Dean Murphy on radio, transforming lives – and finding blessings in the bullsh*t

Dean Murphy. Image supplied

“If you’re not living as your authentic self, you can never be truly happy, because there will always be a part of you missing.”

As a high performance mindset coach, Dean Murphy’s life today is a world away from his previous career in radio, but he’s living proof that having the courage to adapt and pivot can bring huge rewards.

Dean’s radio journey has had more ‘sliding doors’ moments than a Gwyneth Paltrow movie.

As a kid, Dean always loved listening to the radio, but never really considered it a career option.

A Melbourne boy who grew up in bayside Beaumaris, by the age of twelve, Dean was a champion rollerskater. He also found a talent and passion for springboard diving, a sport he still loves today.

But, as a kid with undiagnosed dyslexia, Dean says the school years were incredibly difficult.

“I was terrible at English but great at art and graphics, which led me to studying architectural drafting at RMIT,” he tells Radio Today.

It didn’t quite work out.

“I was bored out of my mind and – after accidentally flooding the RMIT architectural building (long story) – I decided I needed to look at something else,” Dean says.

Arriving home from #floodgate, he noticed an application form for Jim Barbour’s Swinburne Radio Course sitting on the bench.

“My brother had been thinking about applying but never got around to it, so I thought, why not? Let’s give that a go.”

Another sliding doors moment. Dean applied.

He was working in the entertainment department of Myer in Dandenong when he got the call that his application had been successful.

“Cher’s new song If I Could Turn Back Time was on all the TVs in my area and I was so excited that I was going to Swinburne, I just blasted the song throughout the store,” he laughs.

Dean loved the Swinburne experience.

“It was such a great bunch of people excited for a chance to maybe get into radio.”

Prior to completing the course in 1990, Dean made an appointment with the receptionist at Fox FM for a tour of the radio station.

“In those days, it was virtually impossible to get a job at a capital city station without any country experience,” he says. “But that wasn’t going to stop me.”

Dean told the receptionist he’d have a job there within six months.

“She looked at me like, ‘Yeah, whatever. Go away, you little pissant. I’m too busy for your childish dreams.’”

But, five and a half months later, Dean was indeed employed at The Fox.

“Towards the end of my ‘Wanna Be a Radio Star’ course, I happened to win the copywriting award for best-written commercial.”

“It was an advert I wrote about my dog Sparky and the ‘Pouncing Poodle Grooming Shop.’ I know, right? Award-winning stuff.”

“It just so happened that the awards ceremony was going to be held at Fox FM, the place I was determined to work at.”

During the event, Dean happened to meet the station’s copywriter, Gary.

“He looked like he was straight out of a seventies Playboy magazine, with way too tight jeans, crocodile skin boots and BIG hair,” Dean remembers.

“He then told me he was going away for six weeks over Christmas and it was a quiet time – so, how would I like to fill in for him?”

“WTAF?? I’d dreamt about it every day, but now it was really happening. I excitedly said yes and thought I was going to have a stroke.”

“The only thing was that Gary had no idea that I was as dyslexic as f*ck and couldn’t even use a typewriter.”

Dean decided to bluff his way through.

“I befriended one of the office girls. I cut a deal with her that I’d pay her to type out every script I wrote.”

On the last day of his six-week contract, Dean said his goodbyes.

He’d just arrived home when the phone rang. It was the promotions assistant at Fox.

“She said to me that a job had come up working with the Black Thunder promotional vehicles, and would I like a job?”

“Would I like to drive around the streets of Melbourne in a hot four-wheel drive, throwing freebies and prizes at people all day? Ummm, YES!”

“And that was the start of my journey in radio.”

When he departed The Fox, Dean didn’t think he’d work in radio again. He would embark on a new venture, planning, organising and managing hundreds of entertainment events.

Whilst running events within the LGBTIQ community, Dean swung by Melbourne’s JOY 94.9 to buy some advertising.

As Dean recalls “When I arrived at reception, the on-air announcer and Program Director spat the dummy and walked out of the building. The receptionist and other staff members were like “What are we going to do? we don’t know how to use the equipment.”

Eager to help, Dean says “I literally went in the studio and started broadcasting.”

“I then got offered the role of Program Director, which I accepted.”

Another sliding doors moment.

When an on-air position at JOY became available, Dean immediately thought of his sister Anna, who he describes as “funny as hell.”

“I thought maybe we could do a shift together.”

Anna said yes, and together, they hosted The Murphys Breakfast radio show for 12 years.

At that time, they were the only brother-sister brekky team on Melbourne’s airwaves.

Working in radio created memories that Dean cherishes to this day.

“From running around the streets of Melbourne at the age 19 as a Black Thunder promotional assistant driving hotted up black cars and throwing freebies at people to interviewing the notorious Chopper Read, I felt like every day was always a new adventure,” Dean says.

One of the things that kept Dean’s life balanced was helping people overcome barriers and hurdles through high performance mindset coaching.

He’d only ever done it as a part-time interest. But one day, he decided to take it to the next level.

“It was scary … but I knew I had to get out of my comfort zone in order for me to grow.”

“I’m a big believer that if you want your world to change, sometimes you have to close the door on the past in order for your new world of opportunities to open up.”

He’s now been doing high performance mindset coaching for 23 years.

“When I was running big parties, I always felt like I was giving people a chance to escape their 9 to 5 existence by providing them with 8 hours of music, lights and entertainment.”

“But I never really thought I was helping to improve or change people’s lives for the better.

Dean’s high performance work has always left him feeling invigorated.

“Seeing someone who is struggling in their life or with their career, all of a sudden having a desire to achieve great things, is such an amazing feeling.”

“There are so many people struggling to keep their minds in a positive headspace, so it’s great to be able to help people clear out all the negatives so they can make decisions on positive emotion.”

Dean says the most amazing thing to come out of his mindset work is writing, narrating and publishing his book called Find the Blessing in the Bullsh*t.

“I only wrote it to tick a box, a challenge I set myself to overcome a fear of writing as someone who has dyslexia.”

But the book’s impact was beyond anything he could have imagined.

A standout moment was being invited to talk to a group of inmates at the Ravenhall Correctional Facility.

“It’s something I can’t explain, but one of the most life changing moments that I’ve ever experienced,” he says.

Every week, Dean gets messages from people who’ve read the book and have found something in it that’s made them stop and think about where they’re heading in life.

“It’s strange but also exhilarating to feel like you’ve helped someone in some way navigate this crazy world in a better way.”

“As I tell people all the time, trust the universe and it will lead you to some incredible things.”

More info on Dean’s business Focus One Coaching here. His book Find The Blessing in the Bullshit is available through Amazon, Spotify and Audible.