(Left to right) Richard Maloney with Santa and Mrs. Claus
SEPTA's Santa Express
Thanksgiving weekend 2008

At the height of a broad and distinguished career, Broadcast Pioneers member Richard Maloney is one of the most credible, effective and creative communicators in the Philadelphia region. His major accomplishments include national distinction as a broadcast journalist and bold executive management in corporate communications, media relations and crisis communications. Since 1999, he has been Director of Public Affairs, of SEPTA (the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority).

Responsible for public affairs at the fifth largest public transit agency in the United States; during his tenure Maloney has restored media credibility to the authority during numerous communications crises, large and small. Most recently, Richard developed and implemented a crisis communications strategy for a protracted labor negotiation and week-long regional transit strike. As the chief spokesman for SEPTA, Richard Maloney garnered unanimous editorial endorsements from all major regional newspapers for SEPTA’s positions.

With the growing importance of web communications, Maloney implemented on the SEPTA web site the first “home page transit system status” of any transit system in the United States. Richard serves on the Marketing and Communications Committee of the American Public Transit Association.

From 1995 to 1998, he was the Senior Director of Public Relations/Operations for Independence Blue Cross. He was responsible for Public Relations and Media Relations for one of the largest managed care insurance companies in the United States and managed a multi-million dollar budget for the company’s wide-ranging involvement in civic, corporate, cultural and charitable affairs.

From 1990 to 1995, Maloney was Group Vice-President of Communications for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Responsible for all advertising, public and media relations for the 6,000 member chamber, he personally wrote and/or edited all speeches, public policy statements and government testimony by the Chamber before regional, state and federal agencies and authored all Chamber public policy op-ed commentaries published by general circulation and trade media. Maloney also conceived and produced the publication of a weekly Chamber newsletter on a full page of the business sections of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Tribune and Philadelphia Business Journal – at no cost to the Chamber. This marketing concept was unique in newspaper advertising. He also wrote and broadcast weekly business commentaries for the National Public Radio program “Marketplace,” which aired on over 100 radio stations nationwide, under the Philadelphia Chamber brand and managed a twelve hundred person Chamber event for the President of the United States.

From 1970 to 1990, he was a reporter for KYW Newsradio. During the decades of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Maloney was one of the most distinguished broadcast journalists at one of the nation’s foremost all news radio stations.

Among the numerous honors for his work as a journalist, he was the recipient of two DuPont Columbia Citations, the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism. The first was for his national reporting of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. The second, for a three-month nationally broadcast series of reports on the effects of the 1982 economic recession in rural America.

Maloney was the recipient of the National Distinguished Service Award from Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists, The Armstrong Award and the Abe Lincoln Award. The Overseas Press Club of America presented its Citation for Excellence to Richard for his national broadcast coverage of the two Papal funerals and elections at the Vatican in 1979.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio-Television-Film from Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater. Maloney served in the U.S. Navy as an engineer aboard the nuclear powered, Polaris missile submarine, Benjamin Franklin, completing five strategic nuclear deterrent patrols in the Pacific Ocean.

Richard is the emcee for SEPTA's Santa Express (as shown in the photo above). He says:

Each year, on Thanksgiving weekend, SEPTA sponsors the Santa Express. Trains filled with families converage at the Market East Station to welcome the arrival of Santa, and begin the shopping season. I traditionally MC the event for SEPTA.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo and originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Richard Maloney
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