Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song "Bye Bye Baby", written by Kari Salli and Markku Lentonen, and performed by the duo . The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), organised the national final 1994 in order to select its entry for the contest. Ten entries were selected to compete in the national final on 5 March 1994 where votes from the public selected "Bye Bye Baby" performed by CatCat as the winner with 25,834 votes.
Finland competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 30 April 1994. Performing during the show in position 2, Finland placed twenty-second out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 11 points.
Background
Prior to the 1994 contest, (Yle) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Finland thirty-two times since its first entry in 1961. Its best result in the contest achieved in where the song "Tom Tom Tom" performed by Marion Rung placed sixth.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Yle organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has been selected its entries through national final competitions that have varied in format over the years. Since 1961, a selection show that was often titled highlighted that the purpose of the program was to select a song for Eurovision. The broadcaster selected its entry for the 1994 contest again through the selection show.
Before Eurovision 1994 1994 was the national final that selected the Finnish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1994. The competition consisted of a final on 5 March 1994, held at the Tampere Hall in Tampere and hosted by Jukka Laaksonen, and . Ten entries selected for the competition from 470 submissions received during a submission period as well as from composers and music publishers directly invited by Yle competed and "Bye Bye Baby" performed by CatCat was selected as the winner based on the results from a public vote, which were revealed by Finland's five telephone regions along with the votes of the venue audience. 119,322 votes were cast during the show, which was broadcast on Yle TV1 and watched by 1.17 million viewers in Finland. During the voting, it was discovered that the votes were incorrectly announced but were shortly amended following the competition.
In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured Plavka performing "Contagious", Jam and Spoon featuring Plavka performing "Right in the Night", and Kaija Koo performing "Kylmä ilman sua" and "Tule lähemmäs Beibi".
+ Final – 5 March 1994 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Televote Place 1 "Kuka tykkää suukoista" Jari Holm, Seppo Matintalo, 13,857 4 2 "Ateljee" Darius Witkowski, Timo Puheloinen 6,567 9 3 Sari Sakki "Jäisit mun luo" Esa Rimpiläinen 6,809 8 4 Indiana "Hän lähtee tänään" 7,738 6 5 "Rakkauden tiellä" , , Timo Niemi 13,633 5 6 Janita "Enkeli" Tomi Ervi 14,646 3 7 "Bye Bye Baby" Kari Salli, Markku Lentonen25,8341 8 "En dans på livets vågor" , Susanne Sonntag 17,348 2 9 "Seitsemänteen taivaaseen" Tauski Peltonen 6,009 10 10 Marina Sigfrids "Lyft mig upp" Clas Holm 7,445 7
+ Detailed Voting Results Song Audience Televoting Regions Total NorthernFinland EasternFinland CentralFinland SouthwesternFinland SouthernFinland 1 "Kuka tykkää suukoista" 63 3,281 1,497 1,930 1,675 5,411 13,857 2 "Ateljee" 23 501 1,686 481 304 3,572 6,567 3 "Jäisit mun luo" 80 398 1,730 526 275 3,800 6,809 4 "Hän lähtee tänään" 213 522 260 1,023 538 5,182 7,738 5 "Rakkauden tiellä" 112 2,180 1,452 2,019 2,537 5,333 13,633 6 "Enkeli" 45 2,621 2,010 2,223 1,328 6,419 14,646 7 "Bye Bye Baby" 140 7,885 3,697 4,026 3,343 6,743 25,834 8 "En dans på livets vågor" 76 3,054 2,368 2,649 2,374 6,917 17,438 9 "Seitsemänteen taivaaseen" 12 583 486 670 588 3,670 6,009 10 "Lyft mig upp" 29 1,213 508 575 541 4,579 7,445
At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom six countries in the competed in the final on 30 April 1994. Following the allocation draw which determined the running order, Finland was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from and before the entry from . CatCat was accompanied by James Black and Charles Salter as dancers. The Finnish conductor at the contest was Olli Ahvenlahti, and Finland finished in twenty-second place with 11 points.
The contest was broadcast on Yle TV1 (with commentary by Erkki Pohjanheimo and Kirsi-Maria Niemi) and on Swedish-language radio station . Yle appointed Solveig Herlin as its spokesperson to announce the Finnish votes during the final.
Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Finland and awarded by Finland in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Hungary.
+ Points awarded to Finland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Finland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References