Morgan Murphy

A media pioneer who built his broadcast career on the foundations of a four-state newspaper organization. He built radio stations WEBC, Superior, in 1924 and WEAU, Eau Claire, in 1937 and others in Hibbing and Virginia, Minnesota and Lafayette, Louisiana. The advent of television saw him building again at Eau Claire, WEAU-TV, in 1953, and Madison, WISC-TV, 1956 and in Michigan and Washington. Later he established cable television systems in a number of cities.

Morgan Murphy passed away on February 6, 1971.

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The Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame was created in 1989 to honor those broadcasters who have devoted their careers to broadcasting and its development in Wisconsin, to recognize their outstanding service to broadcasting, their communities, and their state, over at least a fifteen-year career in the industry, at least ten of which were served in Wisconsin.The first twelve members of the Hall of Fame were inducted during the 1989 WBA Summer Conference. Inductees are chosen each year from among nominations by WBA members. Broadcasters who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame include managers, personalities, engineers, reporters and those broadcasting pioneers who were at once all of the above.

In October, 1989, Alfred C. Sykes, then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, came to Wisconsin to formally dedicate a Hall of Fame display, including plaques honoring the inductees, at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library in Madison. In 2010, due to remodeling of the SHSW facility, the display was removed. The Hall of Fame exhibit was relocated to the Hilton Milwaukee City Center in 2015 and enhanced with a touchscreen display featuring all inductee commemorative videos.