The first Eurovision transmissions took place in the summer of 1954, starting on 6th June with the Narcissus Flower Festival from Montreux. These pioneering transmissions were co-ordinated from the belfry of the Town Hall in Lille.
By 1956, the EBU had decided to install Eurovision co-ordination facilities in the Palais de Justice, Brussels, which was the hub of the newly-created Belgian television network. It was at this point that Eric Griffiths was seconded from the BBC to the EBU Technical Centre in Brussels, to organise the planning and co-ordination of the now almost daily Eurovision transmissions (mostly sports events and news items).
Eric was well suited to this pioneering work, having the ideal combination of forcefulness and charm required to persuade the somewhat inflexible national telecommunication authorities to co-operate in the Eurovision venture.
In 1961/1962, Eric organised every detail of the new technical facilities that were installed in the Palais de Justice, replacing the existing limited facilities by a purpose-built "Eurovision Control centre" or EVC.
By 1962, permanent networks of sound circuits and technical co-ordination
circuits were established, and the number of Eurovision transmissions increased
to an average of three per day. This was partly due to the introduction of a
daily Eurovision News-exchange or EVN which began in 1958.
From 1967, Intelsat geo-stationary satellites provided television links to all
parts of the world and, on 25 June 1967, the whole world was linked up in a
live television transmission called "Our World", with contributions
from 25 countries. Eric was, of course, very much involved in this historic
achievement.
A leased, permanent, vision network followed in 1968, when the number of transmissions
had increased to an average of about ten per day. In 1974, the international
sound signal was combined with the vision signal using the BBC's "sound
in sync" system. Eric took the lead in all these developments, whilst also
ensuring the smooth running of the daily network operations.
By the mid-1970s, the Eurovision Network was in the hands of people who had worked under Eric's guidance. Eric then worked on special projects for a few years, before taking a well-earned retirement.
Eric Griffiths made an enormous contribution to the successful development of Eurovision. He was a true pioneer of international television.
Brian Flowers
September 2004
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