På Minuten

På Minuten (English: On the minute) is a radio entertainment program in Sweden similar to the BBC's Just a Minute. It is broadcast on Sveriges Radio P1 Saturdays at 3:03 pm in front of a live audience. The program is sometimes taped at Sveriges Radio, but sometimes the taping is done at Stockholm City Theatre's Soppteaterscen.^[2]

History

På Minuten was first broadcast February 18, 1969. It was the Swedish version of BBC's Just a Minute that had started just two years earlier. It was first broadcast in Malmö, Sweden with Herbert Söderström as host and Ulla Akselson, Agneta Prytz, Lasse Holmqvist and Per-Henry Richter as panelists.

On April 15, 1969, the production was moved to Stockholm, Sweden, Ursula Richter was made producer and Lennart Swahn took over as host. The panel was first made up of Catrin Westerlund, Moltas Eriksson, Stig Järrel and Olle Pahlin but it soon switched to the classic group of Margaretha Krook, Catrin Westerlund, Moltas Eriksson and Stig Järrel. Some of the reserve panelists were Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Åke Strömmer and Hasse Alfredson. Hasse Alfredson was later made a regular member of the panel after Catrin Westerlund passed away in 1982.

April 5 - June 14, 1975 six programs was made for television, as a part of the program Nöjeshallen.

After being on hiatus since 1988, the program was brought back by Erik Blix in 1994 with the title 60 sekunder (English: 60 seconds), before Ingvar Storm took over the as host in 1995 and changed the name back to På Minuten. His first panel was made up of Maja Aase, Fredrik Lindström, Carina Lidbom and Ulf Larsson. In the beginning, Ingvar Storm was also the producer of the show, but after some time Conny Sandberg took over that role.

The Program

The program takes the form of a competition where the panel members, in turn, will try to talk for a whole minute about a certain subject without breaking the rules (detailed below). If the opponents think they have heard something that goes against the rules they interrupt with an audible signal. The host then determines if the challenge will be accepted or rejected. If the challenge is rejected, the interrupted contestant get one point and continues on. If the challenge is accepted the one who interrupted gets one point and the chance to speak of the rest of the minute. If there is uncertainty about whether or not one of the rules has been broken, the host can refer the matter to "People's Court", i.e. the audience. First the host ask if the challenger should get the point, and after that asks the same thing regarding the interrupted contestant. The audience members answer by shouting "Yea!" when the host names the contestant that they agree with. The panelist who get the strongest acclamation gets the chance to speak for the rest of the minute.

At the end of the program the panelist with the highest score is announced as the winner. The prize is often something edible.

Rules

There are three ground rules which the participants must follow:^[3]

• No hesitation.
• No repetition.
• No deviation.

Removed rule:

• No factual errors.

Rules that have been added later:

• No leaving the premises. (Jokingly added by Lennart Swahn)
• No stealing anyone's approach to the subject.
• No snickering or laughing on your turn.

A combination of hesitation and deviation was introduced by Moltas Eriksson as homoeopathic dilution - a term which is originally from the field of homeopathy but is used here to mean a long chain of words that doesn't mean anything. Something like what Hans Rosenfeldt today usually refers to as "a stacking of words without any meaning within itself".

Scoring

• 1 point is given if a contestant challenges another contestant successfully or if a contestant is incorrectly challenged.
• 2 points are given if a contestant manages to end the minute.
• 3 points are given if a contestant to speak for the whole minute without interruption.^[4]

Notarius Publicus

The function of the Notarius Publicus is score keeping, timekeeping, bang the gong when the minute is over and to announce the winner.^[4] Since early 2012 Helge Skoog have had this role. His predecessor was the producer Bibi Rödöö who had this role since 2004. At the same time Helge took over after Bibi the role changed name to Notarius Publicus from Supreme Refugee. The title Notarius Publicus comes from the Latin for "Notary public"; however, the similarities, if any, are slim in this program.

Prizes

Until Bibi Röddö joined in 2004, prizes had not been a part of På Minuten. The first prizes were tin cans containing exotic food. Some of them were so exotic that the contestants did their utmost to let someone else win. After Bibi Rödöö had gone through most of what Stockholm had to offer in tin cans she started to bring home prices from her travels. After this the audience started to bring prizes of their own. These usually included local specialities like truffle from Gotland, chanterelle from Ludvika or fruitloaf with homemade marmalade. Later listeners abroad started to send prizes such as avocado crème from Israel, grasshopper lollipops from USA, arctic char from Canada and a meal for two from a Japanese arctic research station.

Foods are not the only prizes offered. Sometimes there are musical teachers whom offer their services under the motto "Learn how to play a instrument under an hour". The contestants are not allowed to choose which instrument they will learn to play, as this is decided before the show begins its recording. The winner usually plays or attempts to play a small musical piece with the aforementioned instrument at the beginning of the next program.^[5]

Differences from Just a Minute

The Swedish program has a slightly different interpretation of the rules compared to the British version.

• In Just a Minute the participants are allowed to repeat the same word in different forms like "apple" and "apples", something the participants aren't allowed to do in På Minuten.
• In Just a Minute the participants are allowed to repeat the words in the subject. If the subject contains the word "apple" the participant can say "apple" as many times as (s)he wants. In På Minuten the participant is only allowed to say a word once until he or she is interrupted or finishes the minute, regardless of whether or not the word is in the subject.
• In Just a Minute the participants are not allowed to repeat a word for the whole minute, whereas in På Minuten the participants are allowed to use the same words as many times they want within the same minute if they have been interrupted in between.
• In Just a Minute the rule on deviation from the subject is more strict than in På Minuten. Just a Minute often does not allow deviating from the truth, logic or the English language.
• The rule "No stealing anyone's approach to the subject" does not exist in Just a Minute.

References

1. ↑ SR|Scen, pictures from studio 4.
2. ↑ SR|Stadsteatern, Pictures from Stockholm City Theatre from På Minuten's website.
3. ↑ SR|Om Programet, information about the program from På Minuten's webbpage.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 SR|Överdomaren, About the supreme judge Bibi Rödöö from På Minuten's website.
5. ↑ SR|Prishistorik, the history about the prices in På Minuten from På Minuten's webpage.