. However failed to do so after being detered by the semi-final, and worrying that the Czech entry would not make the final.[3]
2007 debut
In April 2006 ČT officially confirmed their presence at the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland.[4]
ČT held a national final to select the first Czech entry. Eurosong 2007 featured 10 songs, with the public voting for the winner through SMS voting. However one song was withdrawn before the show began, leaving only 9 songs to compete.[5] The winner was rock band Kabát with the song "Malá dáma".[6]
At the contest's semi-final on 10 May 2007 the Czech Republic performed 16th in the semi-final, however only received one point (which came from Denmark) from the televoters around Europe.
2008
For the 2008 Contest in Belgrade, Serbia, ČT again held a national final to select the entry for the country. 10 acts again competed for the chance to represent the Czech Republic in Serbia, with the winner of Eurosong 2008 being Tereza Kerndlová with "Have Some Fun".[7][8] At the second semi-final of Eurovision 2008 Kerndlová performed 8th in the running order, receiving 9 points for her performance (1 points from Turkey and Malta, 2 points from Croatia and 5 points from Macedonia), placing 18th of 19 entries, and failing once again to qualify the Czech Republic to the final.
2009
Despite placing in the bottom two twice, ČT confirmed that they would participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia.[9] ČT decided to hold an internal selection for the artist who would represent the country at the contest in Russia, with a public vote on the song they would sing. The broadcaster chose Romani band Gipsy.cz in January 2009 to compete in Moscow – the band had previouly competed in the two previous national finals, coming both times in the top three.[10][11] Two songs were presented to the Czech public to vote on: "Aven Romale" and "Do You Wanna".[12] Afer voting had concluded after 14 days, the final winner was "Aven Romale", which featured lead singer Radoslav Banga dressing-up as a super-hero character, Super Gypsy.[13]
The group performed 2nd on the night of the first semi-final of the contest, held on 12 May 2009. However the group managed to receive nul points from the 20 countries voting in the semi-final, becoming the 16th entry to achieve this result since the current voting method was introduced in 1975.
Withdrawal
On 22 July 2009 ČT officially announced their withdrawal from the 2010 Contest, stating a lack of interest from the Czech public to the contest and poor viewing figues for the shows.[14][15]
Contestants
| Year | Artist | Title | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Kabát | Malá dáma | X | X | 28 | 1 |
| 2008 | Tereza Kerndlová | Have Some Fun | X | X | 18 | 9 |
| 2009 | Gipsy.cz | Aven Romale | X | X | 18 | 0 |
Voting history (2007-2009)
Czech Republic has given the most points to...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Armenia
|
44 |
| 2 |  Ukraine
|
25 |
| 3 |  Russia
|
21 |
| 4 |  Azerbaijan
|
20 |
| 5 |  Serbia
|
14 |
Czech Republic has received the most points from...
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Macedonia
|
5 |
| 2 |  Croatia
|
2 |
| 3 |  Estonia
|
1 |
| = |  Turkey
|
1 |
| = |  Malta
|
1 |
NOTE: The totals in the given table usually includes only points awarded in Eurovision finals, but the received table includes only points awarded in Eurovision semi-finals, since the Czech Republic have failed to enter the final.
References
- ^ a b Bakker, Sietse (2004-12-03). "CZECH REPUBLIC WITHDRAWS". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Bakker, Sietse (2008-12-25). "Do you remember... Amsterdam 1970?". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Bakker, Sietse (2005-10-06). "No Czech Republic in Athens". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Busa, Alexandru (2006-04-16). "'Czech Republic will join in 2007'". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Klier, Marcus (2007-03-10). "National final in Czech Republic". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Floras, Stella (2009-03-11). "Czech Republic: Kabat with Mala dama". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Schacht, Andreas (2008-01-26). "Tereza Kerndlova represents Czech colours!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Hondal, Victor (2008-01-26). "Czech Republic decided: Tereza Kerndlová for Belgrade". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Kuipers, Michael (2008-07-29). "Czech Republic will be there in 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Siim, Jarmo (2009-01-30). "Gipsy.cz competing for Czech Republic". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Floras, Stella (2009-01-30). "Czech Republic: Gipsy.cz to Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (2009-03-01). "Czech Republic: Listen to the songs". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Siim, Jarmo (2008-03-26). "Czech Republic: Gipsy with a dot". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-07-22). "Czech Republic withdraws from Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Czechs withdraw from Eurovision". BBC. 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
External links
- Points to and from Czech Republic eurovisioncovers.co.uk