Kent Finell

Born

1944-07-12

Died

2013-08-27

Birthplace

Karlstad, Värmlands län, Sweden

Biography

Kent Floyd Finell, born 12 July 1944 in Karlstad was a Swedish radio presenter. He was the longest-serving host of the radio chart show Svensktoppen, presenting it during 1973–1975, in 1979–1980, and from 1987 to 2002. Finell completed his commercial studies in 1965. Between 1962 and 1966 he worked for the newspaper Värmlands Folkblad. In 1966 he was given a permanent position as a sports and news reporter at Sveriges Radio in his hometown. In 1969 he moved to Stockholm, where he was employed as a producer in the radio entertainment department. His first assignment was the traffic programme På väg, which he hosted for several years. From 1970 to 1973 he co-hosted the programmes Gomorron and Vardags with Mona Krantz. In 1973 Finell took over as host of Svensktoppen from Ulf Elfving. For ten years he presented the programme Kavalkad, succeeding Carl-Eiwar Carlsson, and for an equally long period he hosted Nöjesprofilen. Finell also worked for several years as producer of Frukostklubben with Sigge Fürst. During the summers he travelled around Sweden recording the radio programmes Marknadsgyckel and Turist-Sverige runt, and he created the programme Skvallerbyttorna. In 1991 he left his permanent position at Sveriges Radio and worked for five years at Allers publishing, after which he became a full-time freelancer. In the same year he was appointed ambassador of Filipstad. Finell is buried at Galärvarvskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm.