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 263 Episodes.
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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.
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Episode 172: Selection Season
November 15th, 2022 | Season 6 | 31 mins 35 secs
belgium, czech republic, estonia, germany, latvia, netherlands, portugal, romania, ukraine, united kingdom
Eurovision Selection Season draws nigh with more than half of the countries competing in 2023 airing some form of music competition. This is our guide to having the best Super Saturday experience.
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Episode 171: Legacy
November 1st, 2022 | Season 6 | 32 mins 28 secs
albania, armenia, bulgaria, cyprus, estonia, finland, montenegro, north macedonia, norway, san marino, spain, ukraine, united kingdom
After we check in with the budding infrastructure for Eurovision 2023, we take a look at some of the non-winning entries over the years that still have an impact.
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Episode 170: Italo Disco
October 18th, 2022 | Season 6 | 43 mins 11 secs
italy, ukraine, united kingdom
Ben takes us through the history of the synth-filled vibes of the music genre known as Italo Disco. Mike's pop music diet growing up may have more in common with the style than he realized.
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Episode 169: Livergow
October 4th, 2022 | Season 6 | 17 mins 28 secs
armenia, ukraine, united kingdom
It'll be either Liverpool or Glasgow that gets the opportunity to host Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine. We take a look at both cities as we wait for the announcement.
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Episode 168: Welcome to the United Kingdom
September 20th, 2022 | Season 6 | 34 mins 8 secs
united kingdom
The United Kingdom will be extending its record of hosting the most editions of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. We take a look back at several other records held by our host country in this episode.
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Episode 167: Welcome to Ukraine
September 6th, 2022 | Season 6 | 46 mins 23 secs
armenia, italy, poland, russia, ukraine, united kingdom
Happy Eurovision New Year! As preparations for 2023 begin, we explore defending champion Ukraine's Eurovision journey over the last 20 years.
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Episode 166: Volare
August 23rd, 2022 | Season 5 | 35 mins 21 secs
armenia, israel, italy, netherlands, united kingdom
"Nel blu, dipinto di blu" (also known as "Volare") is not only one of the most well-known Eurovision songs, it's one of the most successful Italian songs ever. We dig into the song's backstory and it's continued impact on popular culture.