Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Ataköy Athletics Arena

ICEC

WTCI

Abdi İpekçi Arena

Locations of the suggested venues in Istanbul, Turkey: the chosen venue is marked in blue, while eliminated venues are marked in red

Istanbul was chosen as the host city of the 2004 edition following Turkey's victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Originally the Mydonose Showland, an entertainment center in the form of a giant pyramid tent near Atatürk International Airport, was chosen by Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) to host the event,^[2] but the venue was later changed to the Abdi İpekçi Arena as the contest approached due to its bigger capacity.^[1] The Mydonose Showland, later renamed the Istanbul Show Center, was demolished in 2009 after a fire destroyed it in April that year.^[3][4] The Abdi İpekçi Arena was closed after the 2016/2017 basketball season and was demolished in early 2018.^[5][6]

A number of other venues in the city were reported as possible venues, these included Ataköy Athletics Arena and Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC), the latter of which lost out to Mydonose Showland.^[7] Istanbul Chamber of Commerce president Mehmet Yıldırım offered the World Trade Center Istanbul (WTCI) as a venue for the event and confirmed that the Chamber would also provide financial support for the contest's organisation.^[8]

This year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the 'Big 4'; France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom –whose broadcasters were the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)– and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest.

Andorra, Albania, Belarus, and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the contest for the first time, with Monaco returning after a 25-year absence. Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but later pulled out after money issues arose between RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) and the EBU. Hungary was also due to return after last participating in 1998, but ultimately they did not take part in the contest.^[9] Hungary would eventually return to the contest the following year, while Luxembourg would not return to the contest until 2024.

All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote, in the final. However France, Poland, and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final (as they were not participating in it) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries. In Belgium, the French-language Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) did not broadcast the semi-final, but the Dutch-language Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) did. Monaco's televoting results in the semi-final were rendered invalid and a back-up jury had to be used, but no problems occurred in the final.

Stefan Raab, who had represented Germany in 2000, provided backing vocals for his country.

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Eurovision Song Contest 2004 participants^[10]

Country	Broadcaster	Artist	Song	Language	Songwriter(s)
Albania	RTSH	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	English	Agim Doçi [sq] Edmond Zhulali [de]
Andorra	RTVA	Marta Roure	"Jugarem a estimar-nos"	Catalan	Jofre Bardagí [ca]
Austria	ORF	Tie Break	"Du bist"	German	Peter Zimmermann
Belarus	BTRC	Aleksandra and Konstantin	"My Galileo"	English	Kanstantsin Drapeza [be] Aljaksandra Kirsanava [sv] Aliaksiej Salamacha
Belgium	VRT	Xandee	"1 Life"	English	Dirk Paelinck Marc Paelinck
Bosnia and Herzegovina	PBSBiH	Deen	"In the Disco"	English	Vesna Pisarović
Croatia	HRT	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are the Only One"	English	Duško Gruborović [hr] Marina Madrinić Ivan Mikulić
Cyprus	CyBC	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	English	Mike Connaris
Denmark	DR	Tomas Thordarson	"Shame on You"	English	Ivar Lind Greiner Iben Plesner
Estonia	ETV	Neiokõsõ	"Tii"	Võro	Aapo Ilves Priit Pajusaar [et] Glen Pilvre [et]
Finland	YLE	Jari Sillanpää	"Takes 2 to Tango"	English	Jari Sillanpää Mika Toivanen [fi]
France	France Télévisions	Jonatan Cerrada	"À chaque pas"	French, Spanish	Steve Balsamo Jonatan Cerrada Ben "Jammin" Robbins
Germany	NDR[a]	Max	"Can't Wait Until Tonight"	English, Turkish	Stefan Raab
Greece	ERT	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	English	Nikos Terzis [nl] Nektarios Tyrakis
Iceland	RÚV	Jónsi	"Heaven"	English	Magnús Þór Sigmundsson Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson
Ireland	RTÉ	Chris Doran	"If My World Stopped Turning"	English	Brian McFadden Jonathan Shorten
Israel	IBA	David D'Or	"Leha'amin" (להאמין)	Hebrew, English	David D'Or Ehud Manor Ofer Meiri [he]
Latvia	LTV	Fomins and Kleins	"Dziesma par laimi"	Latvian	Tomass Kleins [lv] Guntars Račs [lv]
Lithuania	LRT	Linas and Simona	"What's Happened to Your Love"	English	Linas Adomaitis [lt] Michalis Antoniou Camden-MS
Macedonia	MRT	Toše Proeski	"Life"	English	Irena Dukić Jovan Jovanov Damjan Lazarov
Malta	PBS	Julie and Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	English	Gerard James Borg Philip Vella
Monaco	TMC	Maryon	"Notre planète"	French	Philippe Bosco Patrick Sassier
Netherlands	NOS	Re-union	"Without You"	English	Angeline van Otterdijk Ed van Otterdijk
Norway	NRK	Knut Anders Sørum	"High"	English	Lars Andersson [sv] Dan Attlerud [sv] Thomas Thörnholm [sv]
Poland	TVP	Blue Café	"Love Song"	English, Spanish	Tatiana Okupnik Paweł Rurak-Sokal [pl]
Portugal	RTP	Sofia Vitória	"Foi magia"	Portuguese	Paulo Neves
Romania	TVR	Sanda	"I Admit"	English	Irina Gligor George Popa
Russia	C1R	Yulia Savicheva	"Believe Me"	English	Maxim Fadeev Brenda Loring
Serbia and Montenegro	UJRT	Željko Joksimović and Ad Hoc Orchestra [de]	"Lane moje" (Лане моје)	Serbian	Željko Joksimović Leontina Vukomanović
Slovenia	RTVSLO	Platin	"Stay Forever"	English	Simon Gomilšek Diana Lečnik
Spain	TVE	Ramón	"Para llenarme de ti"	Spanish	Kike Santander
Sweden	SVT	Lena Philipsson	"It Hurts"	English	Thomas "Orup" Eriksson
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Piero and the MusicStars	"Celebrate"	English	Greg Manning
Turkey	TRT	Athena	"For Real"	English	Gökhan Özoğuz Hakan Özoğuz
Ukraine	NTU	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	English, Ukrainian	Oleksandr Ksenofontov Ruslana Lyzhychko
United Kingdom	BBC	James Fox	"Hold On to Our Love"	English	Gary Miller Tim Woodcock

