 I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful ThinkTek Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. My special guest today is a friend of mine who truly is a fantastic guy. He is the anchor of the number one rated sunrise morning show on Hawaii News Now. He is the one and only Steve Uihara and today we are going beyond the news. Hey Steve. This is weird. This is so strange. You're on the other side. Yeah it is. You know in our business we have a certain level of control. And we've we've I've just given all of the control over to you. I'm in control. Yeah. I'm like where are we going? I don't know. Rusty's driving. Yeah. Steve you and I went to Damien Memorial High School. Yeah. And when I was there I was a little older than you. Not much. Not much. Not much. But it was it's the most strict school. I mean the brothers they had paddles. They did. How was it when you were there? You know everyone that you talked to that came from a different generation. It they all have different experiences. So you probably talked to guys that went there in the 60s and 70s. Yeah. Their experience their experience is much different. Yeah. Right. So the the brothers that ran the school they were their boxers. And so you know there were there were a number of stories and I wouldn't be able to verify it just from what we've heard that you know they made examples out of some of the tougher kids in the class. Oh yeah. All of that was completely gone by the time we were there. But it was still you know it was it was different because it would be in the middle of August and September and we're you know we're the only school wearing ties you know and it's stifling but for everything that I think about I would I would I would never trade my experiences at Damien for anything else in the world. Me too. Me too. Yeah but that said I mean I don't know how you feel. I mean I think the way they've moved it kind of had to be done. Number one the business model wasn't working and so you know it's one of those things if we didn't do this if we didn't go away it was going to go away and so what what would you prefer is that they make changes or the school just becomes obsolete. And on the other hand I think you know for for us it was a different generation and so when we entered college it was just so different seeing females at school. Totally. For obvious reasons number one you have these teenagers that are now suddenly immersed in classrooms with female cohorts but but at the same time it's it's also even if you weren't romantically interested it's just speaking on a platonic level like being able to relate to them and you know what do you mean you're not going to hang out at the house all day Sunday and watch football. What's wrong with you you know we didn't we didn't understand that and so it's good that this next generation is you know a little bit more immersed in in that and and to be honest from from what I've heard because I still have friends that that are back in that school those the girls have come in and that they've definitely pushed the boys. Totally. It's good for competition too. I agree. Yeah. Now Steve what college did you go to and what did you study in college? So I went to the University of Hawaii for two years and then somewhere in the midst of that I just decided you know what I I would like to see what life is like on the mainland because you know local boy and you've never gotten off the rock and so I went and I found the national student exchange program and I looked up and there are all these different opportunities but I went to the Cal State University of Northridge. Nice. Just to see what it was like in LA you know and so I got there and I always knew that I wanted to write that was one thing and so I was going to get into into news and I was going to become a my dream rusty as silly as the sounds was I wanted to be a comic book writer. Okay. Another kid so that wasn't happening. My dad made sure that I knew that it was very clear from at that point but and then I went to LA and you know the professors there they were very hands on and so that department I kind of fell in love with Broadcast News from there. So what was your first official job that you ever had in your life? Outside of Broadcast News. Yeah. I worked at Little Caesars. Really? Pita Pita. Wow. In Mililani. Yeah. Yeah. I was cutting the crazy bread and you know serving it up. Wow. Cool. So Little Caesars and Burger King, Walmart, Blockbuster Video. Wow. Yeah. These hands are seen to work. Yeah. Now your family lives and your kids tell me about them. So Liz is now the director of foundation communications at Hawaii Pacific Health. Right. And you know I think about her and I always tell her and she you know she's yeah she's my hero you know. She was the first female force director here in Hawaii. Yeah. And I mean she worked hard to get to that point and here she is you know after her father died she she realized okay because the two of us were working in sports. She said well one of us has to have a normal life for us to start a family otherwise it was never going to actually happen and so she quit. We had a couple of kids and she's not only taking on a new career but she's flourished at it. I mean how many people can actually you know start from scratch and then completely rebuild and get to yourself get yourself to a level that you know that most people don't get to. She can. