Murfin Music International

Murfin Music International

Type	Media
Industry	Broadcasting
Headquarters	Kempsey, Worcestershire, England
Products	Local radio, Radio jingles
Website	murfinmusic.com

Murfin Music International and Murfin Media are companies run by Muff Murfin, and are based at The Old Smithy Studios in Kempsey, Worcestershire, England.^[1]

Murfin owns several radio stations in the UK, and also hires time at its studios to produce jingles for radio. Murfin, with his then music partner, Colin Owen, were billed as the M and O Band, and reached #16 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1976 with "Let's Do the Latin Hustle".^[2]

Biography

Muff Murfin trained originally as a teacher in the 1960s but he has been involved in the music business in a variety of ways since his teens. His first taste of the radio business was when he entered BBC Radio Birmingham's "DJ for a day" competition.

In 1981, Muff was a member of the consortium that won the IBA franchise for Hereford and Worcester and served as a director and consultant for Radio Wyvern during its early years.

In 1993, Muff took over the troubled Birmingham incremental station Buzz FM. In 1994, he purchased Radio Harmony in Coventry, and re-launched the station as KiX 96. The station became part of the community, involving itself with education, media training and charity fundraising.

Muff was a director and founder shareholder of The Bear 102 in Stratford-upon-Avon. The station started broadcasting in 1996. He was part of the experienced and prudent management team that never had to resort to using overdraft facilities and that enhanced shareholder value by a multiplier of 42 over a five-year period. The Bear was later sold to the CN Group in 2001.

In 1997, and at the request of several shareholders, Muff became a director and majority shareholder in Sunshine 855, based in South Shropshire. After re-financing the company he purchased new premises and designed and built new studios and facilities. Also in 1997, he was invited to become a major shareholder in Radio Maldwyn, a station in mid-Wales owned at the time by over 200 shareholders and running as a Friendly Society. The station became a limited company and Muff re-launched the station with his own finance and new management. The station has a TSA of 90,000 and is a very profitable small-scale licencee with all programmes being produced locally.

In 1998, Muff became a director and significant founding shareholder of Mansfield 103.2. The station is very local in output with all programmes being produced in the town.

In 1999, Muff purchased the Classic Gold station which serves Worcestershire and Herefordshire from GWR. Again, new studios were built and the station was moved to the new premises adjacent to the AM transmitter site in Worcester. The station was later re-launched as Classic Hits and then Sunshine 1530.

Muff is still an active member of the community in Coventry. He became a director of CV1 in Coventry. CV1 is responsible for the whole of the city centre management and the promotion of Coventry and Warwickshire. He is a member of the Coventry businessmen's group that has raised £1.5 million for the NSPCC in Coventry. He is also a member of the special events committee for the NSPCC in the Worcestershire area. He has an excellent knowledge of charity fund raising and its impact on the local area.

Muff has written, performed and provided a wide range of music for advertising, radio and television programmes and his jingles have run on radio stations in the United Kingdom and around the world.^[3]

Radio stations

Current

• Big City Radio which serves Aston and Central Birmingham
• Mansfield 103.2 which serves Mansfield, Ashfield and Bolsover
• Sunshine 855 which serves South Shropshire, Herefordshire & Monmouthshire
• Sunshine Radio (FM) which serves Herefordshire and Monmouthshire

Closed

• Sunshine 1530 which served Herefordshire and Worcestershire
• Radio Maldwyn which served Mid Wales and The Borders

Production

Radio jingles

Under the name of Standard Sound, Murfin produced radio jingles for Radio Luxembourg, Capital Radio, Radio Aire, BRMB, Radio City 96.7, Mercia FM, Atlantic 252, Radio Clyde, Supergold, Nescafe Network Chart, The Superstation and Northsound Radio.

They were also the UK agent for TM Studios.^[4]

TV music

The company also made TV music, such as the themes for LWT's Gladiators and You Bet which were seen across the ITV network.

References

1. ^ "Company address". http://www.businessmagnet.co.uk/company/murfinmusicinternationalltd-52274.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
2. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 335. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
3. ^ "Muff Murfin CV on OFCOM application". http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/radio/applications/wyrefm.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
4. ^ "Reference to MMI trading as Standard Sound and its productions". http://www.jinglemad.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?59600. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 

External links

• MMI listing on Media UK
• Official site
• Article on plans to build a mini-empire of local radio stations
• Radio Authority public interest test on MMI's purchase of Classic Gold 954/1530
• Old Smithy recoding studios website
• Interview with Muff Murfin on RecordProduction.Com
• http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/airwaves.html#radio_wyvern_film Documentary regarding launch of Radio Wyvern featuring clips of Muff pitching his jingles to the board of the station]