John Murphy has spent more than 35 years on the Buffalo Bills radio broadcast team, including his role as the play-by-play voice of the team from 2003 through 2022. The lifelong Bills fan is a native of Lockport, NY, and has lived in Orchard Park for 30 years.
Murphy began on the Bills broadcast as “color-man” with legendary play-by-play voice Van Miller in 1984. When Miller retired following the 2002 season, Murphy assumed the play-by-play role.
He has also done play-by-play for University of Buffalo football, local college basketball (Canisius and Niagara), and Buffalo Bisons baseball. His play-by-play experience began as a high school football announcer at WLVL radio in Lockport.
For more than 20 years, Murphy was a familiar face on Buffalo television as a sportscaster and then Sports Director at WKBW-TV (Ch. 7) and WIVB-TV (Ch. 4) in Buffalo. Before, during, and after his career on TV, he spent several years as a radio host. At WBEN Radio, he hosted “One on One Sports” and other shows. He worked for the Buffalo Bills for 12 years as host of “The John Murphy Show” and “One Bills Live.”
A member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Murphy has won numerous awards during his career, including a citation from the Associated Press of New York State for Best Sports Coverage for WBEN Radio, Artvoice “Best Sportscaster,” and Buffalo Spree “Best Broadcast Reporter.”
He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Murphy and his wife Mary have two sons, Mark (Lexi) and Jack, and two grandsons, Cormac and Frank.