Jostein Pedersen

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 in 1994, and from 1996 to 2005. Since then he has covered the Song Contest on VG's web TV channel. He currently lives in London, England.

Pedersen began his career in the music industry already in his late teens. He initially worked as a regular vendor at the local record shop, but slowly moved up in the system, eventually becoming a successful music journalist. From journalism, he advanced to become a disc jockey at local radio stations, before joining a new record company, 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. Pedersen had first real breakthrough when Norway's only national radio broadcaster at that time, NRK, 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 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.

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 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, and it was for this role he would become famous in the following decade. While his British counterpart, radio legend Terry Wogan, was known to be biased against all the nations' entries, except the British 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 comments and jokes between Norway and Sweden. In 1995, he did not return to the contest, but he rejoined the following year, and ever since 1996, 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.

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