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was my boss back then. She's my boss now and we joke about it. Now she controls everything. Now she's legitimately my boss. Now Steve how did your TV career begin. So this is this is a long story. I don't know what we have half an hour. Briefly. Briefly. So I was I was interning while I was going to school in California and so every time I would come back I would talk to all the news directors and so one of the people that I talked to at the time was Jim McCoy who ran KHON who was the news director and nobody had jobs so I went back to school. I was going to get my teaching certification and halfway through that he called and he said you know we're about to launch weather. We've never done weather and so you know Trini was about to become you know the person the star that sat next to Joe and so they were looking at that time the weekend news anchor was Malia Matic and they were looking for a male weather person next to her and I'm like Jim I have no interest in this whatsoever. He was like no just come on dude come over and so I get in there and you know I tried to memorize some things I did some study I get to the I get to the green screen and I completely bomb completely bomb. And so afterwards he was like okay that that didn't work you know but you know would you like to come in and and you know just learn and and you know it's worked your way up and I'm like Jim that's exactly what I wanted that was my opportunity and so I started off as an assistant producer which is basically you're running the assignment desk and you're you're listening to scanners making phone calls making checks and then I became a producer over there and then for a brief point I was a news reporter and then I got into the the sports business so I became the third man at that time so at that time it was Jai Cunningham John Venere and myself doing sports over there. Wow and then what happened did you get let go? You know the story. Yeah yeah and I got let go for budget constraints and Rick at the time the two stations were owned by the same company and and Rick said you know we love you but we can't have you on board you know we can't have you as part of the staff so he let me go and all these things just kept going through my mind like this is it this is over and every year you know because it's such a high stress job and there's no guarantee that you're going to get to where you want to be and so every year I told myself I'm going to do two more years two more years one more year let's see if it materializes what I really want it to be and so this is the point where okay I didn't I didn't end my two years yet you know I'm like am I really am my dad you know who's working at the shipyard at the time and he hadn't retired yet he's like hey boy you know I can still pull you in he's like you let me know and I'm like oh dad I don't know because if I knew if if I burnt the bridge then then it was pretty much over right I wasn't going to go back and so a week later Rick ended up calling me because he was running KGMB at the time okay he's like okay you know come in I think I have an opportunity for you and so my friends always joke that I got let go from being the three spot in sports to being promoted over at KGMB you know and that was when I met Liz yeah and she became my boss and she's been my boss ever since so so Steve how how and when did sunrise start September 17 2007 was our first episode and it's been a ride and at the time it was I wouldn't say a risk it wasn't a risk because with Rick you always know that it's it's going to work you know and I remember even having this conversation because I was going from the weekend sports person to where I'm in charge of five minutes worth of sports seven max yeah to now and he kept telling me he's like are you ready for this because now you're at the time sunrise was only two hours that's another thing sunrise is only two hours an hour four and a half hours yeah he's like I'm trusting you with a two hour show like are you ready for this and I I remember there was one night it was it was Rick Rick Blanchiardi for those of you who don't know our news director is at the time Chris Archer and our news director now Scott Humber who at the time was our executive director and they're like okay I you know I had auditioned long story about that but anyway so I had auditioned and they were about to give it to me and okay are you ready and I'm like okay Rick and I know you don't like to hear this but I'm like I'm actually a little nervous I'm not sure you know because I've never done anything on this magnitude and you looked at me I will never put you in a situation where you can't you know he's like I will make sure that you can see nice yeah and you know when you have somebody with that kind of cloud and with you know that that kind of backing that makes sure that you know that you know whatever it takes he's going to make sure that you have your resources and have your opportunity I mean you know where else can you I'm like all right let's sign out let's do this wow yeah so sunrise has been the number one rated show for all of these years why why is sunrise so successful uh that's a good question it's a number of personalities yeah um but you know with with anything that our station does it's it's always about challenging you know Rick always has these meetings and he talks about you know okay that was great now what's next yeah now it's next you know and it's always and it's the same thing with everybody else that we have whether it's Scott or Ryan Wilson uh who is our executive producer now it's okay well that was that was excellent you know and he makes