The participation of Chile in the OTI Festival first began at the inaugural

OTI Festival OTI Festival (, ), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), featuring participants representing primarily Ibero-Americ ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

held in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and continued continuously until the last edition in 2000 held in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

Televisión Nacional de Chile Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) is a Chilean Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It was founded by order of President Eduardo Frei Montalva and it was launched nationwide on 18 September 1969. Since then, the company has been re ...

(TVN), Canal 13,

Chilevisión Chilevisión (often abbreviated as CHV) is a Chilean free-to-air television channel. It is the third oldest Chilean television network, owned by Paramount Networks Americas, being founded by the University of Chile on November 4, 1960. Hist ...

Megavisión Red Televisiva Megavisión S.A., commonly known as Mega, is a Chilean free-to-air television network owned by Mega Media, a Bethia ''holding'' company. It began its transmissions on 23 October 1990 as the first private television network in ...

, and

La Red La Red (Spanish for "The Network" or "The Net") may refer to: * ''Rossana'' (film), known in Spanish as ''La red'', a 1953 Mexican drama directed by Emilio Fernández * La Red (Chilean TV channel), a private television channel in Chile * , a tel ...

, members of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), were responsible in turn –or jointly– for the Chilean participation.

History

Chile won the contest in two occasions: in 1984 with the singer-songwriter Fernando Ubiergo with the song "Agualuna", and in 1998 with the

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and comedian

Florcita Motuda Raúl Florcita Alarcón Rojas (born 15 October 1945), popularly known as Florcita Motuda, is a Chilean musician and politician. He served as National Deputy in the Chamber of Deputies between March 2018 and March 2022, representing district 17. He ...

with the song "Fin de siglo, es hora de inflamarse deprimirse o transformarse". In addition to these victories, their placed second with and the song "Canción contra la tristeza" in 1995. They also got three third places: in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

with and the song "Era solo un chiquillo", in 1985 with and the song "Para poder vivir", and in 1992 with and his song "Para poder vivir".

(TVN) and Canal 13, organised jointly the event two times: in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, due to the refusal of the

Nicaraguan Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and ...

broadcaster –the previous year's winner– to organise the event because of the

Nicaraguan Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution r ...

, and in 1986. Both events were held in the

Municipal Theatre of Santiago The Teatro Municipal, National Opera of Chile is the most important stage theatre and opera house in Santiago, Chile. History and overview The Chilean government ceded a significant parcel of land in downtown Santiago to the municipality, in 184 ...

National final

Chile was one of the few OTI Festival participating countries who organised an annual national final in order to select their participating entrant in the contest, produced in turn –or jointly– by TVN, Canal 13,

, and

. The winner, who was elected by a professional jury, would later represent the country in the festival. The Festival OTI Nacional, which was the official name of the selection process, was also very popular between the local audience and in fact, many famous musicians participated in the national final in order to represent their country in the main event.

History

National final

Participation overview

Hosting

Notes

References