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Half Moon Bay Review Design Director Bill Murray has been named publisher of the 113-year-old, award-winning newspaper. Murray will transition into the job when current Publisher Debra Hershon retires in the coming weeks.
Murray, 41, has worked at the Review since 2005. He has deep roots in the community and is a well-respected newspaperman with a host of design awards to his credit.
Murray was born and raised in Los Gatos, Calif., and earned both a bachelor’s and graduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. While in college, he worked as an illustrator for the City on a Hill newspaper, his first professional exposure to the industry.
In 1997, he was hired as a designer and illustrator for the Palo Alto Weekly and quickly promoted to design director for the Weekly’s sister newspapers, the Mountain View Voice and the Menlo Park Almanac.
“Working for a weekly community paper is very satisfying,” Murray said, shortly after his announcement was made to staff. “There is an intense amount of work, but the payoff is being able to see evidence of your labor around town and in the hands of readers.
“There is a great sense of pride when I look up at a café and see the paper being passed around and talked about,” he said.
Since coming to the Review, Murray has distinguished himself by improving the look of the newspaper. The newspaper has won numerous awards based on his skillful page designs over the last six years. He has been called upon frequently by the newspaper’s parent company, Wick Communications, to provide expertise in design and production matters relating to other newspapers in the chain.
In addition, Murray has proven to be an innovative leader. He often takes the helm of Review technological initiatives, such as the construction of a new Review website earlier this year. He has long been the newspaper’s house computer expert.
While he has distinguished himself for his online and innovative design work, Murray says newspapers remain close to his heart.
“Newspaper as a medium is hard to replace,” he said. “I love getting breaking news online and nothing can beat that immediacy. But seeing a photo in print of my son rounding the bases at his Little League game feels somehow more important. The evidence is tacked up on my kids’ bedroom walls.”
Murray’s appointment brought spontaneous applause in the newspaper’s Kelly Avenue office.
"I was hoping corporate would see the benefit in hiring someone local with roots in this town, so Bill Murray is a perfect choice,” said Hershon, whose own 15-year stretch as publisher will end in January. “On top of that, he is creative, thinks outside the box and fully embraces change.
“The icing on the cake is that he is beloved by the staff,” she noted.
Murray has lived in Montara with his wife, Gay, and children Owen and June, since 1999. His children attend Cabrillo Unified schools; Gay is a school teacher in Woodside. He is an avid outdoorsman. He often bicycles to work and has been known to sneak off at lunch to do a little surfing. He says the ability to work and live in such a picturesque place continues to inspire him.
“Being able to live and work on the Coastside is a blessing I've never taken for granted,” he said. “The days I commute to the Review by bike can take longer than they should, simply because sometimes I need to stop a few times to take in the beauty of this place — and talk to friends doing the same.”