sure to give praise to every single person that you know obviously whether it's from Grace and Howard and everybody else and uh and Guy and and Lacey and and me like uh you know make sure that everybody has been mentioned and Billy um but then he's like okay now we're challenging you to this next step and to you know 2019 is going to be even better 2020 is going to be better than then in 2021 is going to be you know out of the park you know and so it I guess that's what it is it's it's kind of always looking to what we can do to improve um and a big part of that is is taking us out of our comfort our comfort zones we do a lot of we just showed a couple of pictures of some of the things we do on the road yeah where we go we immerse ourselves in a different place that we don't normally like you know we're not always in a studio and we go whether we're going to a neighbor island or if it's Hilo for Mary Monarch or Hawaii Island or what we we immerse ourselves within the community we talk to people and make sure we understand what you know what affects them and we do stories based off of that oh I get it yeah it's all about challenging and you know as a coach yourself it's it's about making sure we're not complacent yeah well now Steve you and Grace Lee okay you guys have such a great partnership together you guys have great camaraderie yeah how how is it working with grace you know it's funny and this dates back to when when we were all buddies yeah when we were going out um uh Grace and I were friends before yeah from back in the early 2000 she's great friends with Liz so what this actually started now that I think about it was when Grace so I was the last one to get hired so they they knew they were going to bring in Howard Grace was already hired Ramsey was the the reporter at the time Billy was doing things with the radio but he was going to be with us in partnership and Jeff Booth was our meteorologist and um and so I when I auditioned and I I was I was still doing sports and so the when Grace got hired she came back and they were like okay let's do some practice runs so when at the time I think it was Stacy Lowe was our weekend anchor and you know when Stacy was off and Grace anchored and it just so happened that Jeff was the meteorologist on the weekends and I was the weekend sports guy and so they saw that you know and they're like wow this works there's an actual rapport there and they feel comfortable and they can they showcase their personality totally and you know it's over the course of 12 years you know it's it's it's been a grind and Grace I love you but you know it's not you know every day is is different and you know just like any brothers brothers sister relationship there's days when I'm sure she doesn't want to be around me you know advice her so but you know we make it work because there's a mutual respect and there's a mutual love yeah Grace is absolutely fantastic now you know you've interviewed so many people on your show and one of the highlights for you is to interview someone like a coach Lou Holtz oh yeah now when you're interviewing someone like Lou Holtz what are some things that you ask him and what are some things that you want to know I like stories yeah yeah I think that's the best thing because you can always like okay what was it like you know you have this many wins or you know this many championships or you know giving that kind of perspective but if you can get someone like that who has so many war stories about the different players and all Americans and being on the stage I remember him I remember before that I had actually sat down and and he had given a presentation for the Notre Dame alumni oh yeah oh man he rattled off everything about you know that sinners versus saints with the Miami Hurricanes and you know oh man he went off and you know and he's still he's so sharp and he's remembering all his players I mean he remembered Sean's brother Jason who played with you know at Notre Dame you know under him and you know that's the when you get someone like that I mean you don't want to talk about perspective or you mean it's it's good to an extent but when you just get them rattling off story after story I mean that's what you want that's the that's the great yeah no I get it and he's so he's so inspirational yeah Steve we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back we're gonna continue going beyond the news excellent all right it's been good so far you're watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest Steve Oihara we will be back in 60 seconds hey hello everyone and welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studio my name is Andrew Lanning I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii we air here every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Hawaii time trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know issues that can protect your family protect yourself protect our community protect our companies the folks we work with please join us and I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer aloha hi guys I'm your host Lillian Cumick from Lillian's Vegan World and I come to you live every second Friday from 3 p.m. and this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism so we go through recipes some upcoming events information about health regarding your health and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle eat healthier and have fun at the same time so do join me I look forward to seeing you and aloha welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii