Mike Murphy (broadcaster)

For other people named Michael Murphy, see Michael Murphy (disambiguation).

Mike Murphy
Born	Michael James Murphy 20 October 1941 (1941-10-20) (age 70) Dublin, Ireland
Education	St. Louis National School, Terenure College, Synge Street CBS and Coláiste Mhuire
Occupation	Presenter, announcer
Years active	1965 - 2002 2011 - present

Mike Murphy (Irish: Maidhc Ó Murchú) is an Irish presenter. He is best known for presenting the television shows The Live Mike and Winning Streak.

Early life

Murphy was born in Dublin in 1941, the eldest of five children born to Ned and Kitty Murphy. Educated at St. Louis National School, Terenure College, Synge Street CBS and Coláiste Mhuire he left school at the age of 17. Murphy then worked as a draper in a Dublin drapery shop, before finding a job with the Castrol Oil Company.

Acting career

In his later teens, Murphy became involved in acting with the Dublin Shakespeare Society and wrote scripts for sponsored programmes on Radio Éireann. He later joined the Brendan Smith Academy of Acting in Dublin where his acting took him all over Europe. He also went on to play a small part in The Girl with Green Eyes, the film of the novel by Edna O'Brien. This led to further acting parts in a number of films on the newly-established Telefís Éireann.

Broadcasting career

Murphy began his broadcasting career as an announcer with RTÉ Radio in 1965. By 1968 he had established his reputation as an announcer and a radio presenter. He then began presenting on television, starting with one series of a pop show called The Go-Two Show, and filling in as an announcer on the game show, Jackpot. In 1969 he joined the RTE’s newsroom as a sports announcer.

His big break in television came in 1971 when he was asked to present the National Song Contest, one of the highest rated programmes at the time. He regularly hosted the Castlebar Song Contest. This led to him getting his own variety show, The Likes of Mike. The show did well, running for a few series.

From 1974 until 1977 and again in 1979, Murphy was the regular Eurovision Song Contest commentator for Irish television viewers. He continued to provide the RTÉ Radio commentary for the contest in the year 1971-1973, 1978, 1980-1981, 1986-1987, and 1994-1996.

He went on to present a travel programme called Murphy’s America, and later the spin-off show, Murphy’s Australia. Following the success of the former programme, he was asked to present Morning Call on radio.

With the arrival of the new television channel, RTE 2, he presented his own Friday night show, The Live Mike, which was a success and ran for three series.

Murphy won four Jacob's Awards. He received his first in 1978 for Murphy's America. A year later, The Live Mike brought him a second trophy. His third award was in 1988 for his series, Murphy's Australia. Meanwhile, in 1980, his Morning Call show on RTÉ Radio led to Murphy winning a Jacob's Radio Award.

“I think that one of the reasons that what we did was so successful was that it brought a little ray of light into people’s lives,” he told the Sunday Tribune in 2007. “I swear to God, I think it did. Christ, it was a dismal time in Ireland back in the ’80s. People were leaving the country, they couldn’t find jobs; they were hard, harsh days. So people badly needed an escape of sorts. One thing that we Irish were always good at was taking the mickey out of ourselves, so we tried our best to find humour in all that darkness.”

In 1988 he began presenting The Arts Show on RTÉ Radio 1, and also the Saturday night television game show, Winning Streak.

In 2000 he retired for the first time from radio broadcasting and was the subject in the same year of a special tribute edition of The Late Late Show. He gave his last radio broadcast as the presenter of The Arts Show that year and continued to present Winning Streak until 2002.

Business career

Murphy already had experienced success with a production company, Emdee. He became an executive director of Harcourt Developments, a property company founded by Pat Doherty with interests throughout Ireland, Britain, the Caribbean and the U.S. He was responsible for marketing, and the job allowed him to continue his interest in the arts.

Asked in 2006 if he hankered after his life in broadcasting, he said he would never say never, but his business life was “too interesting these days”.

In March 2011, Murphy resigned from Harcourt Developments.

Broadcasting comeback

In April 2011, it was announced that Murphy would return to RTÉ to present a new show in which he will interview people who have made a significant impact on Ireland. The show is to be called The Big Interview with Mike Murphy and is to broadcast as part of the RTÉ 2011-2012 season.^[1]

Personal life

Mike Murphy and his first wife Eileen separated in 1995. They had four children. He later married Ann Walsh, who was his producer on The Arts Show.

In 2008, he was the subject of a two-part documentary, The Real Mike Murphy.

References

1. ^ Review, Weekend (23 April 2011). "Mike Murphy's RTE comeback". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/mike-murphys-rte-comeback-2627833.html. Retrieved 23 April 2011. 

Media offices
Preceded by Frank Hall	Eurovision Song Contest Ireland Commentator 1974 - 1977	Succeeded by Larry Gogan
Preceded by Larry Gogan	Eurovision Song Contest Ireland Commentator 1979	Succeeded by Larry Gogan