Re: Rick Murphy (1949-2012)


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Posted by Chris on September 09, 2012 at 08:42:34:

In Reply to: Rick Murphy (1949-2012) posted by Obits on September 03, 2012 at 16:51:41:

The Wisconsin State Journal had a very nice tribute to Rick. I'm pasting it below and linking to their site in case you want to comment on their site as well as here on the message board.

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Rick Murphy, longtime voice on Madison radio, dies at 63


Rick Murphy, one of the most recognizable voices in Madison radio, died Friday after a brief illness. He was 63.

Murphy died from an autoimmune disease that was diagnosed in mid-July, but probably went undiagnosed for a few years, said his wife, Paula Sherman.

"By the time it was diagnosed it was just too late," she said. "It went very quickly from, 'Here's some medication, and things should be fine,' to being in the hospital."

The couple spent their seventh anniversary Aug. 25 in the hospital.

Murphy is best known for the radio programs he founded or co-founded, including "Radio Free Madison," "Rick's Cafe" and the WORT-FM program "Tropical Riddims."

He started as a student announcer at WHA and on Halloween 1969 introduced "Radio Free Madison" on WIBA-FM. In the late 1990s Murphy resurrected it on WMMM-FM.

Tom Teuber, former program director at WMMM and at the defunct WMAD-FM, said Murphy was part of a group that brought progressive radio to Madison. "He really established a standard for interesting rock music on the radio and local music as well," he said.

Murphy "did a lot to help define taste in music and exposed people to a lot of stuff that they didn't hear, which I really miss about radio now," said Jay Moran, a member of the longtime Madison band the O'Bros, which did some of its first recording with Murphy.

"Radio Free Madison" offered "real progressive radio," Moran said. "Triple M tries to be that, but it's not really that format."

Murphy eventually syndicated his radio show, "Rick's Cafe," which he started on WMAD, in a dozen markets around the country, Sherman said.

He performed well-received one-man portrayals of Will Rogers and recorded voice-overs and ads. Murphy also played in a band, Two Happy Cowboys From Wisconsin, which landed a song on the TV show "Northern Exposure."

"Rick expected to see the good in everyone and always looked for it," Sherman said. "He was friends to everyone. Walking down the street with Rick always took a long time. Not because he walked slowly, but because he was always stopping to talk with someone."



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