my special guest today is the very successful anchor of the number one rated sunrise morning show on Hawaii news now he is Steve Oihara and today we are going to be on the news Steve you had the privilege of flying with the blue angels how was that experience it was it was exhilarating it was humbling it was nauseating out at the same time I mean that fit physically nauseating but you know it's also humbling because when you talk to all these other military personnel who were there gathered as you know because to them it's just the thrill to watch yeah and I remember talking one another said I would love to have this experience and I'm just wow you know here I am some schmuck from the media and I get to ride on a blue angel and you know somebody who's serving his country you know I wish there was way to a way to pay it forward and make sure but you know it was an honor absolutely it's also work resting I mean like they go over yeah yeah yeah yeah have you done it no oh yeah so they make sure so there's there's these exercises and they and it's very audible so they've um tightened your core and shove your your feet into the floor of the plane you know whenever they make those giant turns and it looks terrible by the way whenever you see those pictures but I mean it was it was exhausting because by the end I had a complete workout with Steve you know we put a picture yeah on on the show already yes but it doesn't really do it justice so no I want to play a video clip okay okay yeah what do you even practice that that was awesome at home for picture girls to see the bomb went I bet but this is just something fun to do for yeah there's some papers why does it have to demonstrate Steve I can watch that clip all day I can watch it all day and it's fun you know but you know the most humbling part about that too is that that pilot CJ I think his name is CJ Simon to the captain CJ Simonson yeah you know I'm I'm one of four people that he's taking on a ride wow so and and by the time I'm the I'm a complete mess my stomach you know I'm just like coming out and I actually I needed a baggie you know and he gets out he's like are you all right you you okay all right I'm gonna go use bathroom and I'll be back for the next guy you know it's nothing for him you know these guys are elite athletes you know well what a what a fantastic experience though oh yeah oh yeah and Steve you know for me I was so happy to be on your sunrise show over a year ago when my book first came out okay and I love the interview with us together yeah um tell me about what you like about my book beyond the lines you know for first of all I think it was you talk about who you like to have and it's always a it's always a neat experience when you get to like you're like oh my god my friend must be you know um but and we've had these conversations before and you always talk about in the sports realm especially you know you talk about elite athletes like well this guy did it and he did it by himself and you realize no that that's never the king that's never the king no matter how great the athlete is no matter how talented the person is in whatever field it starts with leadership and it starts at the top I mean we we talk about Rick Blangiarity I mean that's a huge reason as to why our station has done so well because we have somebody that you know number one everybody buys in because we look and there's obviously a leader you know and then number two he he has you know that kind of knowledge and that kind of vision that can take a team you know whether it's it's our team we're a football team like he did back in the day and he can take them to where they need to be you know and to succeed on whatever level so speaking of Rick Blangiarity I mean he's a he's a amazing leader yeah what else about Rick makes him a great leader okay so I like to answer in stories because I also I like it okay so so when he let me go from one station and then a week later he hired me back in the next and he sat me down and you know as to the third guy in sports I'd not had that much you know interaction with him as much as I had like the utmost respect but I'm sitting down in his his office and he's right there and I'm right here and he's like you know we are you know always the coach right he's like we are at the end of the day you can take this now and you can go into your new sports office and you'll be like yeah I'm the weekend sports anchor for KGMV you know but he's like or and then he leans into me you know his eyes locked in or you can stand up right now kick my door down and really take a hold of this opportunity you know and then he's like I don't think I have to tell you what I want you to do and if you know Rick it was obviously a lot more lively yeah but I was I was just stunned because I was like okay this you really want me to stand up I was supposed to kick his door is that what I was supposed to do but you know it's it's that like we were always talking about it's the next step in the process it's like okay yeah you got here but is this where you want to be you know because you could be better you know it's it's it's complimentary but it's also challenging and taking you to that next you know in terms of character I mean obviously he's a man of great character and so are you in the book I talk about that my first priority was to develop champion athletes of character first and then great tennis players second how important is character on your sunrise team oh you know I I think it's everything because in in a lot of other shows in a