ANY OUTLETS THAT shine a light on the Irish arts are precious these days, but none more so than the daily arts show Arena on RTÉ Radio One. Today came the terrible news that its stalwart presenter, the erudite, warm and witty Seán Rocks, has died aged 64.

You will see many tributes to him today, all extolling what a talented, informed presenter he was, a true champion of the arts. Seán Rocks himself probably would not have expected such an outpouring of love and sadness from strangers, because those of us who worked with him in any capacity did not experience him as a man seeking fame or attention.

I first met the Monaghan native in 2009, when I started contributing as a reviewer to RTÉ Arena. Back then he had just moved from Lyric FM, and he wouldn’t have known it but he taught me a huge amount about how to be a brilliant presenter, and how to up my game as a contributor. 

One could only wish for the combined gift he had of deep knowledge and an expansive love of the arts. Having been an actor himself, he could think about the arts from the point of view of both a performer/artist and an audience member. There was no artistic genre he wasn’t capable of talking about, and he was as adept interviewing an actor or director as an artist or writer. 

He also had the vanishingly rare characteristic of being incredibly informed while free from ego, and it was this which meant he could do a deeply interesting and probing interview without coming across as snooty. He clearly thought of the listener: what would they want to know? What interesting nugget could he discover on their behalf?

‘He took his role seriously’

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So many of us have had evenings and dinnertimes soundtracked by his great interviews. They were always filled with gentle curiosity; humour was deployed with ease. Artists clearly enjoyed talking to him because Seán cared about what he was doing; he cared about the arts, and he wanted to champion them. He took his role seriously. He treated every interviewee with respect.

I’ve mostly contributed to Arena as a music reviewer, though over the years I’ve contributed in other small ways too. It was and continues to be an incredible honour to get to contribute to the show in any capacity. My first thoughts when I heard the terrible news about Seán were of his family; earlier this year post-show we’d had a great chat about what his much-loved sons were up to.

But I also thought of his team, because Arena was not just Seán – it was and is a team who care as much as him about the arts and about art-makers. Together they endeavour to cover all aspects of the arts, from independent bands to literary awards. They look across the country and are not satisfied with focusing on Dublin above everything else. It’s a herculean job and I don’t want to think about what the country would be missing if Arena wasn’t on air.

A rare and welcome show

Many of us paying tribute to Seán today are freelancers and arts journalists who know what a precious gem Arena is. It’s given us work, it’s taken us seriously, and Seán always provided us with a welcome and rare opportunity to talk about the arts on air in an in-depth and serious way.

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RTÉ radio presenter Seán Rocks dies aged 64

But he had a cheeky side to him too. While doing reviews, we’d joke around often between songs. He would always recover with panache from our shenanigans just before the mic was back on. He might have had a look of divilment in his eyes when asking a probing question about an album, but he was never dismissive about even the most dire of records. He always treated the work with respect and the genres reviewed on Arena have always been incredibly wide-ranging. 

When I look back on my own career since 2009, even if I was only on Arena a handful of times in a year the show has always played a huge role in keeping me validated, informed and on my toes as a journalist. I think I can speak for all contributors when I say that you want to do your best on Arena. Seán Rocks would show up to the mic – with the great support of the Arena team – ready to do excellent work. You couldn’t show up and do half a job in response.  

There is a saying that you should ‘give someone their flowers’ before it is too late. I hope that Seán Rocks knew to some degree how respected he was, and how much his work on Arena has mattered to art-makers, journalists and art-lovers. We are all truly sad today, sad for his family, sad for the Arena team, sad for his colleagues at RTÉ, sad that we won’t hear him on air tonight.

If there is anything we can take from this terrible time, it is to treasure those who, like Seán, make an active contribution towards championing the Irish arts in a world that does not always value it.

I hope Seán Rocks’ family can glean some small comfort during this devastating time in seeing just how much he meant to the country. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Aoife Barry is a freelance arts journalist and author.