Thomas S. Murphy

Thomas S. Murphy is an American broadcast executive, and was chair and chief executive officer of Capital Cities / ABC, Inc. until 1996. Together with fellow Capital Cities executive Daniel Burke, Murphy engineered the 1986 acquisition of the American Broadcasting Company in 1986 for $3.5 billion. Murphy and Burke, who served as President and Chief Executive of ABC until 1994, are credited with increasing the profitability and efficiency of ABC. He graduated from Cornell University with B.S. in 1945, and Harvard University with an M.B.A. in 1949. He served in the U.S. Navy, and worked at Kenyon & Eckhardt and Lever Brothers. Legendary broadcaster and author Lowell Thomas, and his business manager/partner, Frank Smith led a New York City based investor group to buy control of Hudson Valley Broadcasting, in 1954 and hired Murphy to run the WROW Stations as its first general manager. Although Murphy didn't have any broadcast experience, his leadership and his conservative financial restraint however, help bring WROW-TV to profitability three years later.