Jakob Sæthre Skarstein is a Norwegian radio personality.

He was born in Ålesund

Ålesund

is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre, and the center of the Ålesund Region. It is a sea port, and is noted for its unique concentration of Art Nouveau architecture....

 as the son of civil engineer Karl Skarstein (1892–1941) and Svanhild Sæthre (1898–1941). After taking his examen artium

Examen artium

Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...

 in 1940 he moved to Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 in 1941, where he took miscellaneous education and jobs. He participated in the Bergens Dramatiske Klubb, illegal during the German occupation of Norway. In May 1945, when it became clear that Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 would lose World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Skarstein was asked to prepare free radio broadcasts to be used after the liberation. The Germans left the radio studio of Bergen— in Strandgaten—on 9 May. This day, Skarstein's first radio broadcast took place. He was soon employed by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, and spent his career at the regional office in Bergen, with short exceptions. He is especially became known for the program Middagsstunden, created in 1966. During the Bergen International Festival

Bergen International Festival

Bergen International Festival is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway. The festival is the largest in the Nordic countries in its genre and has a large number of activities in music, dance, literature, visual arts, folklore etc...

 he headed the program Festspillopper. In 1965 he married his assistant from the latter program, later television presenter and politician Inger-Lise Haug

Inger-Lise Skarstein

Inger-Lise Skarstein is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party.She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland in 1977, and was re-elected on two occasions....

.

Skarstein also wrote ballads, revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...

s, radio drama

Radio drama

Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...

s and participated in amateur theatre. He wrote a songbook for the city of Bergen, Den nystemte, which was released in 1973 and re-released in 1993.