Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

This is it. The crucial semifinal. The remaining eight acts and songs are battling it out with televote only for the six places in the final. So far we have only known the jury votes and the result of 50-50 televote-jury vote. Tonight we might be in for some surprises.... We are back in Peacock Theater in Helsinki, for the last time, and Anne Lainto and Ile Uusivuori have been styled by the winner of an online contest (Helena Pirhonen) instead of the usual YLE's stylist, will they look different?  UMK+ will start online already 19.30 CET while the live show starts at 20 CET. Brädi will be the guest star performing together with UMK judge Toni Wirtanen. It will be also interesting to see if this semifinal manages to attract more viewers in front of TV as the previous shows have all got less than about 250.000, none of them entering the Top-20 most viewed programmes of the week iin YLE2. As always, I'll be here blogging it live for you so join in and enjoy the ride! ...

But in this case same old isn't bad thing at all! Presenters will be once again Ilkka Uusivuori and Anne Lainto . They did a good job last year so why change? The judges haven't changed either so it's Aija Puurtinen, Redrama, Toni Wirtanen and Tomi Saarinen .  The selecting process is pretty much the same as before as well (all programmes YLE2): 10.12 names of the lucky 12 artists will be revealed   26.12 UMK 2014 will kick of with a special showing how the judges selected the 12 lucky ones among the 420 songs sent in.  28.12 the first six artists perform to the judges 4.1 the other six artists perform to the judges 11.1 first live show with six artists. One of them is voted by combined jury and televote straight to the final, another one is eliminated for good 18.1 same as 11.1 with the remaining six artists 25.1 the remaining eight (two have been eliminated, two have been sent to the final) perform live. Two will be eliminated and there's...

YLE has announced that radio voices from YleX, Aino Töllinen and Juuso "Mäkkäri" Mäkilähde will be commentating all three Eurovision 2013 broadcasts live from Malmö Arena. Before that, on May 11, 2013 they will be also hosting the preview marathon (YLE2 19.30-23.30 local time).  They promise they will talk their mind, say what they think uncensored and without being polite, and the broadcasts won't be boring for sure if it's up to them. They will also shamelessly support Krista Siegfrids and Team Ding Dong. "For a change Finland has all it takes even to win the whole thing!" says Aino who confesses of being a real Eurovision fan. "I'm a huge fan and Mäkkäri is not so this combination will be a winning one!" YLE's team on spot will also include Anne Lainto (who also presented UMK 2012-2013) and producer Inari Fernandez who will also provide reports and news with a new fresh touch from Malmö 2013.  So, it seems UMK has taken over go...

YLE has finally published their plan for this year's UMK aka Uuden musiikin kilpailu, ex-Euroviisut.  The 12 chosen ones will be announced on December 3, 2012 and we will get to know them all better on December 27. After that two shows will follow when they will be introduced better to the judges and us on January 3 and 10. After that follow three live gigs from Circus nightclub in Helsinki (January 17, 24 and 31) and finally the big final with eight remaining artists in Barona Arena in Espoo.  The judges are Toni Wirtanen (of Apulanta fame), Aija Puurtinen, Redrama and Tomi Saarinen so this time at least that part seems to be rather solid block of people.  The hosts will be Ile Uusivuori and Anne Lainto.  In the three live gigs the jury and the audience will decide who go further, in the final there should be televote only.