Elizabeth Murphy Burns

After 43 years of service, Morgan Murphy Media President-CEO Elizabeth Murphy Burns will retire from her day-to-day leadership position. She will become chair of the company’s board of directors. The company is naming current executive vice president and chief operating officer Brian Burns as the next president-CEO “ensuring Morgan Murphy Media will be led by a member of the family, as it has since its founding in 1890,” the company said.

“The time is right for me to pass this torch to the next generation,” Murphy Burns said. “We might be small, but we are mighty, and with the help of all the wonderful people I’ve worked with over the years, I’m immensely proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Elizabeth (Liz) Murphy Burns was born into a family of media pioneers and expanded on that tradition since she took over the family-run company with her brother John Murphy in 1982. Under her stewardship, Morgan Murphy Media has been recognized in the industry for its forward-thinking strategies and ability to navigate a changing media landscape.

The company’s TV stations have been early adopters in every technology, including color television, stereo broadcasting, satellite newsgathering, the digital broadcasting transition and the advent of local news on the internet and through mobile applications.

Her major professional accomplishments and milestones include:

• First woman elected to the CBS affiliates advisory board.
• One of the first women elected to the National Association of Broadcasters board of directors.
• The 2003 purchase of WKBT-TV in La Crosse, Wis.
• Induction into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2005, joining her father Morgan Murphy as an inductee.
• 2006 honoree of the NAB’s Chuck Sherman Television Leadership Award
• 2017 purchase of KOAM-TV in Joplin, Missouri-Pittsburg, Kan., and KAVU-TV and Victoria Television Group in Victoria, Texas
• Designated as a “Giant of Broadcasting” by the Library of American Broadcasting in 2018
• 2023 purchase of WBKB-TV in Alpena, Michigan, and WBUP-TV in Marquette, Michigan
• Serves on Board of Trustees for Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Endowment
• Longstanding trustee for NABPAC, working to inform members of Congress on critical broadcasting issues

According to the company, she often reminded employees their duty was to “inform, educate and entertain. And despite trends toward corporate consolidation at all levels of media, she believed being family-owned and operated allowed the local properties to be more closely connected to the communities they serve.”

With this move, a fourth generation of leadership at Morgan Murphy Media is set. In addition to Brian Burns’ appointment to president-CEO, Murphy Burns’ niece Kate Murphy Doty is a senior executive leading human resources at the company.

“I see so much promise for the future of our company if we remain committed to principles of community service and localism,” Murphy Burns said. “It’s what we do.”

Brian Burns

Brian Burns becomes the fifth president and CEO in the company’s 135-year history. Burns’ first assignment for the company was on election night at the age of 12, which fueled his lifelong passion for the industry. His first full- time role with Morgan Murphy Media as a newscast director in 1998, eventually moving into leadership and executive roles with increasing responsibility around new media technologies. In 2008, he was elevated to vice president and chief operating officer.

“Liz’s legendary leadership of this company won’t soon be matched,” Brian Burns said. “Her standard of professionalism, innovation, community service and commitment to the hundreds of people working in our company is something I think about every day.”

He serves as vice chair for the Independent Television Group (ITG) and has previously been a board member of both the CBS Affiliate Board and the Television Bureau of Advertising.

He is also a graduate of the NAB Broadcast Leadership Training program — a program Murphy Burns was instrumental in getting off the ground in 2000 to help train future broadcast station owners and continues to this day.

The leadership changes at Morgan Murphy Media are effective immediately.