Aneta Andonova the Editor-in-Chief of MRT 1 has revealed that the Macedonian broadcaster will be spending 113,000 Euro’s on Eurovision 2019.
Speaking to Ženski Magazin, Aneta Andonova has revealed that the Macedonian national broadcaster will be spending 113,000 Euro on participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Ms Andonova explained that the on top of the 113,000 budget the broadcaster will spend an additional 36,000 Euros on the participation fee for the Eurovision Song Contest, this contrasts to 5,000 Euros for Junior Eurovision.
The broadcaster has allocated a budget of 113,000 Euros for the contest. This includes the costs of the delegation for hotels, food and related expenditure. In addition the funding will cover the team that Tamara Todevska will bring with her for the contest. Ms Andonova explained;
There are always deviations from the budget, usually more than 10 percent, depending on the host country at the event. We are working transparently, as a public service we are obliged to report to the public
The broadcaster is making changes to the delegation with representatives of MRT 1, MRT 2 and Macedonian Radio, with a mix of old and new members. MRT is however cutting back on the size of the delegation that they will be sending to Tel Aviv, with Ms Andonova explaining;
This time, our delegation will be reduced to a minimum, in order to leave more space for the team that Tamara will need.
Meri Popova who is the current Head of Delegation for Macedonia will be travelling to Israel, however it is not decided if she will be the Head of Delegation this year.
Who is Tamara Todevska?
Tamara Todevska has previous experience within the contest on several occasions. Previously she was a backing singer in 2004 for the late artist Tose Proeski. 10 years later she then served once more as a backing singer for her sister Tijana with her entry “To The Sky”.
Tamara was also the representative of her country in 2008 in Belgrade with “Let Me Love You” alongside Vrčak and Adrian Gaxha. The song failed to qualify for the final as they finished in 10th place in their semi final. Under the old voting system, only the top 9 in the televote were guaranteed a space in the final with a backup jury selecting the final country. In this instance they opted for Sweden to advance instead, under the current system FYR Macedonia would have qualified.
Source: Ženski Magazin
FYR Macedonia has had a string of poor results in recent years failing to reach the final every year since 2012. The country debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, however, two years earlier they attempted to participate but was knocked out in the pre-qualifying round. In 2016 they were represented by Kaliopi for a second time with the song “Dona”, she missed out on the final finishing in 11th in her semi-final. FYR Macedonia’s best result to date is a 12th place finish in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest represented by Elena Risteska and the song “Ninanajna”.
