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The John Murphy change up had me reading alot of negative posts on him, and I was a bit surprised. Grew up in the 90s so I've only heard Van Miller and John Murphy... unless there was someone else in there? Anyway my point is it's kind of hard to tell what makes a great home team announcer great versus good, and how would anyone know?  Who can name any other teams home announcers?

I'm not defending JM just saying it seems like someone that's "trendy to hate". 

 

Seriously who's a good announcer right now? I wanna listen to some play calls on youtube

 

Edited by BillsShredder83
typo
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Van Miller described the moment.  It's Radio; and he was in the day when home games weren't televised if not sold out.  He had a great, higher pitched, raspy voice.  Similar in that respect to Rick Jeanerette.  Murphy was Miller's partner and did a good job commenting....but I never liked Murphy's play by play - his voice is too stacatto deep.   Before Van Miller there was a guy named Stan Baron who also had a raspy higher pitch voice - for me that's the sound you want; you want it to feel like it's being told to you by a wise old man.....

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Murphy has a tough job in that he followed a HOF voice. He was the QB after Kelly. Van Miller was a legend that could harness the energy and paint the picture. It is a real talent and gift.

 

Murphy isn’t that. He’s gotten better as the play-by-play guy each year. He will never be better than adequate because he doesn’t have the tone or the instincts. Radio is a tough gig. 


With that being said Murphy loves the Bills. He’s a WNY guy through and through. That’s important to me when it comes to my team’s broadcast. I want guys that have the emotional investment, not guys hired into developing it. Buffalo has always had that and I’m thankful for it.

Edited by Kirby Jackson
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14 minutes ago, Irish Dave said:

Before Van Miller there was a guy named Stan Baron who also had a raspy higher pitch voice - for me that's the sound you want; you want it to feel like it's being told to you by a wise old man.....

One announcer configuration had Van (pbp), Stan (colour), and 'Fan' (nattering by Martin Krimski, aka 'Jeff Kaye', noted for eventually moving on to NFL Films).  I recall my father listening to the games, and remarking all you had to do was listen to Van's and Stan's tones to know how things were going for the Bills.

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Oh Murphy does totally love the Bills.  He's great that way.  His voice has been on Bills Broadcasts since I was a kid (I'm 50 now).  But when you hear him it just sounds like some guy who lives down the street; not a gifted speaker; boring voice quality that doesn't lift the listening experience anywhere the way Miller did.  Not his fault.   

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6 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

The John Murphy change up had me reading alot of negative posts on him, and I was a bit surprised. Grew up in the 90s so I've only heard Van Miller and John Murphy... unless there was someone else in there? Anyway my point is it's kind of hard to tell what makes a great home team announcer great versus good, and how would anyone know?  Who can name any other teams home announcers?

I'm not defending JM just saying it seems like someone that's "trendy to hate". 

 

Seriously who's a good announcer right now? I wanna listen to some play calls on youtube

 


Murphy is still the Bills play by play announcer....

 

The negative comments were mainly with regard to his awful performance as a guy carrying a 3 hour radio show.

Edited by Mr. WEO
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Murph has a face for radio and is a good announcer but he needs a different TD call where Van and others have distinguished them selves from others by their personal way of calling a TD or a goal .

 

The Titans have 2 very good announcers in Pete Weber for the Preds and Mike Wells for the Titans both are very unique not only in their personal scoring calls but their voices are unique too which adds to their fit with the team .

 

It's like Generette calling the Sabres or better yet Ted Darling calling the Sabres just nothing like it ... 

 

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20 minutes ago, T master said:

Murph has a face for radio and is a good announcer but he needs a different TD call where Van and others have distinguished them selves from others by their personal way of calling a TD or a goal .

 

The Titans have 2 very good announcers in Pete Weber for the Preds and Mike Wells for the Titans both are very unique not only in their personal scoring calls but their voices are unique too which adds to their fit with the team .

 

It's like Generette calling the Sabres or better yet Ted Darling calling the Sabres just nothing like it ... 

 

is that Pete Weber from empire sports day?

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1 hour ago, Florida Bills Fanatic said:

Having lived in a number of different NFL markets, I came to realize how lucky we Bills fans have been.  As others have noted above, Van Miller was great and a hard act to follow.  Some of these other markets have pathetic PBP guys and even worse color commentators.  Murph does a credible job.

Murphy is not great but he is a good announcer.  He is not the devil some here paint him to be.  I agree with other markets - some are homers to the extreme, some just have bad football knowledge where they try to make up for it with yelling.  I suspect Murphy will look better when he is gone.

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for a few years in the mid 1970s WKBW radio won the radio rights to do Bills games in place of Van Miller:

 

the crew was Al Meltzer PBP - he was a sportscaster from Philly who worked weekends Bils game; Rick Azar color - he was long-time local WKBW TV sportscaster who also did the Bills weekly highlights show (previous week game on the Sat before next game) and Ed Rutkowski - sideline - former Bill

 

Overall quality was middle of the road - the rights went back and Van Miller returned

 

So other than original Van, Meltzer-Azar-Rutkowski crew, back to Van and then onto Murphy I guess that's your entire history of Bills radio coverage.

 

PS - Van Mller was also the voice of the Buffalo Braves, would hustle back to studio to the 11 PM sports (otherwise you got Chuck Healy from Strikes, Spares and Misses fame - if you don't know don't ask)

 

Jon Murphy is a former bartender - to me seems to have that loud be heard over the din-tavern voice rather than a broadcaster...that is what I think of most when he does a game, some guy in a bar yelling at the TV

 

 

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On 5/24/2020 at 9:47 AM, Mike in Horseheads said:

is that Pete Weber from empire sports day?

 

I believe he use to be with them but i'm not positive . I was told by a friend that he use to call games in NY but i never heard of him until i moved to the Nashville area .

Edited by T master
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I'm sure Murph has and does work hard at what he does, but he's never resonated with me. Some guys have a natural ability to flow with the excitement of the game. When Murph's excited I just feel like he's gonna pass out from trying so hard to sound hyped up. I suppose I was spoiled with Van all those years. He just had a knack for what he did. 

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On 5/24/2020 at 7:53 AM, Kirby Jackson said:

Murphy has a tough job in that he followed a HOF voice. He was the QB after Kelly. Van Miller was a legend that could harness the energy and paint the picture. It is a real talent and gift.

 

Murphy isn’t that. He’s gotten better as the play-by-play guy each year. He will never be better than adequate because he doesn’t have the tone or the instincts. Radio is a tough gig. 


With that being said Murphy loves the Bills. He’s a WNY guy through and through. That’s important to me when it comes to my team’s broadcast. I want guys that have the emotional investment, not guys hired into developing it. Buffalo has always had that and I’m thankful for it.


That’s an interesting and fair take. I respect that he cares about the Bills and tries hard; he’s just not good. I’ll admit it doesn’t really impact me at all because I never listen to the local broadcast. Full disclosure, I cringe when I hear most local broadcasters. I prefer a neutral play-by-play that still conveys excitement. 

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