lot of other format I think you can get away with not having great character you know because you don't rely on each other so much yeah I mean we we got a four and a half hour show every single day you know there's a lot of you know I mean we don't always agree but you know we'll we'll argue we'll make sure that our opinions are heard and you know because it matters to us right we live here you know this these are our aunties and uncles and our moms and our dads and our friends and family you know we care so much about everything that's going on within our community and you know we we want to at least attack it the right way you know there's no right or wrong in how you do things so so much I think as you've thought it through you've talked to the people that are out there and you do it with respect you know and that's you yeah you know I always look at Howard Dijkus and I used to joke with him I'm like you know he always jokes about being the Malahinian he's like I gotta wear a little shirt because this is what I you know because I want to fit in I'm like Howard you know Hawaii as well as any local guy out there you know and you don't just know places you don't just know landmarks or any you know trivia you know people yeah you know and I think that's what we have on our show we have people that actually legitimately care about each other but also just about Hawaii because this is this is where we live and it comes across like that as well I hope so thank you now Steve I want to ask you have you ever had like a major adversity in your life I mean it I think we all have you know and I guess the main adversity like there's always death a couple of years ago I lost a good buddy of mine Eddie Gose and it was it was rattling and it was eye-opening because he's my age you know 40 40 years old 41 I think he was at the time like pancreatic cancer how does that happen but he was a he was a fighter he was a fighter he made it he made it two years you know most people don't go to and you know the the thing about Eddie was he was always always smiling and he's always joking and I always joke because my kids love Imagine Dragons and so for me it Eddie he did this joke once and he's like hey Steve I want to be the weather guy on your show and I was like because I know all about lightning and thunder you know and and so whenever Imagine Dragons eat that song comes on because I always think about him you know like thunder thunder lightning and the thunder yeah this Eddie song and my kids always sing it to this uncle's Eddie song and I'm like yes Eddie song man wow that's awesome yeah now Steve you know you're you're obviously very successful and your Sunrise program is hugely successful how do you define success oh wow that's a loaded question I think and you know my wife and I've I've gone over you know what what do we consider this right what do we want to make a lot more money you know do we want to take trips do we want to do that and you know it's and I know you know this the new millennial thing they talk about life balance you know but it's true to an extent right you've got to work hard yeah that's the thing is a it's not cheap living here no right by any means a stretch of the imagination but we got a you know we all got to work hard but you also have to find that balance you know what are you willing because you anybody can make more money if they want to you know yeah but okay well how much do I really want to dive into that you know and how successful um on the monetary level or you know with your job I mean I mean I guess it's it's it's it varies person to person you know but you know I will tell you this though the Sunrise crew and myself included you know we take this job very seriously like we've already mentioned yeah you know because you know you need people that are going to be out there in the community and addressing the issues that we address got it yeah Steve before we wrap I want to ask you one more question yeah what gives you fulfillment I and I guess that jumps off that same answer there and you know family you know that's the beauty of my job that's the one thing people always ask what time do you have to wake up I get I wake up at two o'clock in the morning which is pretty ridiculous but but I get off usually around 11 o'clock 12 o'clock and then I get to go home I'll usually take a nap and then I'll pick up my children who are seven and eight Jason Kayla if you're you're probably not watching you're watching but then I pick them up I get to go homework with them and then I get to take them to you know basketball practice soccer practice swim class you know and that's that's my zen you know I get to jump in with my kids and just kind of you know ride that ride and then Liz comes home at night and everything's complete I love it yeah Steve I want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today sharing all this yeah that's awesome sharing your insights a lot of people know who you are but we weren't rolling right that was that was a practice right but you you are a fantastic guy I mean you're very real you know on the show and off the show I mean people when they're watching you what they see is what what they get oh thanks Rusty thank you Steve that was fun that was fun thank you we'll do it again in 10 years and thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii for more information please visit RustyKamori.com and my book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble I hope that Steve and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs aloha