Company name	Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK)
Company logo
Company type	Publicly funded, public-service broadcaster
Foundation	1924 / 1933
Location	Oslo, Norway
Key people	Hans Tore Bjerkaas
Num employees	3 481 (2004)
Industry	Broadcasting
Products	TV, radio, online services
Homepage	www.nrk.no

The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (Norwegian: Norsk rikskringkasting AS), which is usually known as NRK, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway. It is a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union.

Financing

It is primarily financed through a combination of a mandatory annual license fee for each person who is in possession of a TV (94 per cent), and a number of commercial activities such as programme and DVD sales, spin-off products and certain types of sponsorship.

History

Regular radio broadcasts started in Norway in 1925 by the privately owned company Kringkastningselskapet, the predecessor to NRK which was founded in 1933. Based on a model similar to the BBC, and located in Oslo, it was a replacement for privately operated radio stations in the larger cities. NRK initially set out to get coverage over the entire country, and had a monopoly on broadcasting in Norway until the monopoly was gradually dissolved from 1975 onwards. During the World War II German occupation Norwegian transmitters were used for broadcasting German war propaganda to Northern Europe (particularly Scotland and the northern half of Ireland where the sea path ensured a good signal) and Scandinavia.

NRK was also partly financed by commercials on radio up until the German occupation.

NRK was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. In 1954 NRK started broadcasting television shows on a trial basis, with regular broadcasts starting in 1960.

NRK was the last of the major European public broadcasters to introduce a second radio station, officially started as late as 1984. In 1993 NRK launched a third radio station, the youth-oriented P3. A 24-hour station for classical music, Alltid Klassisk, introduced in 1995, was the first of its kind to be broadcast digitally using DAB. The 24-hour news station Alltid Nyheter was then introduced in 1997, followed by a radio station for teenagers, mP3, in 2000, which mostly plays dance music continually.

In 1996, a second television channel, NRK2, was launched. The original television channel is now known as NRK1. September 3, 2007 NRK launched its third channel; The youth channel NRK3. Later that year, on December 1 NRK launched its fourth television channel, NRK Super, which is aimed at children. NRK3 and NRK Super shares the same channel, with NRK Super broadcasting from 0700 - 1900 and NRK3 from 1900 - 0700.

In 2004, a new radio station for traditional music, NRK Alltid folkemusikk was launched on DAB and internet radio. , one of the main buildings at the NRK headquarters at Marienlyst, Oslo]]

The international radio transmissions from NRK, Utenlandssendingen, began transmissions on the shortwave bands in 1948. Initially broadcasting in Norwegian, English language programs were later added. The service was discontinued January 1, 2002. All NRK broadcasting activities on shortwave ceased on January 1, 2004. NRK's mediumwave transmitter at Kvitsøy on 1314 kHz used to be widely heard internationally and was one of the most commonly-heard trans-Atlantic DX signals in eastern North America. The frequency carried a mixture of NRK's radio channels P1 and P2, and was called Europakanalen. However, these mediumwave transmissions were discontinued on July 1, 2006.

All of the radio stations are now available on the internet. Several of the television programmes are also available on the internet.

NRK still holds the strongest position in number of viewers, though the competition from TV 2 is getting tougher.

NRK claims to have the longest running radio show, Lørdagsbarnetimen (lit. The Saturday Children's Hour), running since December 20, 1924.

In recent years, the network has shown itself to be the leading producer of original comedy shows in Norway, with such notable successes as Lillelørdag, Åpen Post, Uti Vår Hage and Team Antonsen, centered on a core of the comedians Harald Eia and Bård Tufte Johansen.

NRK has 12 regional offices spread around the country. All offices have their own broadcasts in both television and radio as well their own news sites on the internet. They also contribute daily with news coverage for the national news programmes. The two headquarters of NRK are located at Marienlyst in Oslo and Tyholt in Trondheim.

