Cy was the all time best "insider" poster when he would let loose. Great stuff.
First off, I just want to say I am estatic right now. I am so damn happy that Murph got his comeuppance. I feel so vindicated and I will explain that in a bit. For those of you that feel bad for him, I will not tell you how to feel but I will try to shed some light on some of the Murph that I got to know. I worked with him probably longer than any producer at the Score so I do know a thing or two most probably don't. If you still feel bad for him so be it and if you don't there will be no arguments from me. I also want to apologize in the beginning if this post gets long winded.
First of Murph as a Person:
http://score670.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=28922&p=451628#p451628 this is just a story that may give you some insight into our relationship. Now on to other issues that is the one and only Murph. The only similarity between his on-air persona and off-air is that he is weird. Everything else is fake on-air. Here are some differences that I saw working with him for about three years. The man is paranoid as fuck. He whispers because he is afraid that other shows are going to steal all his great ideas. It's so annoying and creepy.
Here is a story that explains what a douche he is: One day were having on Bill Jauss at 1:00 and of course their is an update til 1:03. So we call him at about 12:50 for a ten minutes heads up. In the break Murph tells us that we have to call him at 1:00 exactly not even a minute later. So it 12:59 and Joe has the phone in his hand waiting for that clock to hit 1:00 to start dailing. All the sudden Murph starts yelling and bitching that all he asked for was for us to call him at one exactly. This fucktard acted like a child and he was wrong. The funny thing is no guest is going to give a shit about 3 minutes, but Murph obsessed over this shit.
Heres more Murph: Dumbfuck doesn't realize that at any point producers can listen in to the host conversations during breaks, so he talks about a producer (who will go unnamed) and calls him Tyrone. More sure I got some. So Dusty is the manager of the Cubs and I have this idea of playing "Dynomite" from Good Times, every time Dusty makes another dumb managerial move. Murph shots this down by saying and I paraphrase here "Well I don't think so I'm worried some people, you know those people will not like it." Honestly, I didnt even think anything of something like that when I thought of the idea and if I would have worked at the Score when Terry Bevington was managing I might have proposed the same idea. Plus there were other times when he would use that line. And finally the time he called an African American Sambo once on the air, I thought it was pretty bad even if he did just slip up.
The Everyday Hello: Okay this by far and away was the creepiest thing this fuck ever tried to make me do. He would expect me to say hi to him the moment I walked in the door and would get mad if I didn't. Heres the thing I would get there at 9:00 o'clock and start my daily routine. Get his folder ready, Check his endless emails, get the reads etc... So during this time I am going to run in to him or when done go find him and talk to him about what we should do for this show. But Murph took it as a personal slight that I wouldn't run over and say hi to his holiness the moment I walked in. He even had Mitch try to tell me that I should have Hi to him the moment I walk in. Crazy.
More sure I could write a book on this douchebag. So their is a play and I think it might have been the AJ play in the 05 AL championship series (dropped third strike) and Murph is salvating at the mouth to get some former umpire on. Well breaking news procedes any guestlist and this would be considered breaking news. Any guests are open and its just who can get them. Mully and Hanley get the same idea and place a call with him. So now me and Andy have to try to explain that he might not get this former ump. Oh boy does Murph fly off the handle. Yelling Shit and Fuck kicking garbage cans. This is a grown man and really even if the ump was a great interview, this show was a gimme. The A.J. call come on its only a two hour show. Sure enough we end up getting him anyways. I may have the time wrong it could have been something different we need the ump on for but the rest is all true.
Alright now that I shared those insights, I would just like to stat some facts that can't be disputed. I started on Murphs show when he was on nights and I believe it was in May 2005 (give or take a month) and finished in January 2008. I believe that encompasses 15 books, but I might be off a little. During that time the show never once lost to the competition and I believe was top five in our demo for at least 10 books. I might be wrong because I actually think it is higher number than that. I realize the competition was weak but it still is now too. I also know that on quite a few occasions Murph's ratings were so high he would get a ratings bonus. The first time he said it never happened before and I actually believe him but who knows. He also would throw a little my way which was nice but I still feel deserved considering my salary and quality of work. I also know on one occasion the ratings were so high that we finished second in the demo behind only the Spanish station. They are unbeatable by the way.
Now one final moment with Murph, the day that I forgot to turn Stone's Mic on for a split second, we had a meeting to discuss the argument we had. I honestly would have made nice but the moment I walk in Murph chimes in "Thanks for stopping By". Now I'm on defensive but I feel that maybe I can still patch things up and move on. During the meeting it gets pretty heated and at one moment Murph says "You (refering to me) didnt mind when I was giving you those bonuses" and I say "Well I would like to think I played a part in those bonuses" and Murph responds "I guess we will see". I guess we did Murph, I guess we did.
By no means am I saying that I was the sole reason for Murph's success during my time as a producer but I feel that I made a difference and I think it shows. His ratings have consistantly dropped and well now he is probably weekends until April when his contract expires or taking a big cut to host the baseball show left by Jesse and George.
And I wish I was on a canyon yelling "VICTORY" like Johnny Drama, because this is great. Also great move by the Score, it is great to have Mac back and hopefully the Score too. I mean that, I've been a listener since its inception and now their is something worthy of listening to besides B and B.