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 270 Episodes.
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Episode 185: Raw Boost Energy
March 7th, 2023 | Season 6 | 33 mins 9 secs
armenia, austria, azerbaijan, cyprus, georgia, germany, greece, iceland, israel, moldova, netherlands, portugal, serbia, sweden, switzerland, ukraine, united kingdom
Six more songs enter the Eurovision thunderdome courtesy of the Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, Moldova, Serbia, and Iceland. We also find out what the finals in Sweden and Portugal will look like. Oh, and tickets are on sale... or at least they were...
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Episode 184: Did the Thing
February 28th, 2023 | Season 6 | 36 mins 56 secs
australia, cyprus, finland, germany, iceland, moldova, netherlands, poland, portugal, san marino, serbia, sweden, switzerland, ukraine, united kingdom
Have we heard the winner of Eurovision 2023? Finland's selection made a strong case this weekend while Sweden's Loreen debuted her contender at Melfest. San Marino, Poland, and Australia also announced their picks as we get closer to the end of Selection Season.
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Episode 183: Halftime
February 21st, 2023 | Season 6 | 28 mins 8 secs
finland, france, iceland, lithuania, poland, portugal, san marino, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
We got to catch our breath this weekend with only two Eurovision selections coming through: Lithuania and France. With this break, we check in to see how Selection Season is going and what the back half may have in store.
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Episode 182: Everything Everywhere All at Once
February 14th, 2023 | Season 6 | 39 mins 11 secs
croatia, czechia, denmark, estonia, iceland, italy, latvia, lithuania, malta, romania, san marino, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
We are all googly-eyed after a Saturday with more than 50 hours of Eurovision programming. The good news: we now have 8 more songs heading to Liverpool.
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Episode 181: Peanut Butter Yelly Time
February 7th, 2023 | Season 6 | 50 mins 8 secs
armenia, austria, croatia, czech republic, denmark, estonia, georgia, greece, ireland, italy, latvia, lithuania, malta, norway, romania, slovenia, spain, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
This weekend was a practice run for Eurovision Super Saturday as Ireland, Norway, and Spain made their selections and Slovenia shared their song. Sweden and Latvia also kicked off their processes as we get ready for a deluge of entries for Liverpool.
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Episode 180: Click... Click... Click...
January 31st, 2023 | Season 6 | 31 mins 43 secs
czech republic, georgia, germany, iceland, ireland, italy, latvia, lithuania, malta, moldova, norway, portugal, serbia, slovenia, spain, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
After recapping the last (not so) quiet weekend of Eurovision Selection Season, we set our sights on finals, semi-finals, and song reveals all over Europe next weekend. Strap in: It's February, y'all.
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Episode 179: We Go Again
January 24th, 2023 | Season 6 | 22 mins 10 secs
czech republic, denmark, germany, iceland, lithuania, moldova, norway, portugal, san marino, ukraine, united kingdom
Lithuania's selection series Pabandom is Naujo has returned and we couldn't be more excited. Meanwhile, Norway's MGP held its second semi as several countries drop songs all over the place for Eurovision 2023.
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Episode 177: Amuse-Bouche
January 10th, 2023 | Season 6 | 20 mins 17 secs
belgium, czech republic, estonia, israel, latvia, malta, norway, ukraine, united kingdom
The Eurovision menu includes a buffet of options as more countries drop tracks and announce their selection season plans. We take one last taste test of the appetizers as we await the start of heats and semi-finals.
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Episode 176: Nunca Secondary
January 3rd, 2023 | Season 6 | 24 mins 52 secs
albania, belgium, greece, norway, serbia, spain, sweden, ukraine, united kingdom
2023 actually started a couple weeks ago in Eurovisionland, with Ukraine and Albania making their selections for Liverpool. We also check in with the ESC Top 250 results, which had some major surprises this year.
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Episode 175: Euroquiz 2022
December 25th, 2022 | Season 6 | 55 mins 34 secs
ukraine, united kingdom
Join the fine folks from Star Spangled Eurovision and 12 Points from America for an end-of-the year Euroquiz. Happy holidays everybody!
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Episode 174: After the Fact
December 13th, 2022 | Season 6 | 20 mins 30 secs
estonia, iceland, italy, portugal, slovenia, ukraine, united kingdom
Suzie Seager from the Euroriffs Podcast joins us to discuss concerts and music releases featuring Eurovision alumni.
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Episode 173: Stiff Upper Lip
November 29th, 2022 | Season 6 | 44 mins 57 secs
albania, australia, estonia, italy, malta, ukraine, united kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a very rough couple of decades at the Eurovision Song Contest. Now that they're back in the driver's seat, we try to figure out what went wrong.