Sommar (radio program)

Sommar i P1 (Summer on P1) is one of the most popular shows on Swedish radio. It has been broadcast every summer on P1 since 28 June 1959.^[1]

About

The concept for the show came from Tage Danielsson, who was the then head of radio entertainment at Sveriges Radio and producer Jörgen Cederberg, who was also the first host.^[2] Hosting the show has been compared to receiving a knighthood in Sweden.^[3]

Each 88-minute-long edition of the programme is broadcast daily from Midsummer's Day until the middle of August, always starting at 13.00 (a timeslot it has occupied since 1959), with repeats in the late evening and very early morning. Each edition is presented by a different host, who plays music of his or her own choosing and talks about a topic of personal relevance.

The show's theme tune, Sommar, sommar, sommar was composed in 1951 by Sten Carlberg, with lyrics by Eric Sandström. In the early days of the show's history, each of the hosts so-called Sommarvärdarna – Summer Hosts – in Sommar was also the DJ and the same presenters returned many times in the first year. In common usage, a host is often called Sommarpratare ("Summer talker").^[4]

As the show is broadcast on Swedish radio, the host has of necessity to be a speaker of Swedish (or, occasionally, of another Scandinavian language). However, in 2014, intense international interest led to the production of an English-language edition presented by YouTube celebrity PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg).^[5]

Hosts

The hosts range from celebrities to politicians, scientists, authors, athletes, and royalty. Several Prime ministers of Sweden and other Nordic countries have been hosts on the show. High-profile celebrities such as the actresses Anita Ekberg and Liv Ullmann and the film director Ingmar Bergman have all hosted their own Sommar show. Other hosts from the film industry include Academy Award winners and nominees such as Malik Bendjelloul, Kay Pollak, Tomas Alfredson, and Paul N. J. Ottosson.^[6] And journalists like Magdi Abdelhadi.

Members of ABBA and modern music stars such as Robyn or Maja Ivarsson from The Sounds, as well as authors such as Astrid Lindgren, Håkan Nesser and Karl Ove Knausgård have been hosts of their own shows. Other hosts have included such industry leaders as IKEA-founder (and one of the wealthiest persons in the world) Ingvar Kamprad and legendary Volvo CEO Pehr G. Gyllenhammar. Niklas Zennström and Daniel Ek of Skype and Spotify fame, respectively, have also hosted their own shows.^[7]

In June 2014, Sveriges Radio received over 70 formal complaints concerning an edition of Sommar presented by the poet and playwright Athena Farrokhzad.

In other media

The show is broadcast on Swedish radio for a Swedish audience. However, in 2014, intense international interest led to the production of an English-language edition presented by YouTube celebrity PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg).^[8]

All of the shows are available for download from the Sommar website directly after broadcast. Since 2005, episodes of the show have also been available as podcasts, with more than 800 broadcast editions available from an archive covering the period from 1963 to the present.^[9]

At the annual press conference introducing each year's presenters the participants always appear wearing midsommarkrans floral head garlands. Since 2009 some of each year's presenters have also appeared in the SVT television show Sommarpratarna.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sommar (radio program).

• Sommar at P1's website
• List of all the hosts 1959–2014