Rick O’Shea will step into a new gig on RTÉ Radio 1.
This week, it was confirmed that he would become the new presenter of Arena – the station’s flagship weeknight arts and culture programme.
Rick has been presenting the programme on an interim basis since the tragic loss of beloved presenter Seán Rocks last July.
Rick has long been a strong supporter of Irish arts and culture.
He runs The Rick O’Shea Book Club, which has over 40,000 members, and has held interviews with writers, artists, and performers around the country at festivals such as Cúirt, the International Literature Festival Dublin, the Dalkey Book Festival, and the Dublin Book Festival.
He has been a radio presenter with RTÉ since 2001. He presented The Rick O’Shea Show on 2FM for sixteen years before going on to host a weekday afternoon jazz programme, The Gold Lounge, on RTÉ Gold.
Arena features discussions and interviews across a broad mix of arts, culture and entertainment topics and themes, including music, dance, opera, literature, film, art and theatre, and arts and culture events taking place across the country.
Arena Presenter Rick O’Shea said: “Normally in this situation someone says how much they’re looking forward to a new challenge. Having been stand-in presenter of Arena since our wonderful and much missed colleague Seán Rocks died in July of last year, I can already tell you that presenting the programme is the most wonderful job on radio and that the Arena production team are the best in the business.
“Having spent most of my career talking to writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians in many settings, it will be an absolute honour getting to continue to shine a spotlight on work from them, as well as composers, artists, animators, conductors, playwrights, and curators every night on RTÉ’s flagship arts programme.”
