Date of Birth: 1942
Place of Birth: St. John’s, NL
Inducted: 2009 (Media Category)

From his 1963 start with radio station CKCM in Grand Falls, John Murphy created an extremely knowledgeable, certainly unbiased and very popular hockey broadcasting career that played a major role in the overall acceptance and growth that the sport developed in all areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Blessed with a natural talent, he was willing to devote the time and effort to generate a radio style that attracted listeners, especially hockey fans, to an impressive number of hockey broadcasts. John Murphy earned listeners’ respect with his high level professional approach to his broadcasters.

An open approach to all aspects of the game allowed him to gain the confidence and respect of players, coaches and team staff, fans and the listening public. He gained in-depth knowledge of each player, was always aware of team situations and simply displayed plenty of knowledge about hockey.

While the Grand Falls teams were the main recipients of great radio coverage, the excellence of his efforts was of apparent value to every club within provincial hockey. They were all treated fairly and with respect as John Murphy earned his credit for a great hockey broadcasting career.

He brought the same high level skill to Allan Cup games that he demonstrated in Herder Trophy competition, thus providing important coverage for hockey listeners in every area of the province when local clubs were involved in national play.

His reputation was such that he often provided his services for a variety of events as guest speaker or as master of ceremonies. His presence added to the successes and importance of such events and was greatly appreciated.

It should be noted that after a series of promotions limited his broadcasting, John Murphy continued to demonstrate his love of hockey in promotional decisions that were important and valuable to the growth of hockey locally and provincially.