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Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below.

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Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries^[19]

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Andorra	RTVA	ATV	All shows	Meri Picart [ca] and Josep Lluís Trabal	[20][21]
Austria	ORF	ORF 1	All shows	Andi Knoll	[22][23][24]
Belarus	BTRC		All shows	Ales Kruglyakov and Denis Dudinsky [ru]	[25][26]
Belgium	VRT	TV1	All shows		[27][28]
	RTBF	La Une	Final	Jean-Pierre Hautier	[29][30]
		La Première			[30]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	PBSBiH	BHTV 1, BH Radio 1	All shows	Dejan Kukrić	[31][32][33]
	RTVFBiH	FTV	Final
Croatia	HRT	HRT 2	Semi-final		[34]
		HRT 1	Final		[35]
Cyprus	CyBC	RIK Ena	All shows		[36][37]
Denmark	DR	DR1	All shows	Jørgen de Mylius	[38][39]
Estonia	ETV		All shows	Marko Reikop	[40]
	ER	Raadio 2		Mart Juur and Andrus Kivirähk
Finland	YLE	YLE TV2	All shows	Markus Kajo and Asko Murtomäki [fi]	[41][42]
		YLE FST		Thomas Lundin [sv]	[43][44]
		YLE Radio Suomi		Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki	[45][46]
		YLE Radio Vega		Thomas Lundin	[43]
			Final	Hans Johansson	[47]
France	France Télévisions	France 3	Final	Laurent Ruquier and Elsa Fayer	[48][49]
	Radio France	France Bleu		Jean-Luc Delarue
Germany	ARD	NDR Fernsehen	Semi-final	Peter Urban	[23][50][51]
		Das Erste	Final
Greece	ERT	NET	All shows		[36][37]
Iceland	RÚV	Sjónvarpið, Rás 2	All shows	Gísli Marteinn Baldursson	[52][53][54]
Ireland	RTÉ	N2	Semi-final	Marty Whelan	[55][56][57]
		RTÉ One	Final
Latvia	LTV		All shows	Kārlis Streips [lv]	[58]
Lithuania	LRT	LTV	All shows	Darius Užkuraitis	[59][60][61]
Malta	PBS	TVM	All shows	Eileen Montesin	[62][63]
Monaco	TMC Monte Carlo		All shows	Bernard Montiel [fr]	[48][64][65]
Netherlands	PO	Nederland 2	All shows	Willem van Beusekom and Cornald Maas	[27][28][66]
		Radio 2
Norway	NRK	NRK2[b]	Semi-final	Jostein Pedersen	[67][68]
		NRK1	Final
		NRK P1
Poland	TVP	TVP1	Final	Artur Orzech	[69][70]
Portugal	RTP		All shows	Eládio Clímaco	[71]
Romania	TVR	România 1	All shows		[72][73]
Russia	Channel One[c]		Final		[75]
Serbia and Montenegro	RTS	RTS 1	Semi-final		[76]
			Final	Duška Vučinić-Lučić and Stanko Crnobrnja [sr]	[77][78]
Slovenia	RTVSLO	SLO 2	Semi-final	Andrea F	[79][80]
		SLO 1	Final
			All shows	Jernej Vene	[79]
Spain	TVE	La 2	Semi-final	Beatriz Pécker [es]	[81]
		La Primera	Final		[82]
Sweden	SVT	SVT1	All shows	Pekka Heino	[67][68][83]
	SR	SR P4		Björn Kjellman and Carolina Norén	[83]
Switzerland	SRG SSR	SF 2	Semi-final	Marco Fritsche	[22][23][48][64][84]
		SF 1	Final	Sandra Studer
		TSR 2	Semi-final	Jean-Marc Richard and Alain Morisod
		TSR 1	Final
		TSI 1	All shows
Turkey	TRT	TRT 1, TRT Int	All shows		[85][86]
Ukraine	NTU	Pershyi Natsionalnyi	All shows	Rodion Pryntsevsky	[87][88][89]
United Kingdom	BBC	BBC Three	Semi-final	Paddy O'Connell	[90][91]
		BBC One, BBC Prime	Final	Terry Wogan	[48][92]
		BBC Radio 2		Ken Bruce	[93]

