Wisconsin State Journal: 1070's Murphy leaving afternoon radio show

[bigtalkradiofan]

My Preface Note:

When Owen Murphy first started in Madison - I couldn't stand to listen to the guy.

I wrote this after about six months of Heller & Murphy:

Regarding Mike Heller & Owen Murphy - the local afternoon sports show:

* Mike Heller - I like Mike Heller, he's seems quite knowledgeable, takes a strong position on issues, and can back it up.

I see why so many people liked him from his previous stint (seems like he's a "you either like him, or you don't" - kind of guy).

Mike Heller is an experienced radio professional, although he can be a "homer" sometimes.

* Owen Murphy - I like the idea of having a counterpart on the show, to balance Mike Heller - but I'm lukewarm and not completely sold yet on Owen Murphy.

Murphy is constantly yelling (no one wants to listen to someone yell in their ear for 3 hours), he interrupts and talks over Heller incessantly, and his voice can be a little rough to listen to sometimes.

But he does bring a little comic relief to counteract Mike's seriousness. Although there is a fine line between funny and obnoxious, and Owen Murphy can sometimes get pretty obnoxious over the course of 3 hours.

Owen Murphy also gets a little annoying with all of his little games (e.g. like is he saying "Hello" in reality or is it a tape...no one gives a crap...start talking about the Packers, Badgers or Brewers).

But similar to the Brewers, Owen Murphy's raised his game as of late.

Listening to the show over the past few weeks - I haven't heard him yell much, he talks over Heller less now, he's a little less obnoxious and surprisingly, I even agreed with him on a couple points lately...which is a little scary (I must admit).

I hope he keeps it up, keeps working hard and improving.

But Murphy kept improving, and he and Heller eventually developed into a good combo - I hate to see it go.

See the WI State Journal newspaper article link below for more information.

http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/431826

1070's Murphy leaving afternoon radio show

Dennis Punzel — 1/10/2009 10:25 am
Wisconsin State Journal

Heller and Murphy are breaking up.

Owen Murphy, co-host of the top-rated afternoon sports talk show on WTSO/1070 AM, is leaving the station to become program director of the ESPN affiliate in Seattle.

The impending move was announced during Friday's show, which was Murphy's finale. He had co-hosted the show with Mike Heller since October 2006. He came to Madison from ESPN Radio's flagship in Bristol, Conn., where he worked as a producer for a variety of shows, including "Mike and Mike" (Greenberg and Golic) and Dan Patrick.

[Click link above for the complete newspaper article.]