Jonathan Øverby, originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States, began his career in radio as a student sports play-by-play announcer at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee. As a Ford Foundation Academic Scholarship recipient, Jonathan attended San Francisco State University, where he received his formal undergraduate musical training in voice and choral conducting. In 2016 Rufus King presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Upon returning to Wisconsin, Jonathan began performing extensively throughout Wisconsin, the U.S., and Europe with some recital tours in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Poland. For nearly two decades, he produced and hosted "The Best of Gospel with Jonny O." on Madison's W.O.R.T. Community Radio station. The program, which he created in 1984, still airs and retains its original title today.
Øverby served from 1984-87 as music director for Pres House Campus Ministry on the UW-Madison campus. From 1984-1987, he also served as an Edgewood College Artist In Residence in the music department — conducting both the College Choral and the Community Choir.
· In May 1994, Jonathan joined Wisconsin Public Radio as a Sunday morning talk-show host on The Ideas Network of W.P.R. In 1996, he shifted to hosting and producing a live Saturday night variety show for W.P.R.
From 1991-2003, he served on the Wisconsin Arts Board with two terms as the board's vice-chair. September 9, 2007, he created a new music program on Wisconsin Public Radio as host and executive producer of the current four-hour broadcast heard weekly on the NPR News and Music Network of Wisconsin Public Radio - "The Road To Higher Ground with Jonathan Øverby.” The musical theme that opens each edition of the broadcast was composed and written by Jonathan and features the Lighthouse Chambers Singers, a choral ensemble he founded and conducted from 1993-2010. From 2000-2010, he also led the big band, Highway To Heaven.
July 1, 2013, University of Wisconsin Extension Chancellor Ray Cross conferred on Dr. Jonathan Øverby the prefix title of "Distinguished" Wisconsin Public Radio Broadcaster for his efforts as a radio producer, host, and his community service statewide. September 1, 2013 – December 2017, he served as a member of the doctoral faculty at Edgewood College, where he instructed postgraduate students in Administrative Leadership In Higher Education. September 2014, Øverby became the first Post-Doctoral Fellow in the nearly 150-year history of Edgewood College. His four-year Joseph E. Schmiedicke Fellowship advanced his field research linked to "sacred world music and its potential to create greater understand of those who are different as a means of reducing human hatred."
In 2015, Jonathan was elevated to Chief in the Warmeru Tribe, Arusha, Tanzania. A member of the Society For Ethnomusicologists, Jonathan continues to share his research, insights, and travel discoveries on his weekly radio broadcast through guest lectures, presentations, and speeches to community organizations and universities in Wisconsin and beyond. September 22, 2016, U.W. Colleges and UW-Extension Chancellor Cathy Sandeen, presented Dr. Øverby with the "Wisconsin Idea" Award for his "outstanding contributions to service and education to society, and the quality of life in Wisconsin, the nation and the world."
Dr. Øverby has traveled extensively globally with multiple independent research and tour group-led excursions to Scotland, Tanzania, Cuba, Ghana, Canada, Peru, India, the Caribbean, and Japan. Some have been on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. The Cuban Institute of Music in Havana, Cuba, invited Dr. Øverby to join other international scholars to attend the country's 2020 annual El Institutio Cubano de la Musica conference. The Canadian Annual Folk Music Awards organization also invited Dr. Øverby to attend their 2020 annual event in Prince Edward Island (both events postponed to the Covid Pandemic).
Dr. Øverby is the founding director of Africasong Communications, a not-for-profit statewide agency dedicated to education, music productions, and community service. In addition, he is the executive producer and director of Wisconsin's Official Annual State "Tribute & Ceremony" honoring The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the oldest M.L.K. state ceremony in the nation now in its 40th year. Øverby, lyric baritone, lecturer, conductor, and ethnomusicologist, holds several degrees, including a Master's in Religious Studies and a Doctorate in Administrative Leadership in Higher Education from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin.
Today, Øverby continues his travels and research on world music with 2022-23 excursions and tour-led trips planned for travel to South Africa, Barcelona, Cuba, Spain, Australia, and Tibet. In addition, his production of W.P.R.'s "The Odyssey Series - Live" program begins its second season in the fall of 2021 with a new framework titled "The Odyssey Series From Home."
He also founded and conducted the Columbus Chamber Choir in Columbus, Wisconsin. Finally, in February of 2021, Overby launched "The Forward Together As One," a podcast centering on conversations shaped to listen, learn, and lead on how together we can make Wisconsin a better to live for all.
Most importantly, Dr. Øverby holds that "people might better understand the human condition through varied traditions of sacred world music, which may have the potential for building bridges between diverse groups while illuminating and celebrating cultural diversity and the inclusion of marginalized groups."