Malta's national broadcaster, PBS, appointed its Eurosong Advisory Team during a meeting held last week at the PBS offices in G'Mangia. The meeting was chaired by the newly appointed PBS Chairman, Dr Clare Thake Vassallo.

The Eurosong Advisory Team consists of the following four members: Dr Isabelle Gatt, Mr Martin Gauci, Mr Deo Grech and Mr Frederick Zammit. This team will respond directly to PBS in preparation of the Maltese Eurosong selections for the Junior Eurovision and the Eurovision Song Contest.

Dr Isabelle Gatt is also a member of the new Board of Directors of PBS. Isabelle Gatt is a lecturer in Creative and Expressive Arts Education at the University of Malta. She is also a board member of the St James' Cavalier Centre for Creativity and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts.

Mr Martin Gauci served for the last six years as the secretary of the formerly known Maltasong Board. He served under three different chairpersons including: Mr Charlo' Bonnici, Ms Grace Borg and Mr Robert Abela. Mr Gauci, member of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, was part of the Maltese Eurovision Delegation on six different occasions.

Mr Deo Grech has been involved within the Eurovision circles for the past twelve years. In 1996 he produced and hosted 'Backstage' focusing on the Malta Song for Europe 1996. Later he became involved in the O.G.A.E. (Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision) Network spread around over 42 countries and was appointed as the president of OGAE Malta. Mr Grech hosted the Malta International TV Song Festival in 2006 and 2007 - produced by Mr Norman Hamilton and Mr Robert Cefai. For the last three years, Mr Grech produced the television show 'Eurovision Fever' and is lately hosting and producing 'The Malta Hit Song Contest' on One Tv. During the last four years, Deo Grech attended the actual Eurovision Song Contest and reported directly from the host cities (Kyiv, Athens, Helsinki and Belgrade) to local printed, online and visual media.

Mr Frederick Zammit has been involved in the local printed and television media since 1986. He scripted the Maltese Eurovision History show aired on PBS as part of the Malta Song for Europe 2000. For the last five years Mr Zammit produced 'Lejn il-Eurovision' a tv series focusing on the Maltese participation at the Eurovision Song Contest and is also Net Tv's Head of Programmes. Mr Zammit is also the chairperson of Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza and co-ordinates the Indifest TV shows. Mr Zammit reports about the Eurovision Song Contest on the local magazine GWIDA and has attended the last three editions of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Greece, Finland and Serbia.

The new structure facilitates co-operation with the other national broadcasters, members of the European Broadcasting Union. The first task of the Eurosong Advisory Team is to issue the rules and regulations for the upcoming local Junior EuroSong 2008 selections.