, another building at the NRK headquarters]]

Organisation

An initiative for major organisational change was taken by the CEO in 2008 in order to create a more agile NRK, while still adhering to the principles of the broadcaster-producer model introduced in January 2001. By January 2009 the number of programme-producing divisions had been reduced from five to three, separated more along geographical than functional lines, and at the same time simplifying trading in the internal market. The programme producing divisions are:

Marienlyst covering all facilities in Oslo

Distrikt, encompassing all regional offices and with their headquarters in Trondheim

Sami, the producer of Sámi programmes situated in Karasjok

Since March 19, 2007, Hans-Tore Bjerkaas has been Director-General of the NRK. Previous directors have been Olav Midttun (1934–1947, except during the Nazi occupation), Kaare Fostervoll (1948–1962), Hans Jacob Ustvedt (1962–1971), Torolf Elster (1972–1981), Bjartmar Gjerde (1981–1988), Einar Førde (1989–2001) and John G. Bernander (2001–2007).

The chairman of the board is Hallvard Bakke (b. 1943). Bakke used to be a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was the former Minister of Trade 1976-1979, and Minister of Culture 1986-1989. The current head (2006) of the news department is Gro Holm. Currently (2006) NRK employs between 3000 and 3500 people.

Notable television programmes

Dagsrevyen

Dagsnytt Atten

Urix

Nytt på nytt

Melodi Grand Prix (The Norwegian national selection for Eurovision Song Contest)

The Eurovision Song Contest 1986, Eurovision Song Contest 1996, Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Grand Finals and the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Semi-Finals

Channels

Radio

{| |valign="top"|

NRK P1

NRK P2

NRK P3

NRK mP3 ^{a, b}

NRK Klassisk ^{a, b}

NRK Alltid nyheter ^{a, b}

NRK Folkemusikk ^b

|valign="top"|

NRK Jazz ^b

NRK Stortinget ^b

NRK Sport ^b

NRK Super ^b

NRK Gull ^b

NRK Båtvær ^d

NRK Sámi Radio ^{a, b, c}

|valign="top"|

NRK P1 Oslofjord ^b

NRK 5.1 ^e

NRK P3 Urørt ^e

|} ---- {| |valign="top"| ^a Available on FM in only some parts of the country ^b DAB, DVB-T and internet radio |valign="top"| ^c In cooperation with Swedish SVT and Finnish YLE, ^d DAB only
^e Internet radio only |}

Television

NRK1

NRK1 HD

NRK2

NRK3

NRK Super

High-definition

NRK has an HD OB van, producing high-definition video. The first Norwegian series filmed in HD is "En Udødelig Mann" (An Immortal Man) about the young Henrik Ibsen. The action "miniseries" (6 parts) called "Kodenavn Hunter" is also HD. Promo videos are freely downloadable from their site, and the full-length last episode is available.

NRK uses H.264 as the compression codec for the digital terrestrial network.

NRK has also started to offer HD content via BitTorrent. This is currently a very limited offer due to rights restrictions, but it's growing steadily.

In preparation for the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, NRK announced that they would launch a high-definition channel, and their first native HD broadcast would be from Vancouver. NRK1 HD is a simulcast of NRK1.

NRK.no

nrk.no is the brand name and home for the NRKs online service. The NRK has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web only initiatives since 1996. The development of nrk.no commenced in 1995. Nrk.no is the second most visited Norwegian website, only surpassed by the website of the country's leading tabloid, Verdens Gang.

See also

List of Norwegian language radio stations

List of Norwegian television channels

List of programs broadcast by Norsk rikskringkasting

yr.no

References

External links

NRK.no: Official site

Television and radio schedules

yr.no: Online weather service

Category:Government-owned companies in Norway Category:Norwegian television networks Category:Publicly funded broadcasters Category:Television companies of Norway Category:1933 establishments in Norway Category:Commercial-free television networks Category:Media companies of Norway Category:European Broadcasting Union members

