About Us
Here is the Story of How Murph Workout Radio came to be! This is a very personal story for us and we love that we are at a spot where we can share it all with you.
1. SACRED SAND
A long time (and a few pounds) ago, Murph Workout Radio partner, Noel Graham, was in need of some self-care and personal motivation. His brother had just lost his wife to pancreatic cancer and he thought some fresh air and exercise would do them both some good. So they joined a free workout group on Santa Monica Beach. The two of them joined the ranks of about 300 women and guys doing burpees, bear crawls, and jumping jacks in the California sand every Sunday morning.
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2. MURPH + NOEL
Just across the bike path on that same beach, a group of men met to play trash can hockey in the neighboring parking lot. Brad “Murph” Murphree was one of those guys. Murph loved hockey. And Murph loved playing hockey with this group. But one day he had to make a choice. On the left side of the path was a bunch of sweaty dudes trying to score a goal into an overturned trashcan. On the right… a beach filled with a few hundred fit, attractive, young people having the best workout of their lives. A decision was made that day and it changed the course of Murph Workout Radio history.
3. THE CONCRETE JUNGLE
Tired of the early morning drive across L.A. each week, Noel decided to start a workout group closer to home in Downtown Los Angeles. “DTLA Fit Club” was born in a little park just south of the Financial District. Soon, the news travelled to the Santa Monica group, and some of them decided to join as well. Murph was one of those people. When Noel and the other “coaches” realized he was in better shape than all of them put together, they immediately recruited him to be a coach too! And a friendship was formed.
4. MARCHING TO THE BEAT
After a few weeks of good workouts, Murph realized there was a problem. Each week, Noel would bring his phone to the park, turn on some streaming radio, and toss his iPhone in the grass somewhere for everyone to listen. He always tried to play tunes that fit with the tempo of the workout. Murph saw the need to take it a step further.
So he started by grouping an hour of good workout songs together into one long track. This meant they would no longer have to pause the workout and rush over to Noel’s iPhone when a lame song came on. This was good. A big improvement. But in the ears of Murph, it still wasn’t good enough.
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5. A STAR IS BORN
With the 60 minute workout music mix assembled, Murph thought it would be fun to create a little surprise for everyone. Instead of leaving the songs as is, he decided to supercharge the music by infusing the whole thing with amazing motivational quotes from all over the place! You’d hear top authorities, speakers, and celebrities pouring out life’s wisdom and motivation at every turn: during song intros, within guitar solos, layered over the fadeout, or wherever else he could fit them in. The Secret Sauce was officially formulated. And the very next group workout session was on fire! He dragged a big speaker out to the edge of the lawn, hooked up his player, and began blasting the first Murph Workout tunes ever recorded. People found themselves moving faster, jumping higher, sweating harder, and smiling bigger than ever before.
Over time, Murph added a second, and a third, and a fourth mix and so on, until he had about 8 mixes that he would rotate between. This unique content kept people coming back to the workout groups…. New people would join but nobody would ever leave. The group grew larger and larger due to the positive impact and level of motivation that we were offering.
6. THE MORNING DRIVE
After sitting in the car for 30 minutes driving to the workout in downtown Los Angeles Murph would listen to Sirius XM radio. He saved his 6 most favorite channels in the presets on his car radio. After a while, he started to realize that the six presents weren't anywhere near as good as the workout mixes he and Noel made. He tried venturing outside of those 6 channels with the scroll wheel however still, nothing compared... he found himself listening to Murph Workout Radio in the car on his drive. It's great because it covers all sorts of moods from "get pumped up music" before a workout or if you want to listen to the good vibes channel so that you're calm before going into a meeting at work or you need that workout music to hit just right in between work and the gym in the evening workouts at the gym. It started to solve multiple problems and purposes above and beyond what most people consider good workout music. It's truly a time saver and helps build your mind body and soul into something larger than yourself. Sometimes hearing a motivational speaker say something that makes you reflect on what you're going through right now can have a huge difference in creating positive project management outcomes.
7. DEATH BY DISTRIBUTION
Soon, they started to get requests for copies of the music. In those days, CD players were a dying breed. Murph tried every file transfer method and email method known to man to try to get the material out, but the file sizes were always too big. Noel couldn’t figure it out either. They tried to help people load the music on their computers through different players but there were always other issues that popped up. They realized they needed a reliable mechanism to get their special brand of music to the people.
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8. BIRTH BY BROADCAST
Thus Murph Workout Radio was born. Brad went out and secured licenses with all the major Performing Rights Organizations so they could legally start an internet radio company. He secured the technology to broadcast and take song requests from anywhere in the world! Every month their listener base has been expanding exponentially.
9. FROM THE MOUTH OF MURPH
“There is so much negativity going on in the world, when you hear something that is positive, logical, motivational and common sense… it is almost like a breath of fresh air.
Everyone needs to put gas and oil in their car to keep their car moving. Everyone needs to be eating the right nutrients to keep your body moving and functioning, AND everyone also needs to be feeding their mind the right material.
It boils down to a few basic concepts. The first is that our time is limited and if you want to make the most out of your life, you need to constantly remind yourself of things that are positive. Common sense is not always common practice. The words you choose to listen to, and that internal conversation you have with yourself, control your habits and actions and thus are more powerful than anything else on the planet. (Except of maybe an Apache Helicopter.)
The second is that we all have to decide how we are going to spend our time. Time is our most valuable asset. No one will ever tell you this, but how we balance and manage our time is more important than money.
The third is that everyone has a Gift. If you’re not happy and motivated, it’s because you’re career isn’t in alignment with your Gift.
Our Gift is running a workout radio station where what we play isn’t determined by accountants, “A.I. Bots”, or that annoying guy named Phil at the A&R company. We genuinely care about our listeners. And we have fun. We get a lot of listener requests from all over the place… Instagram, FaceBook, you name it. Sometimes “charge” the listener for the song. Not with money, but maybe we need proof that they knocked out 20 burpees first, or whatever, before we play it. We enjoy the process of allowing everyone we come into contact with, to help them manifest their greatness.
Your mind is most impressionable within the first 15 minutes of your day, so if we can deliver motivational quotes and great music to help you get in the right mindset… not just for working out, but also to live life… to help shape your mind, and get into the correct frame of mind, then we are doing our job.
By the way, we are doing that job at absolutely no cost to our internet listeners. It’s free to join the party and stream online. Yes, we do have our own bills to pay, so we do charge a little bit of money for the app. But we think that’s fair. A small price to pay for convenience.
We are hoping that it betters your life, breathes a new life into Radio, connects you with one of our DJs, and helps you get into better physical and mental shape!”