{"id":13007,"date":"2016-12-20T14:30:44","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T20:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13007"},"modified":"2016-12-21T10:42:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T16:42:10","slug":"robert-murphy-wls-fm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2016\/12\/20\/robert-murphy-wls-fm\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Murphy out at WLS FM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Robert<\/a>

<\/a> Robert Murphy<\/p><\/div>\n

Robert Murphy, a prominent Chicago radio personality for more than 30 years, is signing off as afternoon host at Cumulus Media classic hits WLS FM 94.7.<\/a><\/p>\n

December 30 will be Murphy\u2019s last day on the show, which airs from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays. His replacement has not been announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI'll mark my stay at 94.7 WLS as one of my better radio experiences \u2014 and I've had many experiences,\u201d Murphy said Tuesday. \u201cI was proud to be a part of the heritage call letters, and really honored to be working with legends such as Dick Biondi and John Landecker, along with all the other great talent associated with the station.\u00a0It's been a real slice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy, 65, said he was notified in November that his contract would not be renewed, but wasn\u2019t given a reason for the decision. \u201cA lot went right, not sure what went wrong,\u201d he said of his three-year run. \u201cI did have some difficulty adjusting to what management wanted, and at times I was not really aware what indeed they did want.\u00a0So I just tried to do good radio and hope for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Bowen, vice president and Chicago market manager of Cumulus Media, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Murphy, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, has been in the top tier of Chicago radio performers since 1983 when he first joined WKQX FM 101.1.<\/a> As morning star of the adult-contemporary station for 10 years, his image in a straitjacket became the centerpiece of a long-running and memorable advertising campaign.<\/p>\n

With a few breaks along the way, he worked for a variety of stations since then.<\/p>\n

When Murphy joined WLS FM in November 2013 it was the first time he\u2019d held a shift outside of morning drive. \"I\u2019ll have to completely reverse my inner clock because I\u2019ve been formatted to wake up at 4 a.m. rather than 4 p.m.,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI might rather enjoy this.\u201d<\/p>\n

It actually marked his second tour of duty at WLS FM. In 1994, he helped launch a \u201cyoung talk\u201d format as morning host. Capital Cities\/ABC, which then owned the station, pulled the plug after one year and returned to a full-time simulcast with news\/talk WLS AM 890.<\/a><\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s immediate plans? \u201cLike most sudden retirees, I look forward to resting up a bit, and doing some traveling now that I'm not tethered to my job,\u201d he said. \u201cI am not actively seeking another gig, but stranger things have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WLS FM tied for 12th in afternoons with a 2.6 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 531,600.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Murphy, a prominent Chicago radio personality for more than 30 years, is signing off as afternoon host at Cumulus Media classic hits WLS FM 94.7. December 30 will be Murphy\u2019s last day on the show, which airs from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays. His replacement has not been announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13007"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13015,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13007\/revisions\/13015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}