10 Questions with ... Jim Murphy

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Radio veteran Jim Murphy joined Music Choice as Manager, Country Programming in 2019, and was recently promoted to Senior Manager/Programming. Before that, he was based in Cheyenne, WY, as Group PD for Brahmin Broadcasting's 24 Western division radio stations in Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada and South Dakota. He previously programmed Country KATC/Colorado Springs following a 17-year stint with Dial Global Radio Networks (and predecessor Jones Radio Networks), where he was VP/Programming, with duties that included programming the then Country music video channel, Great American Country (GAC). From 2012-2013 he helped educate and place future broadcasters while serving as Dir./Career Services at Colorado Media School.

1. Congratulations on the promotion! What new duties are you taking on in the new role, and do they include other formats besides Country?

All the same duties as before (of course!), but with the addition of guiding and mentoring other members of our Music Choice programming team, as well as working on special projects across multiple genres.

2. Describe your Country responsibilities at Music Choice, and which channels you directly oversee.

My job involves day-to-day programming for 10 Country audio channels and three Country video channels, developing and maintaining relationships within the Country community and working with our other Music Choice teams on all new products, on-screen content, promotions and anything that involves Country artists and labels. The current Music Choice audio channels under the Country umbrella include Today’s Country, Pop & Country, Country Hits, Classic Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Folk, Honky Tonk and Country Songwriters. The video channels are Today’s Country, Pop & Country and Country Hits. We also have a couple new Country channels set for launch soon, so stay tuned.

3. Dazzle us with some facts and figures about the reach of Music Choice, or some stats about the service you think are still not well known in the industry.

Most people don’t know that Music Choice is the oldest commercial-free digital music service in the U.S. Founded in 1987, Music Choice now has over 60 million subscribers and is seen and heard on DirecTV and nearly every major cable service in America.

Our four “core” Country audio channels - Today’s Country, Pop & Country, Country Hits and Classic Country - all have a weekly cume audience of between three million and four million listeners. And according to Nielsen, Today’s Country (which reports to Mediabase) has an AQH larger than the top 12 Country radio stations in the U.S. combined.

4. You are always completely up on speed and very often well ahead of broadcast radio on new music. What’s your philosophy about that, and what types of songs and artists typically work well for your Today's Country and Pop & Country channels, specifically? Are there some examples of future hits that you were particularly proud to have been early on?

Today’s Country is a mainstream Country experience, although we do tend to program “ahead” of the charts. Pop & Country is geared to a younger demo and allows us to introduce acts that might not have reached critical mass at radio, but we believe are deserving of nationwide exposure.

There are too many acts to list we were early on, but I guess I’m proudest of the ones that were unsigned or signed to a smaller label when we first started playing them. Matt Stell, Ingrid Andress, Jameson Rodgers and Tenille Arts are a couple that we were WAY early on, and I’m proud of the success they’ve had.

5. How has programming through the pandemic been for you? Are you back in the office yet, or is there a target date for that? And what are the pandemic-related challenges of working in New York?

New York City, which was ground zero as the pandemic began, has naturally been cautious in its reopening. While we have not returned to working in person in midtown Manhattan yet, we’re hoping to do so again soon. As far as programming during the pandemic, the unexpected benefit of so many people being home during the day was a dramatic uptick in both new listeners and TSL, which was already three to four times longer than that of most terrestrial radio stations.

6. How did you and your teammates specifically adjust to working from home? What kind of space were you able to physically set up in your home? Any special equipment needed to make it all work?

It was remarkably smooth. Initially, we had some issues, since nearly all our systems were written by our developers for in-office use and not remote access. But our IT team found ways to get us up and running in pretty short order. I’d never planned to have a home office in NYC, but when it was apparent this would last more than a couple weeks, a guest room suddenly became an awesome remote office.

7. In what ways did your previous experience with Jones Radio Networks/Dial Global prepare you for the Music Choice job? Any parallels between those two gigs?

That experience prepared me in so many ways. Programming nationally has its own challenges that local programmers don’t face, and programming a video channel is a very different skill set from audio programming. Having the opportunity to do both simultaneously for 10 years with Jones gave me the ability to pretty much hit the ground running with Music Choice.

8. You’ve spent the bulk of you career working in the Country format. What do you love about it?

What’s not to love? But since you asked, the best aspect is the relationships you make with listeners, artists, label reps, managers and a host of others in our industry who are so passionate about this format. It’s noteworthy, I think, how many label and radio folks have made the transition to Country from other genres … and how few ever go back.

9. In 2012-2013, your job at a broadcast school involved helping place students into the radio job market. That market has changed considerably since then. If you were still doing that job now, what would the challenges be, and what’s the best piece of advice you would be giving broadcasting hopefuls?

Finding that first job has never been easy, and it’s harder today than 10 years ago. But while there are far fewer mid- and senior-level positions, there are still many entry-level opportunities in small markets, and outside of the consolidated groups. My best advice is: the only jobs you absolutely won’t get are the ones you don’t apply for. You don’t need to have the best resume in the world, but it has to be one the hiring manager gets.

10. Tell us three fun facts about Jim Murphy!

• For a number of years, mine was the voice that greeted travelers at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
• I’m a proud graduate of Nashville’s Leadership Music program.
• As one of my side hustles, I worked evenings as a live TV booth announcer and hosted Boston’s version of the syndicated television game show “TV Powww!” back in the ’80s.