During the twentieth century, jazz in Sweden went from being undesirable to Sweden being one of the world's leading jazz nations. This study investigates what impact Sveriges Radio (Swedish Radio) has had in elevating the status of Swedish jazz, something that is usually credited to other factors during the 1940s and 50s. Furthermore, the study provides an answer to the questions how and why Sveriges Radio made this effort to elevate the status of Swedish jazz. The study accomplishes this by examining the history of Swedish jazz as well as the internal politics of Sveriges Radio and putting the two in relation to each other.  The results show that Sveriges Radio has been an advocate for Swedish jazz, more or less since jazz’s inception. By integrating jazz into more prestigious contexts and financing jazzgroups such as Radiobandet and Radiojazzgruppen, Swedish jazz became renowned internationally as well as popularized back home. The study also identifies two key factors as to why Sveriges Radio involved itself with Swedish jazz and its hierarchical standing. These are the pro-jazz music politics within Sveriges Radio as well as the number of jazz loving staff in key positions at Sveriges Radio that worked towards this goal.