Name	Dimmu Borgir
Landscape	Yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Oslo, Norway
Years active	1993–present
Genre	Black metal, symphonic black metal
Label	No Colours, Spikefarm, Cacophonous, Century Media, Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Old Man's Child, Cradle of Filth, Ov Hell, Carpe Tenebrum, Brujeria, The Kovenant, Mayhem, Arcturus, Chrome Division, Code, Susperia, Dødheimsgard, Nile, Borknagar, Nachtmystium, Ragnarok, Angelcorpse, God Dethroned, Vesania, Vader, Infernal Method, Ved Buens Ende
Url	www.site.dimmu-borgir.com
Current members	ShagrathSilenozGalder
Past members	(see below)

Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1992. Dimmu borgir means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse. The name is derived from a volcanic formation in Iceland, Dimmuborgir. The band has been through numerous line-up changes over the years; guitarist Silenoz and vocalist Shagrath are the only founding members remaining.

Biography

For All Tid and Stormblåst period

Dimmu Borgir started as a Black metal band in 1993. Formed by Shagrath, Silenoz, and Tjodalv, the band released an EP in 1993 entitled Inn i evighetens mørke ("Into the Darkness of Eternity" in English). This short EP sold out within weeks, and the band followed up with the 1994 full length album For All Tid ('For All Time' in English) This album featured vocal contributions by Vicotnik of Ved Buens Ende and Dødheimsgard and Aldrahn of Dødheimsgard and Zyklon-B. The initial lineup consisted of Shagrath playing drums with Tjodalv on guitar and Silenoz contributing lead vocals. This line-up changed before the release of Stormblåst (translates to "Storm Blown") on Cacophonous Records in 1996, an album considered by many to be their finest. It is also the last album which features all lyrics written and sung in Norwegian. This album was criticized by Allmusic because of bad sound quality and inaccessibility to wide audience.

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant period

After Stormblåst, keyboardist Stian Aarstad left the band due to his obligation to serve in the Norwegian army, thus being unable to participate in the 1996 recording of Devil's Path. That period was also marked by the departure of bassist Brynjard Tristan and the arrival of Nagash. Stian Aarstad returned for the recording of 1997's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. While on tour to support the album, he had trouble attending rehearsals and being on tour, and was subsequently fired. Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was a huge success for the band, and was their first release signed to Nuclear Blast, a German record label. The album was recorded in the Abyss Studios, owned by Hypocrisy's frontman Peter Tägtgren. After the release of Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the band went on tour with In Flames, Dissection and other bands who had penetrated to the scene at the time.

Spiritual Black Dimensions and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia period

After the tour for Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the band recruited new members Mustis on keyboards and Astennu on lead guitar. Dimmu Borgir's following full-length albums Spiritual Black Dimensions in 1999 and 2001's Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, both met critical acclaim. However, another line-up change occurred between the two albums; Nagash quit and was replaced by new bassist/singer ICS Vortex, and Tjodalv left due to his family commitments, and to form the subsequent band Susperia, only to be replaced with Nicholas Barker, of Cradle of Filth. Astennu was fired from his guitar duties as well, and was replaced by Galder. Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia is marked as bands one of biggest penetration on wider scene.

Death Cult Armageddon and Stormblåst MMV period

Despite the regular video play on MTV2 and Fuse TV that their follow-up album would receive, the band stated that they were not "commercially-oriented," and instead, they 'simply wished to spread their message to more people'. In 2003, Dimmu Borgir recorded Death Cult Armageddon. Death Cult Armageddon was recorded with the Prague Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klemens. All orchestrations were arranged by Gaute Storaas (who had previously worked with Dimmu Borgir on the album Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia) In 2004, Dimmu Borgir performed on the mainstage at Ozzfest.

In 2005, the band did a complete re-recording of the Stormblåst album, featuring Hellhammer of Mayhem fame as the session drummer. The album also featured a DVD with a live performance from the 2004 Ozzfest tour.

