THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130384
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Pat Murphy is off the air.
Bosses at WTAR-AM told the local radio veteran Wednesday that his often-incendiary talk show had been cut to make way for a syndicated program hosted by New Yorker Don Imus. Wednesday's broadcast was Murphy's last.
The move ends 22 months of controversial mornings at 79 on the dial, during which Murphy's listeners could count on his sharp-tongued takes on the alleged misdeeds of liberals and local politicians.
It also leaves the 5,000-watt station without a local talk-radio program, which in Murphy's hands attracted dozens of daily calls from loyal fans offering strong, if sometimes skewed, opinions on world events.
WTAR general manager Mark Kanak said he met with Murphy after Wednesday's four-hour program ended at 10 a.m. and told him that the station would begin airing Imus' show in the same slot Monday.
``I would love to have had an open slot for Pat,'' he said. ``But (G. Gordon) Liddy is doing very well on the station, (David) Brenner is doing very well on the station, and there's simply no other place to put him. We do mostly sports at night.''
The decision, Kanak said, was was strictly financial: Although Murphy's ratings were ``not bad'' and his salary a smaller outlay than fees for Imus' broadcasts, station management expects ratings to leap with the new program.
``I don't think there's any animosity on either end,'' he said, adding that Murphy ``probably suspected'' the move was coming. Murphy could not be reached for comment.
``Pat is a fine broadcaster. However, we had an opportunity to pick up one of the premier radio talents in the world, and we did so,'' Kanak said. ``I do regret not having a local personality. That's always fun to do. But the bottom line is to provide entertaining radio, and there's nobody more entertaining than Don Imus.''
Imus recently gained notoriety for an interview with Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., in which the senator imitated the speech of California Judge Lance Ito. The performance was slammed as racist by some Japanese-Americans.
Murphy's stint at WTAR began when he was hired away from archrival WNIS-AM in June 1993, after about six years as a morning and afternoon call-in host there. He delighted and infuriated listeners in both jobs with broadsides aimed at gun-control advocates, road-toll backers and the unlucky elected, the latter group ranging from former Norfolk Mayor Joseph A. Leafe to Mary Sue Terry.
Supporters cheered his personal beliefs as well as his skill at the mike. In March 1994 he helped lead two busloads of local road-toll opponents to a Richmond public hearing, and injected himself into the center of myriad other controversies.
Murphy's audience seemed to be growing. Between radio shows, the 45-year-old Arlington native squeezed regular commentaries for WAVY-TV. In January, WTAR announced that the last hour of his weekday broadcasts would be made over as ``Pat Murphy's Virginia'' and aired at stations throughout the state.
But Tony Macrini, Murphy's counterpart at WNIS, said success in radio comes down to one thing. ``It's very simple: If you're not selling enough commercials to justify your salary, you're gone,'' he said. ``There's usually no Byzantine intrigue to it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Pat Murphy
by CNB