About the show
The Eurowhat? Podcast launched in 2018 and features two Americans (Ben Smith and Mike McComb) attempting to make sense of the Eurovision Song Contest. The show tracks national selections and artist announcements, breaks down each year’s songs with a diverse array of guests, and dives into the 65+ years of contest history using Eurovision as a lens to analyze what’s happening in pop culture and the world.
The EuroWhat? Podcast: Eurovision News & Reviews on social media
Episodes
-
Episode 248: Three-Card Montesong
December 17th, 2024 | Season 8 | 47 mins 38 secs
albania, armenia, belgium, croatia, czechia, estonia, finland, greece, iceland, italy, latvia, lithuania, luxembourg, malta, melfest, moldova, montenegro, norway, poland, serbia, slovenia, spain, switzerland
As we rush to get out of 2024 we're getting details from just about every country participating in Eurovision 2025. We recap last month's Montesong from Montenegro, learn a bit about Czechia's artist, and start adding all the dates to our calendar.
-
Episode 247: Rebuilt
December 3rd, 2024 | Season 8 | 40 mins 42 secs
denmark, france, germany, italy, romania, spain, switzerland, united kingdom
In 2019 we examined the Big 5—Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—and offered suggestions on how they might improve their standing at Eurovision. It's five years later: how are the Big 5 doing now?
-
Episode 246: Rockin' the Kremlin
November 19th, 2024 | Season 8 | 49 mins 6 secs
latvia, russia, sweden, switzerland, ukraine
David Junk, originally from Ohio, was the first CEO of Universal Music Russia. In his memoir Rocking the Kremlin', he and co-author Fred Bronson from Billboard Magazine share stories about the "Wild, Wild East", Eurovision, and the influence of western pop culture after the fall of the USSR.
-
Episode 245: Avalanche
November 5th, 2024 | Season 8 | 38 mins 49 secs
albania, australia, azerbaijan, croatia, czechia, estonia, finland, germany, greece, iceland, ireland, luxembourg, malta, montenegro, north macedonia, norway, poland, serbia, slovenia, spain, sweden, switzerland, ukraine, united kingdom
It's been a couple months since we last checked in on Eurovision news… hoo boy there's a lot to get caught up on. We have elections, new heads of delegations, and info about way too many national selections.
-
Episode 244: Yugonostalgia
October 22nd, 2024 | Season 8 | 36 mins 43 secs
croatia, finland, iceland, serbia, switzerland, yugoslavia
We welcome back @dudepoints, who recently completed their Master's thesis which included discussion of the intersection of the Yugoslavian Art Practice and recent Eurovision entries from Serbia and Croatia. More simply: let's talk about performance art at Eurovision!
-
Episode 243: Verily
October 8th, 2024 | Season 8 | 27 mins 29 secs
croatia, germany, iceland, portugal, spain, sweden, switzerland, united kingdom
The Reference Group is one of the governing bodies for the Eurovision Song Contest. Who sits on this board and what experience do they bring to the table? We go through the dossiers in this episode.
-
Episode 242: Eurovisionaries
September 24th, 2024 | Season 8 | 41 mins 51 secs
azerbaijan, croatia, israel, russia, sweden, switzerland, ukraine
Dr. Zoë Jay returns to discuss Eurovisionaries, an academic research project investigating the ways Eurovision fans think about and practice forms of cultural diplomacy.
-
Episode 241: Exotic Switzerland
September 10th, 2024 | Season 8 | 41 mins 35 secs
cyprus, italy, montenegro, netherlands, sweden, switzerland
Our 8th season begins with news about Eurovision 2025 host city Basel, our first artist announcement, and a look at the history of Switzerland at the Contest.
-
Episode 240: How to Win Melfest
August 27th, 2024 | Season 7 | 28 mins 5 secs
sweden
We say farewell to Eurovision 2024 host nation Sweden by examining the facts and figures of its long-running song selection method: Melodifestivalen. We also make our picks of who we would like to see make an appearance in Melfest 2025.
-
Episode 239: ABBA Gold
August 13th, 2024 | Season 7 | 23 mins 5 secs
sweden, switzerland
Elisabeth Vincentelli examined the 1992 Greatest Hits collection ABBA Gold for the music criticism book series 33 1/3. We discuss the book, our respective relationships with ABBA, and marvel at the band's influence on pop music.
-
Episode 238: Vacay
July 30th, 2024 | Season 7 | 17 mins 48 secs
cyprus, ireland, italy, latvia, lithuania, luxembourg, norway, san marino, serbia, spain, sweden, switzerland
It's the Geneva Convention vs Basel Exposition for the chance to host Eurovision in 2025. Meanwhile, the production team has been announced and a new job for ESC Director is available if you wanna work with Martin. We go over July 2024 Eurovision headlines in this episode.
-
Episode 237: Missing the 'Mark
July 16th, 2024 | Season 7 | 25 mins 54 secs
denmark, germany, sweden, united kingdom
Oh, Denmark. What are we going to do with you? Ellie Chalkley joins us to assess what's rotten in the state of DMGP and what changes could be made to get the Nordic nation back into the Eurovision Grand Final.