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Jostein Pedersen (born 11 August 1959 in Dønna) is a Norwegian musical journalist and reporter, television commentator and "music intelligencia". He was the Norwegian commentator to the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
in 1994, and from 1996 to 2006. Since then he has covered the Song Contest on '' VG''s web TV channel. He lives in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
.


Career


Early career

Pedersen began his career in the music industry already in his late teens. He initially worked as a regular
vendor In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these term ...
at the local record shop, but slowly moved up in the system, eventually becoming a successful
music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...
. From
journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
, he advanced to become a
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
at local
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
stations, before joining a new
record company "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...
, Non Stop Music, where he sold records for new and more experienced artists, including popular rock icon Åge Aleksandersen and the woman who later became the best selling female artist of Norway,
Sissel Kyrkjebø Sissel Kyrkjebø (; born 24 June 1969), also known abroad as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano. She is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs to classical vocals and operati ...
. Pedersen had first real breakthrough when Norway's only national radio broadcaster at that time,
NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
, approached him about a new project which at that time was completely new in Norway; radioshows at night hours. Soon he was head-hunted once again and started working in one of Norwegian
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
history's most popular radio programmes —''Nitimen''. He was the youngest member of the cast and he would later express that during these years he was in a constant state of happiness; it was a dream come true.


Eurovision commentator

After several years in radio he moved to television broadcasting in 1994, where he was responsible for the shows on TV during the Winter Olympics in
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...
during February 1994. Not long after the Olympics finished, Pedersen was hired as the new commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, representing the Norwegian broadcaster,
NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
, and it was for this role he would become famous in the following decade. While his
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
counterpart, radio legend
Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...
, was known to be biased against all the nations' entries, except the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
ones, Pedersen became known for his "mean-spirited" comments on the Swedish entries and entrants, and kept up the long tradition of rivalry and
sarcastic Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflectio ...
comments and jokes between
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. In 1995, he did not return to the contest, but he rejoined the following year, and ever since
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, he has been a permanent ingredient in the popular, annual show, and has raised the level of entertainment several degrees since the old, bygone days. Beside his juicy and sometimes controversial remarks, he is also known for his dark and masculine, yet pleasant and tranquilizing voice, which has aided his rise in popularity. In 2004 and 05, he also joined as side commentator in the
Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...
, the Norwegian Eurovision nationals. In 2006,
NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
announced that it would not renew his contract for another year, and thus he would not be commenting the Eurovision. No reason for his departure was given, and it was announced that Per Sundnes would follow Pedersen as the new commentator. He would however not retire from the Contest completely, covering the finals live on his blog. In 2007, he joined national newspaper '' VG''s new Eurovision broadcast, where he comments on the songs and artists, and he remains here today.


Journalism

In addition to his work with TV and radio, Pedersen has published four books: three non-fiction and one novel called "Stort" ''(Great)'' (1996). It caused a sensation in Norway and was dubbed "the Norwegian
American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a black comedy horror novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the First-person narrative, first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, and vain Manhattan investmen ...
" as it described the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll lifestyle of the 80s. It became an instant cult classic as soon after publishing it went out of print owing to the publisher’s bankruptcy. In later interviews Pedersen has refused to comment on the book, despite the fact it is hailed as “a classic” and it figures in numerous dissertations. Currently it is a sought after item in second hand shops and antique dealers. His travelogue about English customs and ways of life called A Norwegian in London (En nordmann i London) (2005) was a success in his native Norway. He has written extensively about pop, rock and classical music since the early ‘80s and is regarded as one of Norway’s leading authorities in either field. His website has an archive of more than 300 articles where there are also posted articles originally written for the gay and punk underground press. To the general public he is well known as a champion of Norwegian pop, rock and classical music both in radio, television and print. Alongside his Eurovision fame, he has produced and presented radio and TV profiles on both domestic and international stars. His programs never fail to gain good reviews and ratings and he has produced groundbreaking documentaries on major stars like Norwegians Wenche Myhre and Jahn Teigen and international stars like The Bee Gees and Julio Iglesias. Pedersen presented a weekly column London Calling for Norway’s most popular radio breakfast show Nitimen between 1997 and 2007. In the summers of 2007 and 2008 he was a runaway hit as the breakfast host in the NRK’s regional programs in the county of Nordland where he was born.


See also

*
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest Norway has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 63 times since making its debut in and has only been absent twice since then. In Eurovision Song Contest 1970, 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the votin ...
*
Melodi Grand Prix 2006 ''Melodi Grand Prix 2006'' (shortened ''MGP 2006'') is the television show in which the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was chosen. The contest was held on February 4 in the Oslo Spektrum and was hosted by Synnøve Svabø ...
*
Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...
*
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...


External links


Official websiteCANTAMO, where Jostein is the high protector
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Jostein 1959 births Living people People from Dønna Melodi Grand Prix Norwegian television personalities NRK people Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest Norwegian music journalists