Having finished sixth at the 1964 contest and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won at his third attempt in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie".

Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Austria.

After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011,[1][2] where the country reached the final for the first time since 2004, finishing 18th.

The exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these contests, which allowed all entrants a guaranteed number of points, may have been a factor.

[8] In 2008, the EBU introduced two semi-finals to the contest, hoping that spreading countries out by random draw would prevent the kind of bloc voting that had warded Austria off.

Additionally, juries were reintroduced to determine 50% of each country's result in 2009 (albeit not in the semi-finals, in which all but one of the qualifiers were decided entirely by televote).

However, Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for ORF, said that the semi-final format "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process" and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009".

[10] The EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy.

[12] In July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany.

Grissemann admitted to future German commentator Peter Urban in 1995 that he only stayed for the dress rehearsal and then provided the Austrian commentary live from the ORF studios.