Arild Rønsen

He was born in Oslo^[1] and grew up at Valle near Løren.^[2] He finished secondary education in 1974.^[1] During his time at Foss Upper Secondary School, he became involved with the anti-EEC movement in 1971 and spent the next ten years as a member of the Workers' Communist Party movement.^[3]

He entered the workforce as a typographer at the Petlitz printing press in 1976. In 1979 he was hired as a typographer in Arbeiderbladet and in 1982 in Klassekampen. After one year there, he advanced to shift leader. In 1985 he became editor-in-chief of the music magazine Puls.^[1] Rønsen became editor after the founder Tore Olsen resigned along with the editorial board to establish a competitor, Beat. Rønsen especially feuded with Beat's later editor-in-chief Tom Skjeklesæther. Skjeklesæther became known as a proponent of Americana and roots music, whereas Rønsen was more interested in British music.^[4] Puls declined along with the rest of the Norwegian music press, but after several years as an online magazine only, Rønsen managed to return as a printed magazine in 2008.^[5]

In 1991 he founded the publication Fire flate which was the official magazine of the Moldejazz festival. The newspaper was originally a supplement of Puls, which did not come out in 1992 and 1993 but was resumed in 1994 and printed in a circulation of 4,000.^[6] He was given the local award Molderosen i 2002.^[7] Following Rønsen's harsh criticism of a band on the 2021 festival roster, however, Rønsen was "sacked" in 2022, though all his work with Fire flate was unpaid volunteer work.^[8] Fire flate was also discontinued.^[9]

In 1996 he sat on the judges panel for TV 2's talent show Stjerner i sikte together with Trond Myhre (no) and Anita Skorgan.^[10] He also had a stint as a sports reporter in TV 2.^[7] Rønsen followed the sports club Vålerengens IF for several decades and wrote several books about them. In 2004 he penned Enga inside, a reportage that followed the milieu around the men's football team.^[11] Rønsen has also translated books such as Christopher Ciccone's My Sister Madonna, David Beckham's and Neil Young's memoirs.^[12]