In Sorte Diaboli period

Dimmu Borgir's eighth studio album, In Sorte Diaboli, was released April 24, 2007. A special edition version was released in a boxed case with a DVD, backward-printed lyrics, and a mirror. The album artwork was released on February 14, 2007 on a promotional webpage for the album. This album features the drumming of "Hellhammer" Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem. Blomberg left the band in mid tour in 2007 because of a neck injury that resulted in limited movement of his right arm. With the release of this album, Dimmu Borgir became the first black metal band with a number one album in their native country.

performing on Gods of Metal 2007.]]

In 2009, members ICS Vortex and Mustis independently announced their departure from Dimmu Borgir. Mustis released a statement claiming his disfavor with the band, stating that he was not properly credited for his writing contributions to the band's music, mentioning possibly taking legal action.

Dimmu Borgir soon after confirmed the pair's dismissal from the band, releasing a statement explaining why the two were fired. Shagrath, Silenoz, and Galder wrote, "Funny then, how the new album is halfway finished written already by the rest of us without any of these guys' input, still having all those elements we're known for." Silenoz explained that the growing periods of time between albums was because the band had stopped writing music while touring, which was affecting the quality of the music. He described the new album as having an "eerie and haunting feel to it," adding that the material is "epic," "primal," atmospheric and ambient. A promotional image released with the statement showed Shagrath returning to the keyboards. The album features an ensemble orchestra, the Kringkastingsorkestret (the Norwegian Radio Orchestra), as well as the Schola Cantorum choir, totaling more than 100 musicians and singers. Gaute Storaas, composer of the orchestral arrangements, released a statement on his role in working on the album. “Their music is epic, thematic and symphonic already from the creation; they are clearly having an orchestral approach to composing. My role in this is sometimes just to transcribe their themes, sometimes to take their ideas, tear them apart and build them back up in ways that are true to the band's intentions. The music must also be both interesting and playable for the musicians, and hopefully, meet the quality standards of the orchestral world.”

On July 8, the band confirmed that they had tapped Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw (Therion, Dream Evil) to replace bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex on the band's upcoming album, "Abrahadabra", and world tour. On August 25 it was announced that Snowy Shaw has left Dimmu Borgir to rejoin Therion. On September 17, 2010 Dimmu Borgir released the song "Born Treacherous" from their upcoming album Abrahadabra on their official MySpace page. Then on September 24 the band announced they would stream Abrahadabra in its entirety until 7 p.m. EST that evening. The keyboards and bass are currently played by Gerlioz from Apoptygma Berzerk and Cyrus of Susperia respectively, and the clean vocals are sampled. On May 28, 2011 Dimmu Borgir gave a very special one-off show at the Oslo Spektrum with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Schola Cantorum choir – being the first ever extreme metal band to play a show live with an orchestra and choir. A live album and DVD of the show titled "Forces of the Northern Night" with an accompanying documentary is scheduled for release later this year.

Influences

Dimmu Borgir's older releases (since 1992 to 1999) are strongly influenced by Darkthrone, Mayhem, Bathory, Emperor, Celtic Frost, Immortal, Venom and Iron Maiden.

Discography

Full-lengths

For All Tid (1994)

Stormblåst (1996)

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (1997)

Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999)

Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (2001)

Death Cult Armageddon (2003)

Stormblåst MMV (2005)

In Sorte Diaboli (2007)

Abrahadabra (2010)

EPs

Inn i evighetens mørke (1994)

Devil's Path (1996)

Godless Savage Garden (1998)

Alive in Torment (2001)

World Misanthropy (2002)

Misc.

Live & Plugged vol. 2 (1997)

World Misanthropy (2002)

The Invaluable Darkness (2008)

Forces of the Northern Night (2011)

Splits

Sons of Satan Gather for Attack (1999) – with Old Man's Child.

True Kings of Norway (2000) – with Ancient, Arcturus, Emperor and Immortal.

