Rick O'Shea
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the radio personality. For the comic strip, see Rick O'ShayRick O'ShayRick O'Shay is a Western comic strip created by Stan Lynde in 1958. It was distributed worldwide through the Chicago Tribune Syndicate until publication ended in 1981.-Characters and story:...
.
Rick O'Shea (born Paul Crossan on 7 May 1963) is an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
. He was born in Drimnagh
Drimnagh
Drimnagh is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the Southside of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordering the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12.-Early to Medieval:...
, Dublin 12 and attended Drimnagh Castle CBS and later University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
(UCD). He is a DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
on RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's second national radio station. It broadcasts popular music programming aimed at a young Irish audience.- History :...
.
Radio
The name "Rick O'Shea" was assigned to him when he first began working for national UK radio station Atlantic 252Atlantic 252
Atlantic 252 was a long wave radio station broadcasting to Ireland and the United Kingdom on 252 kHz from its 1988 purpose built transmission site Clarkstown radio transmitter, which provided service to Atlantic 252 from 1989 until 2002. The station's studios were located just 12 km away in...
at the age of 20. When Rick moved to FM104
FM104
FM104 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited , and is a subsidiary of UTV Radio. The station broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland...
and later RTÉ 2FM he retained the name. O'Shea worked at East Coast Radio
East Coast FM
East Coast FM is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland...
and South East Radio under his real name.
Rick has been a presenter on RTÉ 2FM
RTÉ 2fm
RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's second national radio station. It broadcasts popular music programming aimed at a young Irish audience.- History :...
since 2001 and currently hosts a lighthearted listener participation driven talk and music show on RTÉ 2FM weekdays from 2pm - 4.30pm. Rick and "side-kick" Cormac Battle
Cormac Battle
Cormac Battle is an Irish musician and radio presenter/producer. He is the vocalist and lead guitarist with the bands, Kerbdog and Wilt as well as the current presenter of RTÉ 2fm's alternative music programme, The Battle Axe . The show airs each Sunday night from 19:00 - 22:00...
's daily repartee includes discussing the more trivial side of world news, pop-culture and Rick's obsession with the TV Show House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
.
Rick also presents the 2XM new music show "Dawn of The Deadly" Mondays at 7pm repeated on Thursdays at 11am and Sundays at 4pm.
Brainwave
He was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 16 and has blogged about one of his seizures http://ricksbreakfastblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/scaring-tyre-fitters.html. In March 2006, Rick became a patronPatrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...
of Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association. A charity single, Tinsel and Marzipan
Tinsel and Marzipan
"Tinsel and Marzipan" was a single released by Pugwash and Friends in Ireland in December 2006. All proceeds from the sale of the single were donated to the Irish Epilepsy Association Brainwave...
, sung by Pugwash
Pugwash (band)
Pugwash is an Irish pop band fronted by Drimnagh-born musician Thomas Walsh. Pugwash has released four albums since its debut LP Almond Tea in 1999. The band signed a five-year deal with XTC founding member Andy Partridge's label Ape House in 2009...
and Friends (including Mundy
Mundy
Mundy is an Irish singer-songwriter. 'Mundy' is a nickname given to Enright, as it not only refers to his name Edmund, but it is how he pronounces the word "Monday".-Biography:...
and Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon
Neil Hannon
Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy...
) was released in Ireland in December 2006 to benefit Brainwave.
He is an active ambassador for the charity and in 2011 appeared in an information video on behalf of Brainwave highlighting the correct First Aid procedures for Seizures.
Online
O'Shea is well know amongst the blogging community in Ireland and as well as having his own blog was a contributor to others such as The Dublin Community Blog and founder of the Post-Secret-esque The Lives of Others.In April 2006, he was the host of the inaugural Irish Blog Awards, as well as a nominee and in 2008 he took home to trophy for Best Pop Culture Blog. He has since been the regular presenter of the annual Irish Web Awards and Irish Social Media Awards ceremonies. In 2010 he announced his permanent retirement from blogging but continues to have a regular presence online on his Twitter page and his radio show's Facebook page.
O'Shea has been nominated for 3 PPI National Radio Awards, winning a bronze award in 2011. He's also been three times nominated for Best Irish DJ at the now defunct Meteor Music Awards
Meteor Music Awards
The Meteor Ireland Music Awards are a group of music awards in Ireland...
. In 2009 he was the winner of Entertainment.ie's "Sexiest Radio Voice" award and was quoted as saying "This is the first thing I've ever won in 16 years of being a broadcaster. I am thus very excited and hideously embarrassed at the same time. Thanks."
Trivia
- On Monday 28 May 2007, while interviewing actor and singer Jason DonovanJason DonovanJason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
on his radio show, he mentioned Donovan's previous role as JosephJoseph (Hebrew Bible)Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
. O'Shea then spoke of his part as narrator in the play as a 16 year-old where he stood at the side of the stage wearing a stick-on beard. - On Thursday 24 July 2008, while guest hosting The Gerry Ryan ShowThe Gerry Ryan ShowThe Gerry Ryan Show was RTÉ 2fm's mid-morning radio show...
on RTÉ 2FM, he became the first Irish DJ to use a live Twitterstream as a back channel on national radio. - Richard WhiteleyRichard WhiteleyJohn Richard Whiteley, OBE DL , usually known as Richard Whiteley, was an English broadcaster and journalist. He was famous for his twenty-three years as host of Countdown, a letters and numbers arrangement game show broadcast most weekdays on Channel 4...
noted that he would have called himself Rick O'Shea if he had been an Irish DJ after a contestant made up the word ricochet on the Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
game show CountdownCountdown (game show)Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
. - In January 2011, he ranted on air about the lack of information on his Wikipedia page.
- On 24 March 2011, Rick posed the question to the nation "What questions would an Irish Citizenship Test include?" The topic later became a global trend on Twitter under the hast tag #citizenshiptest.
- In July 2011, O'Shea played the Kazoo live on air in accompaniment to Pugwash's "Answers On A Postcard".
- In May 2011, Andrea CorrAndrea CorrAndrea Jane Corr is an Irish musician, songwriter and actress. Corr debuted in 1990 as the lead singer of the Celtic folk rock and pop rock group The Corrs along with her three elder siblings Caroline, Sharon, and Jim...
, former lead singer with The CorrsThe CorrsThe Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
, gave a special on air concert during the show. After her performance O'Shea presented her with a birthday cake as she had recently celebrated her 37th birthday.