France In The Eurovision Song Contest
France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest and has entered the competition fifty-four times since their debut at the very first contest in 1956. France is one of only seven countries to be present at the very first contest, and has only been absent from two contests in its history, missing the 1974 and 1982 contests. Despite appearing in the Contest for over 50 years, France has never taken last place, although they ended up placing second to last five times.
France has gone through a number of broadcasters that presented Eurovision to the French. From 1956 to 1964 Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) was the French broadcaster. ORTF (Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française) took over from RTF in 1965, and showed Eurovision until 1973. TF1 took over from ORTF from 1975 to 1981, when they withdrew. Antenne 2 took over from TF1 in 1983 and its current incarnation, France Télévisions, is the current French broadcaster from 1992.
With the introduction of the semi-final in 2004, France 4 (part of France Télévisions) from the 2005 presents the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, with France 3 continuing to organise a selection for the participant song and present the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Read more about France In The Eurovision Song Contest: Contest History, Contestants, Voting History (1975-2012), Hostings, Marcel Bezençon Awards, Commentators and Spokespersons
Famous quotes containing the words france, song and/or contest:
“The moment Germany rises as a great power, France gains a new importance as a cultural power.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Christianity only hopes. It has hung its harp on the willows, and cannot sing a song in a strange land. It has dreamed a sad dream, and does not yet welcome the morning with joy. The mother tells her falsehoods to her child, but, thank heaven, the child does not grow up in its parent’s shadow. Our mother’s faith has not grown with her experience. Her experience has been too much for her. The lesson of life was too hard for her to learn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Theologians should not be ashamed to admit that they cannot enter a contest with such antagonists [the sceptics], and that they do not want to expose the Gospel truths to such an attack. The ship of Jesus Christ is not made for sailing on this stormy sea, but for taking shelter from this tempest in the haven of faith.”
—Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)