Chile in the OTI Festival 1983

Chile was represented at the OTI Festival 1983 with the song "La misma vida, el mismo modo", written and performed by Wildo. The Chilean participating broadcasters, Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad Católica de Chile (UCTV), and Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad de Chile (UTV), jointly selected their entry through a national final. The song, that was performed in position 8, was not among the top-five places revealed.

Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad Católica de Chile (UCTV), and Corporación de Televisión de la Universidad de Chile (UTV), held a national final jointly to select their entry for the 12th edition of the OTI Festival. Nine songs were selected for the televised final, among the 250 received, by a committee composed of: Ricardo Miranda and Eduardo Domínguez from UCTV, Miguel Zabaleta from UTV, Luis Urquidi from TVN, and Carlos Humeres from the Chilean OTI commission. The songs were announced on 27 July 1983.^[1]

The music videos for the songs were recorded at Filmocentro studios and broadcast by TVN's Canal 7, UCTV's Canal 13, and UTV's Canal 11 at different time slots, with three different songs being broadcast each week in the weeks leading up to the national final.^[2]

The broadcasters held the national final on Tuesday 30 August 1983, staged by TVN at its studios, and presented by Paulina Nin. The initial plan was for the show to be recorded in the afternoon to be broadcast that same evening; however, during the recording, they were notified that the broadcast was going to be postponed due to the national mourning declared after the assassination of Carol Urzúa. To prevent the name of the winning song from being revealed, the jurors cast their votes in sealed envelopes. On Tuesday 6 September 1983, the envelopes were opened, the awards ceremony was recorded,^[3] and the full show was broadcast on TVN's Canal 7, UCTV's Canal 13, and UTV's Canal 11 beginning at 21:30 CLT (01:30+1 UTC).^[4]

The winner was "La misma vida, el mismo modo", written and performed by Wildo; with "Yo te creí", written and performed by Antonio Zabaleta, placing second; and "3-2-1-0 adiós" written and performed by Osvaldo Leiva placing third. The first prize was endowed with a monetary amount of CLP$200,000, the second prize of CLP$120,000, and the third prize of CLP$80,000.^[5]

On 29 October 1983, the OTI Festival was held at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., United States, hosted by Spanish International Network (SIN), and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. Wildo performed "La misma vida, el mismo modo" in position 8, with Francisco Aranda conducting the event's orchestra. At the end, only the top five places were announced, and the Chilean entry was not one of them.^[7]

The festival was broadcast on TVN's Canal 7, UCTV's Canal 13, and UTV's Canal 11 on delay at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC).^[8]

Each participating broadcaster, or group of broadcasters that jointly participated representing a country, appointed a juror who secretly scored each entry in a scale of 5–1 points, except for the entry representing its own country. The Chilean juror was Antonio Vodanovic.