John Murphy, the "Voice of the Buffalo Bills," is among this year's six new inductees into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame. The Buffalo Broadcasters Association's Class of 2019 was announced Wednesday morning at the WNED | WBFO building in downtown Buffalo, where the induction ceremony will be held on Sept. 27.
Murphy has been the play-by-play announcer for Bills radio broadcasts since 2005, the year he took over from legendary broadcaster Van Miller. Before that, he worked with Miller as color commentator for more than a decade.
Murphy also served as sports director at WBEN radio and WKBW-TV, and worked at WIVB-TV. He said he is "honored and amazed" to be named as part of this year's class.
"I think about all the amazing, talented people that I've worked with," Murphy said. "That has really been the hallmark of my career."
Another inductee is Jim Toellner, who has served as general manager of WGRZ-TV since 2003. Toellner said he is fortunate to have had a career that led to the honor.
"I'm lucky and thankful to be a part of this esteemed group, both everyone going in this year and all the great people that are part of the Buffalo hall of fame. I'm lucky and thankful for all the great people that I've worked with over the years," Toellner said.
The class also includes former television investigative reporter Tony Farina, who worked for both WGRZ-TV and WKBW-TV. Through his work, Farina earned the nickname "The Newsbreaker."
"I've always felt that what we did was extremely important because we need to keep people informed so that they can make good decisions. The more information we can give them, the better decisions they can make. That's what drove my journalism career from the beginning," Farina said.
Also being inducted into the hall are longtime radio advertising salesman Don Tomasulo, late WGR-AM program director Larry Anderson, and Sherry Margolis, a Buffalo native who has been a television anchor for Fox 2 News in Detroit for more than three decades.
WBFO's Michael Mroziak contributed to this report.
