# Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989

Switzerland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song "Viver senza tei", written by Marie Louise Werth, and performed by Furbaz. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, Télévision suisse romande (TSR), on behalf of the SRG SSR, was the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, after their win at the previous edition with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi" by Céline Dion. This was the first-ever entry performed in Romansh in the Eurovision Song Contest.

## Before Eurovision
### Regional preliminary rounds

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1989. Each division of SRG SSR — Swiss German and Romansh broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SF DRS), Swiss French broadcater Télévision suisse romande (TSR), and Swiss Italian broadcaster Televisione Svizzera di lingua italiana (TSI) —, used its own method to select its entries for the final. Eligible songs were required to have been composed by songwriters from Switzerland or Liechtenstein, and the deadline for the song registration was on 28 October 1988.
TSR internally selected its three songs for the final out of 51 song submissions. In total, 137 songs were submitted (with 128 being evaluated), of which ten were selected: three in French, German, and Italian, and one in Romansh. It is unknown how the remaining regional broadcasters selected their songs.

### Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1989

SF DRS staged the national final on 18 February 1989 at 20:10 CET at the Theater Casino in Zug. It was hosted by Raymond Fein [de]. The national final was broadcast on TV DRS (with commentary by Mariano Tschuor [rm]), TSR (with commentary by Serge Moisson [fr]), and TSI (with Italian commentary).
Participating entries :
| R/O | Artist(s) | Song | Songwriter(s) | Songwriter(s) | Language |
| R/O | Artist(s) | Song | Composer | Lyricist | Language |
| 1 | Michel Villa | "Sur des musiques qui balancent" | Jean-Jacques Egli | Jean-Jacques Egli | French |
| 2 | Nadia Goj [it] | "Una canzone per sognare" | Renato Mascetti | Renato Mascetti | Italian |
| 3 | Carl Nicholas | "Reisefieber" | Karl Niklaus Weber | Karl Niklaus Weber | German |
| 4 | Alexandra | "S'envoler pour ailleurs" | Alexandra Passina | Alexandra Passina | French |
| 5 | Chris Lorens | "Mutter Erde" | Amanda Hermle | Amanda Hermle | German |
| 6 | Pierrette Dufaux | "Coup d'assommoir" | Mario Bonny | Yvan Sjöstedt | French |
| 7 | Silvana Rezzonico | "Déjà vu" | Daniele Christen | Daniele Christen | Italian |
| 8 | Ann Lomar | "Wege in der Nacht" | Tobias Frey | Ueli Schnorf | German |
| 9 | Renato Mascetti | "La voce del mare" | Renato Mascetti | Renato Mascetti | Italian |
| 10 | Furbaz | "Viver senza tei" | Marie Louise Werth | Marie Louise Werth | Romansh |
The voting consisted of regional public votes which were sent to the three divisions of SRG SSR (SF DRS, TSR, TSI: German-Romansh, French, and Italian speaking, respectively), a press jury, and an "expert" jury. Applications for viewers to join the regional juries were sent via postcard until the week before the final, and 50 viewers from each canton were randomly selected to cast their votes to their broadcaster divisions via phone call.
The winner was the song "Viver senza tei", composed by Marie Louise Werth and performed by Furbaz. The song received the highest possible amount of 60 points; 12 points from all five juries, and became the first (and currently only) song in Eurovision to be performed in Romansh.
Participating entries :
| R/O | Artist(s) | Song | Regional Juries | Regional Juries | Regional Juries | Press Jury | Expert Jury | Total | Place |
| R/O | Artist(s) | Song | DRS | TSR | TSI | Press Jury | Expert Jury | Total | Place |
| 1 | Michel Villa | "Sur des musiques qui balancent" | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 34 | 4 |
| 2 | Nadia Goj [it] | "Una canzone per sognare" | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 36 | 3 |
| 3 | Carl Nicolas | "Reisefieber" | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 5 |
| 4 | Alexandra | "S'envoler pour ailleurs" | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 9 |
| 5 | Chris Lorens | "Mutter Erde" | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 46 | 2 |
| 6 | Pierrette Dufaux | "Coup d'assommoir" | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 8 |
| 7 | Silvana Rezzonico | "Déjà vu" | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 10 |
| 8 | Ann Lomar | "Wege in der Nacht" | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 5 |
| 9 | Renato Mascetti | "La voce del mare" | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 7 |
| 10 | Furbaz | "Viver senza tei" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 60 | 1 |

## At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, held at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, the Swiss entry was the eighteenth entry of the night following Cyprus and preceding Greece. The Swiss conductor at the contest was Benoît Kaufman. At the close of voting, Switzerland had received 47 points in total; finishing in thirteenth out of twenty-two countries.

### Voting

Each participating broadcaster assembled a jury panel with at least eleven members. The jurors awarded 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their top ten songs.