Its current format – focusing on news and current affairs, debate, analysis, culture, science, and society[1] – is the result of the NRK radio channel reform initiated in 1993 by radio director Tor Fuglevik.

In style and content, the channel is similar to the Danish DR P1 and the Swedish SR P1.

The original P2, established as NRK's second radio channel in 1984, had carried lighter programming.

The last transmitters radiating P2 on FM were switched off on 13 December 2017,[2] and the channel is now receivable only via digital audio broadcasting (DAB+), satellite TV, and internet.

The opt-out feed ceased to exist when the FM senders in Troms and Finnmark were shut down on 13 December 2017, which also spelled the end of Kven or Finnish timeslots on any NRK radio station, with the final Finnish newscast being on 6 December 2017.