The Buffalo Bills announced on Thursday that John Murphy, the host of their weekday radio show and play-by-play announcer for game broadcasts, will be stepping back from his daily role. He will still call games for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network but will no longer be the host of One Bills Live with co-host Steve Tasker. One Bills Live is also simulcast on MSG television.
Bills’ media personality and usual fill-in host Chris Brown will take over along with Maddy Glab, the multimedia reporter hired last July. Tasker will remain in his complementary role.
The moved was described as “mutual” by The Buffalo News and Murphy said he wants to be home more now that he has a new grandson. Murphy’s Bills contract expires next month, according to Alan Pergament, though his play-by-play contract is with Entercom and not the team. The move comes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Pegula Sports & Entertainment have made many cuts and placed employees on furlough while dealing with the financial impact of the response to the virus.
John Murphy bids farewell to One Bills Live. As much as we'll miss Murph during the week, don't forget to catch him this fall calling all the play-by-play action on @buffalobills radio ️ pic.twitter.com/FicVpbxYsA
— One Bills Live (@OneBillsLive) May 21, 2020
Murphy has hosted One Bills Live for eight years since the show began as simply The John Murphy Show. The name was changed in 2018 when Steve Tasker joined the show, replacing Donald Jones.
At 63 years old, Murphy has spent half his life in the radio booth for Buffalo. He was the radio color analyst from 1984 to 1989 and then again from 1994 to 2003. He took over as the play-by-play announcer when the legendary Van Miller retired after the 2003 season. He’s held that position for the last 16 years.