Rick O'Shea named as new presenter of RTÉ Radio 1's Arena

Rick O'Shea has been appointed as the new presenter of Arena, RTÉ Radio 1's flagship weeknight arts and culture programme.

O'Shea has been hosting the show on an interim basis since the death of Seán Rocks last July.

His appointment follows what RTÉ described as a robust selection process, with more than 200 submissions considered through an Expression of Interest call-out.

Arena has been a key part of the RTÉ Radio 1 weekday schedule since 2009, covering a broad mix of arts, culture and entertainment, including music, literature, film, art and theatre.

O’Shea has been a radio presenter with RTÉ since 2001. He presented The Rick O’Shea Show on 2FM for 16 years and also hosted weekday jazz programme The Gold Lounge on RTÉ Gold.

He is also well known for his work in Irish literary circles through The Rick O’Shea Book Club, which has more than 40,000 members, and through his involvement with festivals including Cúirt, the International Literature Festival Dublin, the Dalkey Book Festival and the Dublin Book Festival.

Welcoming the appointment, Head of RTÉ Radio 1 Tara Campbell said: "The Arena programme is the cornerstone of arts and culture content on RTÉ Radio 1. Rick O’Shea has done a stellar job in the presenter’s chair over the past number of months following the sudden loss of our dear colleague and friend Seán Rocks.

"I’m very confident that Rick and the wonderful team on Arena will continue to bring top quality interviews, news, reviews, musical and artistic performances and so much more from the world of arts and culture to listeners in the years to come."

Commenting on his appointment, 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."