John Murphy (born March 14, 1955) is an American sportscaster from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He is best known as the voice of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network and host of ''One Bills Live'' (formerly ''The John Murphy Show'') on

WGR WGR (550 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Buffalo, New York. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios and offices are located on Corporate Parkway in Amherst, and the transmitter site—utilized by WGR and co-owned WWKB—is in Ham ...

and

MSG Western New York MSG Western New York (MSG WNY) is an American regional sports network that is a joint venture between MSG Entertainment and Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The channel (also on occasion credited as ''Pegula Sports Network'' or ''MSG Buffalo'') i ...

. In addition to the Bills, he also served as commentator for the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

Golden Griffins,

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Am ...

and

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

Purple Eagles in the 1980s.

Early life and education

Murphy grew up in Lockport, New York. His father, Matthew Murphy, was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

; his brother Paul Murphy served as general manager of the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center until his death in December 2020. Murphy received a degree in broadcasting from the

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 1978.

Broadcast career

Murphy spent some of his early career at

WLVL WLVL (1340 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Lockport, New York, United States, the station serves the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area. The station is currently owned by Culver Communications Corp., Inc. ...

in his hometown of Lockport, calling high school sports contests. His broadcast partner at WLVL, Frank Williams, would go on to a long career as a play-by-play announcer himself, spending over 30 years at

WESB WESB (1490 AM) is a radio station licensed to Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is locally owned under the name "WESB Incorporated." Its sister station is WBRR. The station is a full-service music station with its own news dep ...

in Bradford, Pennsylvania, though Williams never advanced beyond high school sports. In November 1984,

Stan Barron Stan Barron (January 21, 1921 – November 27, 1984) was an American sports broadcaster. Barron, a native of New York City, and having previously worked in Joplin, Missouri, is best known for his work in Buffalo, New York, where he spent 32 y ...

, the longtime sports director at WBEN, died from thyroid cancer, shortly after calling the Bills' last preseason game of the year. Barron's short-notice death led to Murphy's immediate hiring; Murphy initially served in all of the same capacities that Barron did. Murphy served as sports director at WBEN from 1984 to 1992 and hosted a talk show on the station until 1995. In 1989, Murphy succeeded

Rick Azar Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

as WKBW-TV's 6 PM sports anchor, joining

Irv Weinstein Irwin B. "Irv" Weinstein (April 29, 1930 – December 26, 2017) was an American local television news anchor and occasional radio actor. He hosted WKBW-TV's '' Eyewitness News'' in Buffalo, New York, for 34 years, from 1964 to 1998, becoming an ic ...

and

Tom Jolls Tom Jolls (born August 16, 1933) is a retired television personality best known for his 34-year tenure at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. At WKBW, Jolls hosted "The Weather Outside" segments during ''Eyewitness News'', performed many of the station' ...

in Western New York's most popular (at the time) newscast. Murphy was named Sports Director in 1992, one year after the departure of Sports Director

Bob Koshinski Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

. He held the position for eighteen years, until September 2007, when Murphy balked at taking a twenty-percent pay cut, as other employees had done because of

Granite Broadcasting Granite Broadcasting LLC is a broadcasting holding company in New York City which owns one television station in the United States, in Syracuse, New York. Granite was founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988,

's financial problems. Murphy remained off television until his non-compete contract clause expired, after which he joined WIVB-TV, WKBW's crosstown rival, in March 2008, to become that station's sports director. He replaced longtime sports director Dennis Williams in the position. Murphy left WIVB in June 2012 to focus full-time on his Bills duties. During his time at WKBW, he made a cameo in the film ''

Bruce Almighty ''Bruce Almighty'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. The film stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains to God ...

'', the only WKBW anchor to do so.

Buffalo Bills

Murphy serves as the play-by-play voice of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) type ...

, a position he has held since the retirement of

Van Miller Van Miller (November 22, 1927 – July 17, 2015) was an American radio and television sports announcer from Dunkirk, New York, where he began his career at Dunkirk radio station WFCB calling play-by-play for high school football games. In the 1 ...

following the 2003 season. Murphy is best known for his association with the

. From 1984 to 1989, and again from 1994 to 2003, Murphy served as the Bills'

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and the ...

, alongside Miller. From 2012-2020, he hosted ''The John Murphy Show'', (later re-named ''One Bills Live''), a Bills-themed talk show on

in Buffalo. In May 2019, Murphy was announced as an inductee into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association's Hall of Fame.

Filmography

*''

'' (2003) (as himself)

Personal life

Murphy resides in Orchard Park and is married to former Orchard Park town supervisor (and former WKBW consumer affairs reporter)

Mary Travers Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burge ...

. Travers and Murphy were the first married couple to work at the same television station in Buffalo at the same time. The couple have two children.

References

External links

Biography
from WIVB-TV
Murphy on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2021
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, John Baseball announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers American radio sports announcers Living people Buffalo Bills announcers Buffalo Bulls football announcers National Football League announcers People from Lockport, New York S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni People from Orchard Park, New York Radio personalities from Buffalo, New York 1955 births