Ben Smith has been watching the Eurovision Song Contest since 2008, blogging/podcasting about it since 2011, and a part of its digital press center since 2021. He has deep thoughts about the ways improvements in streaming media in the last decade have made the contest more of a truly global event, and can also do a tight five on Norway’s selection process. He lives in Somerville, MA and can be found more generally at goodatinter.net.
Ben Smith has hosted 220 Episodes.
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Episode 208: Calendaring
October 24th, 2023 | Season 7 | 19 mins 25 secs
albania, armenia, azerbaijan, cyprus, denmark, estonia, finland, germany, iceland, israel, lithuania, malta, norway, san marino, slovenia, sweden
As we continue to wait for the full guest list for Eurovision 2024,: Cyprus announces their artist, a bunch of selection processes release start dates (FRIDAY?!), end dates, and a few name changes (EEK!), plus we start filling out this winter's TV calendar.
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Episode 207: Aline!
October 10th, 2023 | Season 7 | 37 mins 11 secs
denmark, france, ireland, switzerland
Discussing Valérie Lemercier's "freely-inspired" Celine Dion biopic — What do you do if your pop culture idol doesn't sign off on you making a biopic about them? Change their name, tweak some of the facts, and play all the roles so you can make a movie like Aline!
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Episode 206: Obvious Points Klaxon
September 26th, 2023 | Season 7 | 29 mins 22 secs
cyprus, greece, türkiye
Greece and Turkey have had a tense relationship and Cyprus is often in the center of disputes. We take a look at these dynamics and how they may have shifted over the last 50 years at Eurovision.
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Episode 205: Efficiency
September 12th, 2023 | Season 7 | 22 mins 46 secs
belgium, cyprus, germany, malta, sweden, switzerland, ukraine, united kingdom
We get caught up on September 2023 Eurovision Headlines, of which there are a surprising amount. We already have an artist, details on multiple selection processes, and more than 2 dozen countries ready to party in Malmö, Sweden.
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Episode 204: Welcome to Sweden
August 29th, 2023 | Season 7 | 46 mins 15 secs
sweden
From "Waterloo" to "Tattoo", Sweden has been a dominant force in the Eurovision Song Contest for more than 50 years, winning the competition seven times. We dive into the ESC history of next year's host country.
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Episode 203: Iconic
August 15th, 2023 | Season 6 | 36 mins 24 secs
france, iceland, montenegro, serbia, spain, sweden, turkey, ukraine, united kingdom
We say farewell to our host nations by discussing one area where Ukraine and the United Kingdom overlap: iconic runner-up entries. But what does "iconic" mean for Eurovision entries?
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Episode 202: Drought
August 1st, 2023 | Season 6 | 19 mins 34 secs
luxembourg, norway, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
With one month to go until Eurovision New Year and next year's host city and dates announced, it's been a fairly quiet month for the Contest. We check in with some of the national selection processes that are already casting for the upcoming season.
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Episode 201: Sisu
July 18th, 2023 | Season 6 | 48 mins 29 secs
finland, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
Finland went all out in supporting their Eurovision entry "Cha Cha Cha" in ways that continue to reverberate weeks after the contest. We spoke with University of Helsinki researcher Zoë Jay and UMK associate producer/"Cha Cha Cha" dancer Matti Myllyaho about Finland's Eurovision 2023 experience.
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Episode 200: PopCon 2023
July 4th, 2023 | Season 6 | 1 hr 13 mins
albania, armenia, australia, belarus, denmark, france, germany, iceland, israel, italy, lithuania, netherlands, russia, san marino, spain, ukraine, united kingdom
In celebration of 200(!) episodes, we're sharing the presentation we gave at this year's Pop Conference entitled: “Let’s Discoteque Right At My Home”: Eurovision, the Pandemic, and Learning to “Open Up” Again
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Episode 199: News Cruise
June 20th, 2023 | Season 6 | 18 mins 27 secs
andorra, cyprus, israel, romania, sweden, united kingdom
Sweden's host city selection process for Eurovision 2024 has been bopping along while everyone is out of office for summer vacation. We get caught up with our mailbag and some of the headlines from the last month.
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Episode 198: Lyrical Vocabulary
June 6th, 2023 | Season 6 | 32 mins 57 secs
germany, ukraine, united kingdom
How does a songwriter interface with the Eurovision experience? "Blood and Glitter" co-writer Anthony J. Brown joins us to discuss his involvement with Lord of the Lost and Germany's 2023 Eurovision entry.
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Episode 197: Debut
May 23rd, 2023 | Season 6 | 31 mins 35 secs
denmark, finland, iceland, romania, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
Ben has returned from his Eurovision debut in Liverpool, both as an audience member and as part of the in-person press team. He shares stories from his jam-packed trip.