Band members

{| class="toccolours" border=1 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 style="float: right; width: 375px; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #E2E2E2;" |- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| For All Tid |

Shagrath – drums, vocals

Silenoz – guitars, vocals

Brynjard Tristan – bass

Stian Aarstad – keyboards

Tjodalv – guitars

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Stormblåst |

Shagrath – guitars, vocals

Silenoz – guitars, vocals

Brynjard Tristan – bass

Stian Aarstad – keyboards

Tjodalv – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Enthrone Darkness Triumphant |

Shagrath – vocals, guitars

Silenoz – guitars, vocals

Nagash – bass, vocals

Stian Aarstad – keyboards

Tjodalv – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Godless Savage Garden |

Shagrath – vocals, guitars

Silenoz – guitars, vocals

Astennu – guitars

Nagash – bass, vocals

Stian Aarstad – keyboards

Mustis – keyboards, piano

Tjodalv – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Spiritual Black Dimensions |

Shagrath – vocals

Silenoz – guitars

Astennu – guitars

Nagash – bass, vocals

Mustis – keyboards

Tjodalv – drums

ICS Vortex – clean vocals

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia |

Shagrath – vocals

Silenoz – guitars

Galder – guitars

ICS Vortex – bass, vocals

Mustis – keyboards, piano

Nicholas Barker – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Death Cult Armageddon |

Shagrath – vocals

Silenoz – guitars

Galder – guitars

ICS Vortex – bass, vocals

Mustis – keyboards, piano

Nicholas Barker – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Stormblåst MMV |

Shagrath – vocals, guitars

Silenoz – guitars, bass

Galder – guitars

ICS Vortex – bass, vocals

Mustis – keyboards, piano

Hellhammer – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| In Sorte Diaboli |

Shagrath – vocals

Silenoz – guitars

Galder – guitars

ICS Vortex – bass, vocals

Mustis – keyboards, piano

Hellhammer – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Abrahadabra |

Shagrath – vocals, keyboards

Silenoz – guitars

Galder – guitars

with

Snowy Shaw – bass, vocals

Daray – drums

|- ! style="background:#e7ebee;"| Recent line-up |

Shagrath – vocals

Silenoz – guitars

Galder – guitars

with

Cyrus – bass

Gerlioz – keyboards

Daray – drums

|}

Current

Shagrath (Stian Tomt Thoresen) – vocals (1992–1995), guitars (1995–1997), vocals (since 1995), bass (2005)

Silenoz (Sven Atle Kopperud) – rhythm guitars (1992–1995), rhythm guitars (since 1992), bass (2005)

Galder (Tom Rune Andersen) – lead guitars (since 2000)

with

Cyrus (Terje Andersen) – bass (since 2010)

Gerlioz (Geir Bratland) – keyboards (since 2010)

Daray (Dariusz Brzozowski) – drums, percussion (since 2008)

Former

Brynjard Tristan (Ivar Tristan Lundsten) – bass (1992–1996)

Nagash (Stian Arnesen) – bass, backing vocals (1996–1999)

ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs) – bass (1999–2009), clean vocals (1998–2009)

Tjodalv (Ian Kenneth Åkesson) – lead guitars (1992–1995), drums, percussion (1995–1999)

Astennu (Jamie Stinson) – lead guitars (1997–1999)

Nicholas Barker – drums, percussion (1999–2005)

Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) – drums, percussion (2005–2007)

Stian Aarstad – keyboards, piano (1992–1997)

Mustis (Øyvind Mustaparta) – keyboards, piano (1998–2009)

Session

Secthdamon (Odd Tony Ingebrigtsen) – bass (2007)

Snowy Shaw (Tommie Helgesson) – bass, clean vocals (2010)

Jens Petter – lead guitars (1996–1997)

Archon – lead guitars (2000)

Aggressor (Carl-Michael Eide) – drums, percussion (1997)

Reno Kiilerich – drums, percussion (2003–2004)

Tony Laureano – drums, percussion (2004–2005, 2007–2008)

Kimberly Goss – keyboards (1997–1998)

References

External links

Category:Norwegian black metal musical groups Category:Norwegian heavy metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1993 Category:Symphonic black metal musical groups Category:Spellemannprisen winners Category:Musical sextets Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups