Niklas Baarli – – I want to be a father

For more than half his life, Niklas Baarli (32) has worked with radio. When he was 20, he was brought in by NRK P3, and was on the state channel for eight years.

Now he is nominated for perhaps the most generous award during this year’s radio days, namely the audience award, together with colleagues Anne Sem-Jacobsen and Halvor Johansson in Radio Rock.

You can vote for the candidates further down the case.

– Has dedicated fans

“Get up!” is one of the ten nominated programs for the Radio Days’ audience prize, which will be awarded on Friday night during the Prix Radioshowet, which is Radio-Norge’s answer to “Gullruten”.

– We are happy with our listeners, and we have a large regular audience and dedicated fans on Facebook. We are a big, rock family, says Niklas Baarli.

Together with Anne Sem-Jacobsen and Halvor Johansson, he starts the day with music, fun and games.

– If we win, there will be a whirlpool with cigar and champagne at the Grand Hotel, says Sem-Jacobsen.

– This is a bit like David against Goliath. “Get up!” is small program, but our listeners are important. They are the ones who get up in the morning and build the country, says Johansson, who is captain of the team and the one who has been with Radio Rock the longest.

– Do not have peace in the ass

Baarli started working in August, and the following month it became clear that he would quit – and start in P5 in the new year.

– I got an offer I could not say no to, but “Get up!” and my colleagues are wonderful. But I do not have peace in my ass, and like to do a lot of different things. I have about five jobs, podcasts, TV 2 and radio, says Baarli.

He assures that radio is the big passion.

– It has been since I was 13 years old and made radio in the boys’ room. Then there were local radios, NRK, TV 2, Radio Rock and P5, says Baarli, who a couple of years ago came in 3rd place in “71 degrees north”.

Will adopt children

Niklas Baarli has been open about his homosexual orientation for almost 15 years, and he does not put a lid on his private life. For ten years he has been girlfriend and cohabitant with Benjamin Silseth.

– We got married last month, says Baarli.

The media profile says that he misses children, and dreams of becoming a father. The goal is to become one before he is 35 years old.

– It is a wish, and then we have to start now. Adoption is extensive and time consuming. Benjamin and I have talked a lot about it. Colombia is the only country that accepts gay couples to adopt, so we aim for that, he says.

Children of gays

Niklas Baarli believes that gay couples are just as good parents as heterosexual couples.

– Here we get emptied

– I have read that studies show that children of gay couples are happier than children of heterosexuals. It may be because they are very wanted, and that many gays put a lot of time, effort and financial resources into this, says Baarli.

He has also discussed the possibility of surrogacy with his spouse.

– It is possible to get a surrogate mother in the US, that a woman carries a child with our semen. But it costs over a million kroner, and is also extensive – and ethically not as simple. No, I think we are going for adoption, he says.

– Was it with a view to adoption that you got married in September?

– No, it was so far not. But now the conditions are right. I got engaged three years ago, but we did not have time to get married until now.

We do not have medication

Niklas Baarli is a sympathetic type, a guy who meets the gaze with a smile and commitment – if possible even more similar than what he shows on radio and television.

Marries: – Feels lucky pig

– ADHD. Do you think you actually have that diagnosis?

– Well, I guess I do not completely ignore it. But I do not need any medication, I would rather be the way I am.

He says that her husband is the exact opposite of him.

– Well, it’s just fucking painful

– We are very different, that is probably why we fit so well together. He is also a psychologist, and that comes in handy. You can probably say that I am «he patient».

Puts gay chess matte

The studio we are sitting in is suddenly occupied by a bunch of radio voices, with Alex Rosén at the helm. We are put in the hallway, and Baarli finds out that he is thirsty for coffee.

– I’m not even gay enough to have learned to make tea, he says – and Rosén breaks out a shaky laugh.

– You have a sense of humor and are a little naughty towards your own orientation?

– The advantage of being gay is that I can joke about it.

– It is a way to put the chess of homosexuality dull, a way to park homophobes – to say it out loud before they even manage to think it.

And the nominees are…

Here are all the nominees for the audience award:

Local radio: Hege Tepstad, Radio Metro and Radioshow, Radio Oracle.

NRK: Friminutt, NRK with Herman Flesvig and Mikkel Niva – Lørdagsrådet, NRK with Live Nelvik.

P4 groups: Michael Andreassen, P4 and the Mission with Johan Golden and Atle Antonsen, P4.

Bauer Media: Get up! Radio Rock and Morgenklubben with Loven & Co, Radio Norway.

Podcast: Harm and Hegseth, VG and Kristopher Schau, Cluster.

In radiodugnad

The Radio Days, which kicks off in Oslo on 28 and 29 October, is a professional conference for radio / podcast journalists. The conference ends with Prix Radio, which is an annual award ceremony and industry party for everyone who works with radio and podcasts in Norway.

Prizes are currently awarded in over 20 different categories.

– I was a bad dad

The award ceremony started in 2003. At that time, a total of nine awards were presented. The very first honorary prize this year was awarded to Lars Roar Langslet.

The organizer of Prix Radio is Foreningen Radiodager, consisting of Bauer Media, Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent), Norsk Lokalradioforbund (NLR) and Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK).

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