Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company

Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company
Native name	Sveriges Utbildningsradio
Company type	Public service broadcasting
Industry	Mass media
Genre	Education
Predecessor	Sveriges Radio
Founded	1978; 46 years ago
Headquarters	Stockholm, Sweden
Area served	Sweden
Key people	Kalle Sandhammar [sv] (CEO)
Products	Production of cultural and educational programs for television and radio
Services	Television, radio, online
Parent	Foundation Management for SR, SVT, and UR
Divisions	Kunskapskanalen
Website	www.ur.se

Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company (Swedish: Sveriges Utbildningsradio or simply Utbildningsradion; UR) is a public-service corporation providing educational programming on radio and television.^[1]^[2]

The company is a member of the European Broadcasting Union and Nordvision.

History

The company originates from experiments with Skolradio [sv] (school radio) by the Skolöverstyrelsen [sv] (National Board of Education) in 1928, a business that became permanent in 1929. In 1931, Radiotjänst became the principal for its broadcasts. In 1961, test broadcasts of school television began, an activity that in 1964 merged with school radio. To this was later added SR's adult education and the activity was financed with tax funds.

In 1967, Kommittén för Television och Radio i Utbildningen (TRU), the committee for television and radio, was started in the education of the state as an experimental activity of sending wireless teaching materials to universities and preschools. The location was in Stocksund and the business continued until 1978 when it was taken over by the newly started Sveriges Utbildningsradio AB.

In 1978, an extensive reorganization was carried out in which Sveriges Radio (SR) was split into four subsidiaries owned by SR: Sveriges Riksradio [sv] (RR), Swedish National Radio; Sveriges Lokalradio [sv] (LRAB), Swedish Local Radio; Sveriges Utbildningsradio (UR), Swedish Educational Broadcasting; and Sveriges Television (SVT), Swedish Television. In 1985, the tax financing ceased and UR's program was financed by the television fee. In 1994, another reorganization was made and UR became an independent company.

Between 1999 and 2006, a series of books on the history of educational programs and UR have been published by Arkiv förlag [sv]. A total of 16 volumes were published in this series of publications. In 2016, UR was rejected by the Discrimination Ombudsman after placing a job advertisement where dark skin color was included in the applicant's qualifications.^[3]

Distribution

UR broadcasts their programming on Sveriges Radio's channels P1, P2, P3 and P4 as well as Sveriges Television's SVT1, SVT2 and SVT Barn. On 27 September 2004, Kunskapskanalen (The Knowledge Channel) started broadcasting. The channel is run as a collaborative project between UR and SVT. Each company accounts for fifty percent of the content and airtime.

Management

CEOs:

Börje Dahlqvist [sv] (1977–1986)^[4]
Lars Hansson [sv] (1986–1998)^[4]
Rolf Svensson (1998–1999, acting)
Christina Björk (2000–2009)
Erik Fichtelius [sv] (2009–2015)
Christel Tholse Willers [sv] (2015–2017)
Per Bergkrantz (2017–2018, acting)
Sofia Wadensjö Karén [sv] (2018–2023)
Kalle Sandhammar [sv] (2023–)^[5]

References

^ "Public service objectives" (in Swedish). regeringen.se. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
^ "UR in the news" (in Swedish). regeringen.se. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
^ Sundell, Joachim; Mokhtari, Arash (June 29, 2016). "UR fälls för diskriminering av DO". SVT Nyheter. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Arkivet - DN.se". arkivet.dn.se. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^ Levéry, Marie-Soleil (11 August 2023). "Kalle Sandhammar appointed CEO of Utbildningsradion" (Press release). European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 12 August 2023.