There are programming hires that require a lengthy explanation of why the pieces fit. This isn’t one of them. Malama Media Group has named veteran programmer Rick Thomas Senior Vice President of Programming, handing him oversight of the company’s Honolulu stations while also putting him in position to help shape the programming strategy of future acquisitions. And when you consider Thomas’ extraordinary résumé, his previous leadership experience in Hawaii and the sheer number of major markets and legendary brands that have appeared on his business card over the years, this feels less like somebody taking a chance and much more like Malama recognizing that one of the most logical people for the job already knows the territory.
Thomas arrives at Malama following his most recent run with Beasley Media Group in Tampa, where he oversaw Country 99.5 WQYK and Classic Hits Q105 WRBQ.
But the really important part of this story isn’t where Rick Thomas just came from.
It’s where he’s going back to.
Honolulu Isn’t New Territory for Rick Thomas
Thomas previously served as Vice President of Programming for Ohana Broadcasting in Honolulu.
That’s a huge piece of this appointment.
Hawaii is not simply another collection of call letters where a programmer can arrive with a national playbook, change a few clocks and assume what worked on the mainland will automatically work there.
Honolulu is Honolulu.
The culture matters.
The history matters.
The personalities matter.
The relationship between a station and the community matters.
And having somebody in the programming chair who already understands the market gives Malama an enormous advantage as it builds its operation.
Rick isn’t being introduced to Hawaii.
He’s returning to it.
And he’s coming back with even more experience than he had the first time.
Just Look at This Programming Résumé
This is where the story gets ridiculous.
Over the course of his career, Thomas has programmed, managed or provided strategic programming leadership across New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Tampa, Sacramento, Milwaukee and Honolulu, among other markets.
He’s programmed stations including WBMP New York, KTWV and KRTH Los Angeles, XHTZ and XHRM San Diego, WLUM Milwaukee, KYLD San Francisco and KSFM Sacramento.
He’s served in senior programming and operations positions for companies including Beasley, Cox Media Group, Clear Channel, SummitMedia, Max Media and Ohana Broadcasting.
And look at the formats.
Top 40.
Rhythmic.
Hot AC.
AC.
Classic Hits.
Country.
This isn’t somebody whose entire programming philosophy was developed around one format in one market during one particular era.
Rick Thomas has seen radio from just about every angle imaginable.
He’s watched the business change.
He’s watched audience behavior change.
He’s programmed through technological changes, ownership changes, consolidation, streaming, social media and the evolution of what it even means to be a “radio station.”
And he’s still programming.
That matters.
Malama Is Hiring for More Than Honolulu
Perhaps the most interesting words in this announcement are “future acquisitions.”
Thomas isn’t merely being handed responsibility for the stations Malama operates today.
His role includes helping develop programming strategies for properties the company may acquire tomorrow.
That tells us something about Malama’s ambitions.
If you’re thinking about growth, you don’t simply need somebody capable of programming a station.
You need somebody who can look at a market and ask:
What is missing?
Where is the opportunity?
What format fits the signal?
What audience isn’t being served?
What existing brand has untapped potential?
What talent should be developed?
What should be local?
What should be shared?
And perhaps most importantly in today’s radio environment:
How do we make this station matter enough that listeners deliberately choose it?
Rick Thomas has spent decades answering versions of those questions.
Now he gets to help answer them for Malama.
A Personal Note From On The Dial President & Publisher Steven Mills
I’ve followed Rick Thomas’ work through this business for years, and this is one of those appointments that simply makes sense.
Rick is a radio programmer’s programmer.
His résumé speaks for itself, but résumés don’t completely explain what decades of programming experience actually mean.
It means you’ve had great books and terrible books.
You’ve launched things that worked.
You’ve probably launched something somewhere that didn’t.
You’ve hired personalities who became stars.
You’ve coached talent.
You’ve sat through research.
You’ve stared at music logs.
You’ve competed against extraordinarily good programmers.
You’ve had companies change direction underneath you.
And you’ve learned that the fundamentals of great radio still come down to understanding the audience, the market, the talent and the moment.
Rick has done that across an incredible collection of markets and formats.
But what makes this appointment especially compelling to me is his history in Honolulu.
Malama isn’t bringing in someone who has to learn Hawaii from a spreadsheet.
Rick knows the market.
He has programmed there.
He understands that Hawaii is its own extraordinarily unique radio environment.
Combine that history with everything he’s learned since his previous Honolulu chapter, and it’s difficult to imagine a more logical fit for what Malama appears to be building.
Congratulations, Rick. This is a good one.
— Steven Mills, President & Publisher, On The Dial
And Don’t Miss the Bigger Story
Radio spends an enormous amount of time chasing whatever is supposedly next.
AI.
Digital.
Podcasting.
Video.
Creators.
Connected dashboards.
All of those things matter.
But there is still tremendous value in something considerably less fashionable:
Experience.
Experience doesn’t mean resisting change.
The best veteran programmers survived long enough precisely because they kept changing with the business.
Rick Thomas has programmed through multiple generations of radio.
He’s worked with different formats, different audiences, different ownership groups and dramatically different competitive environments.
Now Malama gets that accumulated knowledge plus somebody who already understands Honolulu.
That’s a potent combination.
Welcome Back to Hawaii, Rick
This isn’t simply another stop.
It’s a return.
A veteran programmer with an enormous national résumé is coming back to a market where he already has history — except this time he’s arriving as SVP of Programming with a mandate extending beyond today’s stations and into whatever Malama Media Group builds next.
That’s the part we’ll be watching closely.
Because if Malama is preparing to grow, the company has now identified the person it wants helping decide what that growth sounds like.
And Rick Thomas has spent a lifetime learning how to answer exactly that question.
From all of us at On The Dial, congratulations to Rick Thomas and Malama Media Group.
Aloha back, Rick.
You’ve programmed a whole lot of radio in a whole lot of places.
Now it’s time to make some noise in the islands again.
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