After eight years at the helm of the community radio station, the avid supporter of Grand Rapids’ music scene and ‘Barry Sanders of station managers’ is going back to the land.
By John Sinkevics
LocalSpins.com
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Much like the ultra-collaborative nature of West Michigan’s music scene, WYCE station manager Kevin Murphy recognizes that the Grand Rapids community radio station he’s led for the past eight years has grown and thrived with the help of a dedicated staff, eager volunteer programmers, enthusiastic local musicians and a supportive listening audience which donates generously to the cause.
“No man is an island and no community radio station relies on one man,” Murphy told Local Spins. “I have had (an) instrumental hand in making some things happen, but I also think the whole thing is a group, collaborative effort.”
That effort at WYCE-FM (88.1) will continue without Murphy, who’s stepping down in early August to become one with the land: He and his wife, Amy, are moving with their 15-month-old, Maria, to property in Leelanau County to build a house in the country, live simply and start “working the earth with our own hands.”
It’s long been a dream of Murphy and his wife to take this step, even though the station manager calls his position the best job he’s ever had and one which has allowed him to be around employees and volunteers thrilled to be part of a listener-supported station that plays an eclectic blend of music and embraces local artists.
INSPIRED BY FOLKS ‘COMPLETELY JAZZED’ ABOUT WYCE
“There’s a constant parade of people through the whole organization of the Community Media Center that are completely jazzed about the thing they’re doing, surrounding me every day,” said Murphy, who came to WYCE from the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
“It’s just a great environment to do your work and keeps things in perspective.” (For Murphy, that even includes having to dig out a screwdriver to fix a microphone on the fly, as he did on Thursday with singer-songwriter Ellis Paul stopping by WYCE’s studios for an on-air appearance.)
The Community Media Center, which oversees WYCE, will immediately launch a search for a new station manager, with new CMC executive director Tom Clinton leading the transition.
During his tenure, Murphy oversaw a series of improvements at the station, including boosting power from an “underpowered” 7,000 watts to a solid 10,000 watts, replacing outdated equipment, boosting fund-raising, expanding the popular Jammie Awards and striking up new partnerships with community organizations and music venues. He also started a local music program, “Local Resonance,” to further spotlight the burgeoning West Michigan music scene – everything from the folk-rock of The Crane Wives to the rap of Rick Chyme.
“I think that it is a really impressive music scene here. I’ve lived in Grand Rapids for 10 years now and I think it’s continued to get better,” he said. “I think there’s just a weird blend of really dedicated, talented people here doing music across all sorts of parts of the musical style spectrum.
‘A LOT OF GOOD TALENT’ TO SHOWCASE IN WEST MICHIGAN
“I don’t want to take too much credit for WYCE’s part in that, but I will say, when I started I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a local music show on WYCE. So I started a local music show within the first year and I really pushed our programmers to make local music a major part of their programming. There’s a lot of good talent.”
WYCE program director Matt Jarrells, who first knew Murphy as a station volunteer, said his departure means “the local music community is losing a great asset,” dubbing him “the Barry Sanders of WYCE station managers.”
Jarrells said Murphy’s “likability translated into a great rapport with our volunteers, an easy presence from the stage at our events, the capacity to grow our favor among the local business community, and into his weekly local music radio show, where he played the raconteur, never failing to make his musical guests comfortable and humored.” He also gave staffers “lots of freedom to experiment.”
“He’s even annoyingly bi-lingual,” Jarrells joked.
For his part, Murphy is convinced that whoever succeeds him will continue to improve the station. And he himself is happily looking forward to a new, much different chapter in his life – one that involves working the land and working with his hands, everything from stone masonry to oil painting.
Get more of Local Spins’ “exit interview” with Murphy in the video below.
Email John Sinkevics at john@localspins.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music
Thanks for the write-up, John – and for everything we’ve collaborated on during my time at WYCE.
I would like to say, for the record, that the photo of me talking on my cell phone and pointing is the most staged-looking, non-staged photo that has ever been taken of me. 🙂
I applaud Kevin for completing the build to 10k that I started when I was there (believe me – we could both write books on that boondoggle) – He was a “trainee” when he first came through – but he done good – Best Wishes on the new adventure Kevin!