The Great British Song Contest (1999)

The Great British Song Contest was the name given to the competition in which the UK's entry to the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest was decided. The song was selected via both a radio and a successive live TV show with phone-in voting.

An initial batch of wight songs were played by Ken Bruce on his morning radio show, two songs per day starting 01 February. The semi-final radio show with all eight songs, hosted by Ken Bruce and Terry Wogan, was broadcast on Radio 2 on Friday 05 February. Listeners were invited to vote by phone from 10.00-11.00 am.

The four finalists were then previewed in turn on the weekly BBC One TV programme Top of the Pops as follows: The final show with the four songs was held on Sunday 07 March 1999 at 2.40 pm, hosted by Ulrika Jonsson. After a phone-in vote the winner, Precious with Say It Again, was announced on Top of the Pops on 12 March 1999.
 * 1) 12 February 1999: Precious - Say It Again
 * 2) 19 February 1999: Sister Sway - Until You Saved My Life
 * 3) 26 February 1999: Alberta - So Strange
 * 4) 05 March 1999: Jay - You've Taken My Dreams

This was the last year that the ESC selection programme was called The Great British Song Contest, a title which had been used since 1996. From 2000 the title went back to the old 'A Song For Europe', used for the selections in 1957, from 1959-1995 inclusive and from 2000-2003 inclusive.