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Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries^[19]

Country	Broadcaster	Channel(s)	Show(s)	Commentator(s)	Ref(s)
Australia	SBS	SBS TV[d]	All shows	Des Mangan	[94]
Falkland Islands	BFBS	BFBS 1[e]	Final	Terry Wogan	[95]

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Just before the Slovenian entry was about to be performed, the Turkish broadcaster accidentally took a commercial break which meant the Slovenian song was not heard by Turkish viewers.^[1] There were technical problems when in a short hiatus halfway through the songs used for the advertising break the hosts tried to contact various parties in Europe. They tried contacting Germany, Spain, and Turkey, but in the end were only able to get a response from Germany. During the Romanian postcard introduction, the information for the Romanian entry appeared on the screen, but was quickly taken away. A final minor hiccup occurred when, on her way to present the winner the trophy, Sertab Erener got her shoe stuck in a speaker grill by the side of the stage and had to be freed by stagehands. However this did not delay proceedings, and other than the above the show ran smoothly.

An hour after the semi-final had been aired, the European Broadcasting Union discovered that there had been problems with the vote counting in Monaco and Croatia. Digame, an affiliate of Deutsche Telekom, who had been responsible for processing all the votes (from 2004), reported that they had encountered problems with their calculation software, and there was a problem with text message voting in Croatia. When the votes were counted, results showed that Croatia had awarded themselves 4 points, which is against Eurovision rules. Later, an official EBU statement read that there had been technical problems at the side of the Croatian mobile service provider, who neglected to delete the illegal votes from the results. Consequently, some votes were not counted in the results announced at the end of the broadcast of the semi-final. When the results were corrected to include these additional votes, they were found not to have affected which countries had qualified for the final.^[1]

This year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. When the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown although all other presenters were preceded with their country being highlighted on a map. This was probably due to Turkey's recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic, which is not recognised by any other state.^[1]

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, a series of awards held concurrently to the main contest, honour and celebrate the participants of the final of that year's Eurovision Song Contest. Named after one of the people influential in the creation of the contest,^[96] and created by two former Swedish Eurovision participants, Christer Björkman (1992) and Richard Herrey (1984 as a member of the winning group Herreys), the inaugural awards were presented at part of the 2002 event. Three awards were presented as part of the third edition of the awards in 2004, with the winner of each award determined by the collective votes of a different group of individuals. The Fan Award, which was presented in the previous two editions, was replaced by a Composer Award for the 2004 contest.^[97][98][99]

• The Press Award for the best competing song, as determined by the accredited press and media, was awarded to the entry from Serbia and Montenegro, "Lane moje" performed by Željko Joksimović and Ad Hoc Orchestra
• The Artistic Award for the best artistic performance, as determined by previous Eurovision winners, was awarded to the Ukrainian entry, "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana
• The Composer Award for the best composition, as determined by the participating songwriters in the final, was awarded to the Cypriot entry, "Stronger Every Minute", written by Mike Connaris and performed by Lisa Andreas

The winners each received a hand-blown glass trophy designed by Karin Hammar and created at the Stockholm Glass Studio [sv], which were handed out backstage prior to the contest proper.^[97][98]

Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004 was the official compilation album of the 2004 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 26 April 2004. The album featured all 36 songs that entered in the 2004 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.^[100]