Chile was represented at the OTI Festival 1978 with the song "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda. The Chilean participating broadcasters, (TVN), (UCTV), (UTV), and (UCVTV), jointly selected their entry through a national televised competition with several phases. The song, that was performed in position 3, placed seventh out of 19 competing entries, with 17 points. In addition, the four broadcasters were also the host broadcasters and staged the event at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago.
(TVN), (UCTV), (UTV), and (UCVTV), held a competition with different televised preselections and a national final to select their entry for the 7th edition of the OTI Festival. Each of the four broadcasters would contribute three songs to the twelve-song national final, which was the first color broadcast via the national network of stations.
TVN held its own preselection for its three songs, which consisted of eight televised qualifying rounds of three songs each, held every Sunday between 2 July and 27 August 1978 within its show , presented by MarÃÂa Olga Fernández, Gabriela Velasco, and MarÃÂa Graciela Gómez; from which the first-placed song in each round was qualified to a final round. The eight-song final round was held on Monday 28 August, and broadcast on Sunday 3 September, at , with Susana Giménez, Fernando Ubiergo, , and as special guests.
UCTV, UTV, and UCVTV organized a joint preselection to contribute their nine songs, which consisted of nine televised qualifying rounds of six songs each, held every Wednesday between 16 August and 11 October at in Providencia, from which the first-placed song in each round was directly qualified for the national final and the second-place song had a second chance the following round. On 18 October, a final presentation show was held where all nine qualified songs were performed. The shows were presented by and from UCTV, Raquel Argandoña and from UTV, and MarÃÂa José del Rey and from UCVTV, who rotated their presentation duties in each program.
In each round, a jury of seven members, in which each broadcaster appointed two permanent jurors and the seventh was a rotating guest juror, scored each song between 1 and 5 points. The six permanent jurors were: and Octavio Espinoza appointed by UCTV, MarÃÂa de la Luz Necochea and Juan Carlos Gil appointed by UTV, and and Orlando Walter Muñoz appointed by UCVTV.
The national final was held at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago on 29 October 1978, beginning at 21:30 CLST (00:30+1 UTC). It was staged by TVN and presented by Raúl Matas and Raquel Argandoña. The musical director was . In addition to TVN's , UCTV's , UTV's , and UCVTV's , the event was also aired on Radio MinerÃÂa and .
Five expert jurors scored all entries between 1 and 5 points. The jurors were: Raquel Barros, Carlos Dourthé, Mariano Casanova, Alejandra Ramos, and .
The winner was "", written and performed by Florcita Motuda. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.
On 2 December 1978, the OTI Festival was held at the Municipal Theatre in Santiago, hosted by TVN, UCTV, UTV, and UCVTV, and broadcast live throughout Ibero-America. Florcita Motuda performed "" in position 3, with Horacio Saavedra conducting the event's orchestra, and placing seventh out of 19 competing entries, with 17 points.
The festival was broadcast live on TVN's , UCTV's , UTV's , and UCVTV's .
Each participating broadcaster, or group of broadcasters that jointly participated representing a country, assembled a jury who awarded 5âÂÂ1 points to their five favourite songs in order of preference.