Mike Murphy (sports radio personality)
Encyclopedia
Mike Murphy is an American
sports radio
personality, who hosted The Mike Murphy Show on Chicago's
Sports Radio 670 The Score
. His last show aired on June 12, 2009.
Mike "Mad Bugler" Murphy was a founding member of the Left Field Bleacher Bums, a group of dedicated Chicago Cubs
fans who sat in the left field bleachers of Wrigley Field
and rallied the team in the late 1960s and 70s.
, a Chicago rock radio station, which was founding a new sports talk radio station, The Score
. Murph originally hosted a weekend show on WSCR, but eventually moved to weekdays, where he hosted "The Mike Murphy Show".
. Segments included:
The Mike Murphy Shows theme song is sung by Howard Berk.
In June 2009, it was announced that Murphy's program would be dropped from WSCR's lineup later that month to make room for Dan McNeil's "Danny Mac Show." It was subsequently disclosed that he remained off the air since then, and that his contract expired in May, 2010.
In June 2010, Murphy sued WSCR's ownership, CBS Radio, over a right of first refusal
clause in their contract that prevented him from seeking employment within 50 miles of the station for 90 days before and 6 months after terminating employment with CBS Radio, unless he gave CBS the right to match the offer.
Mike Murphy returned to radio on WMVP-AM (1000) on Sunday April 23 2011 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the baseball season. His show, which he will co-host with Fred Huebner, reunites the duo from their WSCR days.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sports radio
Sports radio
Sports radio is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A popular format with an almost exclusively male demographic in most areas, sports radio is characterized by an often-boisterous on-air style and extensive debate and analysis by both hosts and...
personality, who hosted The Mike Murphy Show on Chicago's
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Sports Radio 670 The Score
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
. His last show aired on June 12, 2009.
Mike "Mad Bugler" Murphy was a founding member of the Left Field Bleacher Bums, a group of dedicated Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
fans who sat in the left field bleachers of Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
and rallied the team in the late 1960s and 70s.
Career
Mike Murphy started broadcasting in April 1990 for WLS, a talk radio station in Chicago, hosting a weekly show on Sunday nights called "Fan Talk". Murph would host this show for 18 months, before he was approached by WXRTWXRT
WXRT, also known as WXRT 93.1, XRT, and 93-XRT is a AAA radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". WXRT is a primary sponsor of the Chicago nonprofit Rock For Kids.-History:...
, a Chicago rock radio station, which was founding a new sports talk radio station, The Score
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
. Murph originally hosted a weekend show on WSCR, but eventually moved to weekdays, where he hosted "The Mike Murphy Show".
The Mike Murphy Show
The Mike Murphy Show aired on Sports Radio 670 The ScoreWSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
. Segments included:
- What's Your Beef? sponsored by Brown's Chicken: Callers voiced what was "beefing" them in the world of sports. The best "beefs" deemed by Murph won gift certificates to Brown's.
- Tool Of The Week sponsored by RentalMax: Callers voiced what figure in the world of sports who had, through their actions or words, proved to be the biggest tool in the past week. The figure with the most votes was deemed "tool of the week".
- Stat Of The Week with John Dewan: Chicago sports statistician John Dewan, owner of Baseball Info Solutions, called Murph every Tuesday to give an insightful sports statistic.
- Swami Murph: The swamiSwamiA swami sometimes abbreviated "Sw." is an ascetic or yogi who has been initiated into the religious monastic order founded by Adi Sankara, or to a religious teacher.The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology as...
and his caller guest swamis gave their humorous predictions, always prefaced with "I predict...."
- Compressed Columns: Murphy reviewed sports columns of interest to him that appeared in that morning's newspapers, stating that he did so for those who did not have time to read them.
- Murph Moment: a personal opinion segment.
- Murph Minute: Murphy talked Cubs post-season baseball; also used as a promotional announcement during other programs.
- Random Tapes: A segment when an old tape recording, somewhat relevant to a current sports event, was played.
- The Fans' Court: "Judge Murphy" took calls from "jurors" on who was to blame for a sports debacle.
- Sports Spurts: Originally, callers were required to recite a grammaticallyGrammarIn linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
correct sentenceSentence (linguistics)In the field of linguistics, a sentence is an expression in natural language, and often defined to indicate a grammatical unit consisting of one or more words that generally bear minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it...
on a sports topic, making various spittingSpittingSpitting or expectoration is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva or other substances from the mouth. It is currently considered rude and a social taboo in many parts of the world including the West, while in some other parts of the world it is considered more acceptable...
sounds for the punctuationPunctuationPunctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
; however, when brought back after a 5-year hiatus, most of the rules about grammar and punctuation were abolished, the only requirement being one simple sentence.
The Mike Murphy Shows theme song is sung by Howard Berk.
In June 2009, it was announced that Murphy's program would be dropped from WSCR's lineup later that month to make room for Dan McNeil's "Danny Mac Show." It was subsequently disclosed that he remained off the air since then, and that his contract expired in May, 2010.
In June 2010, Murphy sued WSCR's ownership, CBS Radio, over a right of first refusal
Right of first refusal
Right of first refusal is a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transaction with a third party...
clause in their contract that prevented him from seeking employment within 50 miles of the station for 90 days before and 6 months after terminating employment with CBS Radio, unless he gave CBS the right to match the offer.
Mike Murphy returned to radio on WMVP-AM (1000) on Sunday April 23 2011 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the baseball season. His show, which he will co-host with Fred Huebner, reunites the duo from their WSCR days.